Newsletter: Fix resetting of post access value on Jetpack Paywall block

[mehmoodak]

Closes: NL-467

Proposed changes:

• Set default access value only if the data is already loaded and block is rendering first time. Before we were setting the default access value even when the meta was yet to load.
• Improves cleanup function to only change access level if the Paywall block is actually removed. Before in development it was getting called twice due to React strict mode.

Other information:

• Have you written new tests for your changes, if applicable?
• Have you checked the E2E test CI results, and verified that your changes do not break them?
• Have you tested your changes on WordPress.com, if applicable (if so, you'll see a generated comment below with a script to run)?

Jetpack product discussion

View issue.

Does this pull request change what data or activity we track or use?

No.

Testing instructions:

Note: The root cause of the bug is a race condition so it is hard to test.

1. Go to Jurassic Ninja site.
2. Create a new post with Paywall block. Set access level as "paid_subscribers".
3. Publish the post.
4. Refresh the editor and note the status is now "subscribers". (can be "paid_subscribers" as well due to race condition. In production it was difficult to reproduce this case but while doing development via "Jurassic Tube" site this issue was always reproducible)
5. Checkout this PR.
6. Repeat 2,3,4 and verify the access level value is appearing correctly now.
7. Remove Paywall block and verify the post access value is correctly setting as "everybody".
8. Add the block again to verify that it starts from scratch instead of some previous saved state.

[github-actions]

Are you an Automattician? Please test your changes on all WordPress.com environments to help mitigate accidental explosions.

• To test on WoA, go to the Plugins menu on a WoA dev site. Click on the "Upload" button and follow the upgrade flow to be able to upload, install, and activate the Jetpack Beta plugin. Once the plugin is active, go to Jetpack > Jetpack Beta, select your plugin (Jetpack), and enable the NL-467/fix-post-access-toggles-on-gutenberg-post-panel branch.
• To test on Simple, run the following command on your sandbox:

bin/jetpack-downloader test jetpack NL-467/fix-post-access-toggles-on-gutenberg-post-panel

Interested in more tips and information?

• In your local development environment, use the jetpack rsync command to sync your changes to a WoA dev blog.
• Read more about our development workflow here: PCYsg-eg0-p2
• Figure out when your changes will be shipped to customers here: PCYsg-eg5-p2

[github-actions]

Thank you for your PR!

When contributing to Jetpack, we have a few suggestions that can help us test and review your patch:

• ✅ Include a description of your PR changes.
  
• ✅ Add a "[Status]" label (In Progress, Needs Review, ...).
  
• ✅ Add testing instructions.
  
• ✅ Specify whether this PR includes any changes to data or privacy.
  
• ✅ Add changelog entries to affected projects
  

This comment will be updated as you work on your PR and make changes. If you think that some of those checks are not needed for your PR, please explain why you think so. Thanks for cooperation 🤖

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Follow this PR Review Process:

1. Ensure all required checks appearing at the bottom of this PR are passing.
2. Make sure to test your changes on all platforms that it applies to. You're responsible for the quality of the code you ship.
3. You can use GitHub's Reviewers functionality to request a review.
4. When it's reviewed and merged, you will be pinged in Slack to deploy the changes to WordPress.com simple once the build is done.

If you have questions about anything, reach out in #jetpack-developers for guidance!

---

Jetpack plugin:

The Jetpack plugin has different release cadences depending on the platform:

• WordPress.com Simple releases happen as soon as you deploy your changes after merging this PR (PCYsg-Jjm-p2).
• WoA releases happen weekly.
• Releases to self-hosted sites happen monthly:
  • Scheduled release: March 31, 2026
  • Code freeze: March 31, 2026

If you have any questions about the release process, please ask in the #jetpack-releases channel on Slack.

[jp-launch-control]

Code Coverage Summary

Coverage changed in 1 file.

File	Coverage	Δ%	Δ Uncovered
projects/plugins/jetpack/extensions/blocks/paywall/edit.js	40/50 (80.00%)	80.00%	-31 💚

Full summary · PHP report · JS report