The below article refers to Really Simple SSL 4.0 and upwards. Versions prior to 4.0 will revert the site to http when deactivating the plugin within the plugins overview page (Plugins -> Installed Plugins), and remain on https when using the option on the Settings page instead.
Really Simple SSL is built to be very lightweight: the majority of the files are not even loaded when a visitor requests the frontpage. If you have not yet enabled SSL in Really Simple SSL, deactivating the plugin will do nothing except for deactivating the plugin itself. If you had enabled SSL, clicking “Deactivate” on the plugins overview page will display a pop-up which offers two options:
– Deactivate, and revert to http
– Deactivate, and keep https
Deactivating, and revert to http
Most users that do this want do do this because their site has issues on SSL, and expect the plugin to leave the site as it was before the activation. If you choose this option, your site url will change back to http, and all changes made to your .htaccess file are removed.
Deactivate, and keep https
If you choose this option, only the plugin will deactivate, your site will stay as it is (on https).
Please note that:
- The mixed content fixer won’t work anymore
- If you use wp redirect for redirection, this won’t work anymore
- The SSL redirect on rest_api redirect won’t be active anymore
What stays after deactivating the plugin:
- If enabled, the .htaccess redirect will persist
- Your site_url will remain on https
- Any wp-config.php fixes that were necessary to apply the changes
