How to Change Avatar in WordPress Using Code

How to Change Avatar in WordPress Using Code

How to Change Avatar in WordPress Using Code

Last Updated on November 11, 2023 by Mike Kipruto

Today I want to share a quick and easy tutorial on changing Avatar images in WordPress using custom code.

To achieve this, we are going to make use of the following code that adds a filter to modify the avatar data using the get_avatar_data hook filter.

PHP
<?php
add_filter('get_avatar_data', 'change_the_avatar', 100);

function change_the_avatar($args) {
    $img = get_field("image", "user_" . get_current_user_id());
    $args['url'] = $img;
    return $args;
}

It defines a function change_the_avatar that accepts the avatar data arguments and modifies the URL by replacing it with the value from a custom field named “image” which is an Image field added using the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin to the user.

The custom field value is retrieved using the get_field function, specifying the field name and the user ID of the current user as outlined here as shown:

The image field has its return format settings set to Image URL, for more details on to go about please take a look at this guide.

Finally, the modified avatar data arguments are returned.