How to Stop Your Mac from Automatically Downloading Updates

Your MacBook may be downloading macOS Sierra updates automatically. If that’s the case — and you have a problem with it — there is luckily a way to turn automatic downloads off.

If your Mac is set to it, the macOS Sierra update will be downloaded automatically just as other OS and app updates are. Once it downloads, your Mac will keep bugging you to install the update — which, of course, can be annoying.

So if, for whatever reason, you don’t plan on upgrading to macOS Sierra anytime soon, you can follow these steps to stop the automatic download.

1. Click the Apple logo on Mac menu bar across the top of the screen.
2. Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
3. Click on the App Store options.
4. From this menu, uncheck the “Download newly available updates in the background” option. It’ll be a sub-box under “Automatically check for updates.”

From here, you’re Mac will no longer check for and download new updates. A word of warning, though: this also means that anything from the App Store will also no longer update automatically.

Of course, if your Mac has already download macOS Sierra automatically, the installation file will still be on your hard drive. If it’s taking up too much space — or you don’t want to upgrade to macOS Sierra anytime soon — you can delete it.

1. Open Finder.
2. Navigate to the Applications folder.
3. Find the file titled “Install macOS Sierra.app.”
4. Right-click on the file, and select Move to Trash.
5. Empty the Trash.

While Sierra is a great update for macOS, there are some valid reasons for holding back. You might want to wait a few months for any Mac-killing bugs to be sorted out, you might now have time to sit around and wait for it to download, or you might just be perfectly happy with whatever macOS version you have. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it, right?

If you haven’t upgraded to Sierra yet, what’s holding you back?
Let us know in the comments below.