What is Google reCAPTCHA?
Google reCAPTCHA is a program that judges whether a user is a human or a robot. You have probably seen some variation of reCAPTCHA.
CAPTCHAs are used by many websites to prevent abuse from 'bots', or automated programs usually written to generate spam. Bots cannot easily submit forms protected by reCAPTCHA. Formidable Forms offers one-click reCAPTCHA (V2) and invisible reCAPTCHA. When setting up reCAPTCHA for your site's forms, you will choose between these two options.
Set up reCAPTCHA
- Create a free account for Google reCAPTCHA.
- Click the v3 Admin Console link at the top menu.
- Register the site where you want to use reCAPTCHA. To identify your site, insert a label, which could be a nickname or the website URL.
- Choose your preferred reCAPTCHA type and you will receive a Site key and a Secret key for the site. See reCAPTCHA site types for more details.
- Go to your site's Formidable → Global Settings → CAPTCHA. Choose reCAPTCHA as the captcha type and insert your Site key and Secret key.
- Set the reCAPTCHA type to either Checkbox (V2), Invisible, or v3. Only one type of reCAPTCHA is allowed per site.
- v3: Using the reCAPTCHA v3 that verifies requests with a score. Learn more about the reCAPTCHA threshold.
- Checkbox (V2): Using the reCAPTCHA v2 that validates request with the "I'm not a robot" checkbox.
- Invisible: Using the reCAPTCHA v2 that validates requests in the background with the Invisible reCAPTCHA badge.
- Set the default language for your reCAPTCHA.
- If you are using multiple reCAPTCHA fields on one page, you must check the option for Allow multiple reCAPTCHAs to be used on a single page.
- Add the reCAPTCHA field to each form you would like protected.
If this is a multi-paged form, place the reCAPTCHA on the last page.
reCAPTCHA V3
You can also protect your forms with Google reCAPTCHA v3. Instead of using the "I'm not a robot" checkbox or the invisible reCAPTCHA badge, reCAPTCHA v3 verifies requests with a score. You can adjust the score using the reCAPTCHA Threshold slider.
- A score of 0.5 is the current default value. A score of 0 is likely to be a bot, and a score of 1 is likely not a bot.
- Setting a higher threshold will block more spam, but it may also block more real people. Setting a lower threshold will allow more bots and have fewer false positives. It will also stop fewer real users.
- The score value for each entry will be displayed in the entry details.
How to disable reCAPTCHA
If your form includes a reCAPTCHA and you would like to turn it off, delete the reCAPTCHA field from the form builder page. Delete the reCAPTCHA field on any form that includes a reCAPTCHA that you would like to disable. You can also visit the Formidable -> Global settings page and remove the reCAPTCHA keys.
Troubleshooting
Invisible reCAPTCHA is not invisible
If you are using Invisible reCAPCHA on your site, and Google flags you as suspicious (most likely from submitting your form multiple times from the same IP address), it may display an image challenge after the submit button is clicked. This is expected behavior for Invisible reCAPTCHA to ensure you are a human, and not a robot.
ReCAPTCHA was not entered correctly
When the form is submitted, you may see the message "The reCAPTCHA was not entered correctly".
- Your site keys may not be correct. First, reenter the reCAPTCHA site keys and make sure there are no tabs or spaces in them.
- If your site uses SSL on some pages but not others, you may be getting a cross-site scripting error blocking the script. Try forcing the form pages to use SSL.
- If you have another plugin loading a reCAPTCHA on the same page, they are likely conflicting. Disable other reCAPTCHA plugins.
ReCAPTCHA couldn't find user-provided function
This error may be seen when another WordPress plugin is active that loads the reCaptcha in a different way, and included the script on every page. We've specifically seen this with the 'Pie Register' plugin. Learn how to find a conflict in WordPress to prevent the reCAPTCHA from failing.
Google ReCAPTCHA in localhost
If you are working in a local environment, reCAPTCHA will work. However, it will show the message 'The reCAPTCHA is currently running on localhost'. This is normal behavior and the message will disappear when reCAPTCHA is used on a live site.
Cannot contact reCAPTCHA
When a page with a reCAPTCHA is loaded, you may see the error "Cannot contact reCAPTCHA. Check your connection and try again." One reason we have seen for this error, is the reCAPTCHA key is set to v2 but your forms are using invisible reCAPTCHA. Learn how to switch your keys to Invisible reCAPTCHA.
Checkbox reCAPTCHA is not showing
The reCAPTCHA relies on javascript to appear and validate. If nothing appears, this is a common sign of a javascript error on the page. You may also have another reCAPTCHA plugin installed that isn't playing nicely, like Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA) by BestWebSoft.
reCAPTCHA not working in Chrome
We have seen the reCAPTCHA fail in a certain browser. The cases we have seen ended up not being a browser issue, but related to page caching for logged out users. If the reCAPTCHA is working for you in one browser and not another, start by disabling any caching on your site.
Invalid domain for Site Key
If you are using reCAPTCHA on your site and you see the error ERROR for site owner: Invalid domain for site key, this means your site key is no longer valid.
Also, your website url must match exactly what is included in the site key settings. Subdomains don't need to be added separately. Changes to the domains list may take up to 30 minutes to take effect.
Please register a new key to resolve this issue. If you cannot resolve your issue, feel free to open a help desk ticket for further assistance.
Invalid key type
If you are using reCAPTCHA on your site and you see the ERROR for site owner: Invalid key type message, this means that you are using an incorrect reCaptcha key type. For example, V3 keys are not compatible with V2 reCaptcha, and V2 keys are not compatible with Invisible reCaptcha. Key types are not interchangeable.
Please make sure that your generated key type matches with the reCaptcha type you have configured in your Formidable → Global Settings → CAPTCHA. If you cannot resolve your issue, feel free to open a help desk ticket for further assistance.
Invalid site key
If you are using reCAPTCHA on your site and you see the ERROR: Invalid site key message, this means that you are using an incorrect reCAPTCHA site key and it is no longer valid.
Please register a new key to resolve this issue. If you cannot resolve your issue, feel free to open a help desk ticket for further assistance.
reCAPTCHA badge showing
In order to be compliant with the Google terms, the reCAPTCHA badge should be included on the page. To hide this, you can add the custom CSS below on your Formidable → Global Settings → Custom CSS page.
.frm_form_field .grecaptcha-badge {
visibility: hidden;
}
Google reCAPTCHA verification failed
When the login form is submitted, you may see this error message. If you have another reCAPTCHA plugin like Simple Google reCAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA Lite, they are likely conflicting.
The captcha is missing from this form
If you are using reCAPTCHA on your site and you see this error message, this means that there is a Javascript error on your page or the wp_footer hook is missing from your theme.