Ask: Limit App Update Notifications to One User

Got an Apple, Mac, or iOS tech question? We've got the answer. This time in Ask, we'll show you how to restrict app-update notification pop-ups to only a single user's account on your Mac.

Question

I have a user account on my iMac for myself, another for my wife, and a third for our children. Only my account has administrator privileges. Is there a way to ensure my account is the only one that receives pop-up notifications for app updates?

Answer

There's no built-in way to limit notifications to one account, but there's a workaround you can perform using AppleScript. Open up the AppleScript Editor (or simply Script Editor, as it's also called) located in Applications > Utilities and type in the script below. (For best results, input it manually; don't just copy and paste.)

tell application "System Preferences"

      activate

      set the current pane to pane "App Store"

 end tell

tell application "System Events"

      tell application process "System Preferences"

           tell window "App Store"

                tell checkbox "Automatically check for updates" to if value is 1 then click

           end tell

      end tell 

 end tell

tell application "System Preferences"

     quit 

end tell

With this script, it's easy to ensure that only an account administrator receives pop-up notifications.

Save this as an application called TurnOffAppNotifications and put it in the Users/Public folder, then add it to your account’s login items in System Preferences > Users & Groups. This turns notifications off. You can create an equivalent script with "if value is 1" replaced by "if value is 0" to turn the notifications back on; save it and name it something like TurnOnAppNotifications.

Changing App Store preferences requires admin privileges, so your wife and kids won’t be able to run the script. You have to turn the notifications on when you log in and turn them off again when you log out. This means putting the link to the script on your desktop and getting into the habit of clicking it before you logout or shut down.

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