How To Enable or Disable Automatic Updates On MacBook [Tutorial]
0How To Enable or Disable Automatic Updates On MacBook [Tutorial]
These days enabling automatic updates has become the norm on practically every operating system. This has its benefits - you don’t have to manually download updates to apps and all critical security patches are downloaded automatically to your phone or computer.
Background app downloads work the same as any other background download. Apple looks for opportunities to grab the updated bits from the server in a way that impacts you the least. So, if they do their job right, you shouldn't even notice the bits coming down while you work, watch, or while your Mac power naps.
If you get tight on space, Apple will also intelligently remove an unused installer — which can be reclaimed at any time from the cloud — so it doesn't impact your storage.
In other words, it lets the Mac work the way iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV have been working for a while.
If you want to make sure background app download is on, or you hate the idea and want to make sure it's off, you can do that in your Mac App Store preferences.
Automatic Mac App updates can be useful. These will automatically run in the background and save you a little time, keeping apps fully up-to-date. But not everyone wants this feature. It can be better to know exactly what you are downloading, even if you’ve been using the same app for a while.
Enabling automatic updates on a smartphone doesn’t really bother most people. Sometimes apps may start crashing after updates but by and large, apps continue to work as expected after updates. You’re also unlikely to be using a bunch of apps at the same time. However, that’s not true on a Mac or a PC.
At any point we’ve got at least eight apps open. Enabling automatic updates is convenient but not the best idea because apps have to be closed before installation can begin. That prompt tends to interrupt our workflow and we’d rather not deal with it in the middle of the work day.
Issues addressed in this tutorial:
This tutorial will apply for MacBook Pro, Air, Mini's running the macOS operating system. This tutorial was performed on a macOS Big Sur system.