To disable ‘Updates Available’ notification pop-ups on your Mac, you must stop your machine from downloading macOS updates in the background. You can do this by turning off an option in System Settings or running a command line in the Terminal. Both methods will prevent software updates from downloading automatically from Apple. Let’s take a closer look at these methods below.
How to Turn Off Auto macOS Updates in System Settings
Time needed: 2 minutes
The first and easiest way to prevent your Mac from downloading updates in the background is to disable automatic macOS updates in the System Settings. The process is simple and takes only a few clicks. Here’s what you need to do:
- Open System Settings on your Mac.
- From the left sidebar, click General.
- Choose Software Update.
- Click the small i icon next to the Automatic Updates option.
- Here, turn off the “Download new updates when available” option.
- You’ll be prompted to authenticate your Touch ID or enter the Mac’s password to confirm the change.
- Once authenticated, you’ll see that the “Download new updates when available” and “Install macOS Updates” options are turned off on your Mac.
Turn Off macOS Updates Using Terminal
If you’re hands-on with the command line, you can also use Terminal to get rid of the automatic macOS updates. It works the same way as the System Settings method and takes just about a minute. Here are the step-by-step instructions to do it:
- Open Terminal from the Dock. Alternatively, press Command + Space to open Spotlight Search and find Terminal
- Now, enter the following command:
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate AutomaticDownload -boolean FALSE - Hit the Enter key. When prompted, enter your Mac’s password and press the Enter key again.
After this command, your Mac will no longer automatically download the latest macOS updates or notify you about available updates.
What Happens When You Disable Automatic Updates
To maintain the security of your Mac, Apple recommends keeping your software up to date. When you turn off automatic software updates, your Mac will stop the background updates and automatic installations. This gives you more control over when updates are installed. If the automatic updates are disabled, you won’t get updates available notification, security patches, or macOS version upgrades. So, you’ll have to check for and download updates manually.
While this gives you more control and flexibility, you may also miss out on critical security patches, bug fixes, performance enhancements, or new features. As a result, it requires more manual oversight to make sure your Mac is up-to-date with the important security fixes and improvements.