How to Disable Chrome Automatic Updates on Mac 1

How to Disable Chrome Automatic Updates on Mac

If you’re using Google Chrome on your Mac and you’re probably doing this, you must have noticed that it automatically updates itself. While this is certainly a good thing, partly because it saves you the trouble of updating another app, and partly (and this is important) because it means you always have the latest security updates installed in your browser. But the problem is, if you want to disable automatic updates in Chrome, you can’t. There is absolutely no option in Google Chrome that will let you disable automatic updates for the browser. This is probably there so users don’t disable updates and make themselves vulnerable. However, if you really want to disable automatic updates for Google Chrome, you can follow these steps:

Check Chrome’s Update Check Interval

Google Chrome has a specific interval where it checks for available updates. If it finds one, the update will be downloaded and installed automatically. While it’s not really necessary to check the current value of the update check interval, it’s a good idea to do so so you can set it back to default if you want. To check the current control range, simply follow the steps below:

1. Start Terminal and type “the defaults read com.google.Keystone.Agent checkInterval“. Press Enter.

2. You will see a number on the next line. this duration (in seconds) Google waits before checking for an update. Usually this value is set to 18000 seconds or 5 hours.

default-range-value

Disable Chrome Automatic Updates

note: Disabling automatic updates for Google Chrome is not recommended as it will leave you vulnerable to potential security threats that Google may patch in a later version. Only do this if you know what you’re doing. It is also recommended to manually update Google Chrome from time to time to be on the safer side. At the end of this article I will explain how you can manually check for updates.

All it takes is one command in Terminal and Chrome automatic updates are disabled on a Mac. If you’re sure you want to disable automatic updates for Google Chrome on your Mac, just launch Terminal and type the command “”.defaults com.google.Keystone.Agent checkInterval 0“.

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set-new-range

set control range up to 0 basically it makes Google Chrome not check for updates at all. This means that Google Chrome will not be updated unless you manually check it.

Manually Update Google Chrome

If you have auto-updates disabled for Google Chrome, I highly recommend running the updater manually to keep the version up to date. To run the updater manually, simply follow the steps below:

1. Launch Finder and click “command + shift + G“. Or, “Go -> Go To Folder“. Type here”/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/” and press Enter.

go to folder

note: If there is nothing in that location, go to “~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/” instead.

2. Here, double click on “CheckForUpdatesNow.command“. This will launch Terminal and check for updates. When the process is complete, you will see a message that says “[Process Completed]“.

check-for-updates command

This much. You have successfully checked for available updates. If there are any updates, they will install on their own and all you have to do is run the “CheckForUpdatesNow.command” program.

Re-enable Automatic Updates

If you decide that automatic updates are probably better for you, you can always reset them. All you have to do is start terminaland “writedefaults write com.google.Keystone.Agent checkInterval 18000“. This will set the update interval back to the default value that Google Chrome ships with. You will need to restart Chrome for the changes to take effect.

SEE ALSO: 10 Ways to Speed ​​Up Google Chrome on PC or Mac

Enable or Disable Chrome Automatic Updates

Now you know how you can enable and disable Chrome automatic updates. To control how often Google Chrome automatically checks for updates, feel free to play around with the settings and change the update interval to any value you want (maximum is 24 hours). As always, if you have any issues with these methods, let us know in the comments section below.

Featured Image Courtesy: flickr

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