Software on modern Android smartphones are constantly updated. New versions of applications, firmware or the Android system itself appear. Therefore, Android smartphones regularly download updates.
In most cases, the software update does not cause any problems and does not need to be disabled. But, in some cases, the update may not be desirable. For example, if you like the current version of the program or firmware, and you do not want to update. Also, disabling updates on Android allows you to save a lot of traffic, which can be useful if you use mobile Internet while roaming.
How to disable firmware update on Android smartphone
In order to disable your smartphone, you need to open the settings and go to the “About device” section. Typically, this section is located at the very bottom of the settings window or on the last tab if the settings on your smartphone are divided into several tabs.
After this, you will see a page with software update settings. In order to disable firmware update on Android, you need to uncheck the box next to the “Auto update” function.
You can also enable the “Wi-Fi Only” function here. In this case, updates will only be downloaded via Wi-Fi. This update method allows you not to disable updates, but at the same time save traffic.
How to disable updating all applications on Android
You can also use your smartphone. To do this, you need to open the Play Market application and go to settings. This can be done from the left side menu.
After opening the Play Market settings, you need to open the “Auto-update applications” section.
In this section, you can choose one of three options: never, always and only via Wi-Fi.
In order to completely disable application updates on Android, you need to select the “Never” option. If you select the Wi-Fi Only option, apps will continue to update, but only Wi-Fi will be used to download updates.
How to disable updating for one specific application
Another option is to disable updates for one specific application. If you do not want the application you installed to not be updated, then you need to go to and open the “My Applications” section. Here you need to find the application for which you want to disable updates and open its page.
On the application page you need to click on the button with three dots, it is located in the upper right corner.
After this, a small pop-up window will appear on the screen with the words “Auto Update”.
In this window you need to uncheck the box. After this, this application will no longer update automatically. In this case, you can update it manually by clicking on the “Update” button.
You have an Android smartphone and suddenly it displays a notification about a system update. Not all updates are good - some may have a negative effect on your phone and you choose to ignore them.
However, the phone keeps you busy and still displays updates. How to disable it?
While for high-end smartphones, system updates are pretty well thought out (though updates like Lollipop for the Galaxy S5 aren't exactly well received), for low- or mid-range phones, upgrading to a new version can result in big device slowdowns.
It's not surprising that some people want to ignore updates and use the current version of Android. How to remove this?
Method one - disable update notification without interfering with the system kernel
As a general rule, in most cases it will likely require kernel intervention to disable Android system update notifications.
However, users of some smartphones confirm that they disable these messages in a phone without root rights (for example, in the LG G3).
The solution is to disable the display for two system applications - "Google Play Services" and "Google Services Framework".
To do this, go to Settings and select Applications. Now move your finger to the side to view all applications or click “application manager” (top first in the list) - depends on the version of Android.
If you selected the second option, then click “Options” at the top right and select the line “show system applications”
Let's start with the Google Services Framework. Find it and click on it.
Now click on the Notifications section.
After going to it, move the slider to the left or uncheck the box next to the “allow notifications” parameter
That's not all. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and move the slider to the right or check the box next to the “Hide notifications” option or disable it (also depends on the Android version).
Now we return to the list of applications and do the same for “Software Update” and “Google Play Services” - turn off notifications in both.
- ATTENTION: you can also disable application updates, not just notifications about them.
Now restart your device. If the message still remains, then the device needs to be rooted.
Method two - disable update notifications
The second solution is to disable the system service, which runs in the background and is responsible for updating the Android system.
To do this, you need to obtain root rights and install the “Disable Service” application. Launch the application and go to “System” (on the right) to display system applications.
In the list, look for the “Google Services Framework” application and select it. Now, at the top left, select show all services running within the application.
At the bottom we should find the “SystemUpdateService” service. To disable it, simply uncheck the box next to it in the list. Update messages should no longer appear. Good luck.
Not all smartphones are fast. Sometimes these devices come with slow memory or an unoptimized operating system. All this leads to the fact that updating each application greatly slows down the operation of the gadget. And this update can start at any moment, which can drive the user crazy. Fortunately, you can disable updates on Android without much difficulty. In this case, you will be able to install new versions of programs and games only at a time when it is convenient for you.
Stop automatic operating system updates
But we'll start by updating the Android operating system itself. Checking for a new version can also happen at the wrong time. To disable automatic checking for updates, do the following:
1. Go to the operating system settings.
2. Scroll down the list and go to the " About the phone».
3. Click on the item " System update».
4. Uncheck the “ Auto update" In our case, there is simply no such item - the system believes that regularly checking for updates will not hurt, but the user will, in any case, make the decision to download the software independently.
Basically, system update settings are preserved on smartphones with an older version of Android. The creators rightly believe that a short call to the manufacturer’s servers will not harm the performance of the device.
However, the South Korean company Samsung did not get rid of the corresponding settings. But its newest smartphones turn out to be very powerful, and therefore it makes sense to abandon auto-update only if there is little space left in the built-in memory.
Disabling auto-updates for apps and games
By default, Google Play offers to automatically update every app you install. But, as mentioned above, this causes certain problems when using a budget device with slow memory. On such devices, auto-update should be disabled. But how to do that? You probably remember that you were asked about automatic updates only when you first used Google Play. Later, this item magically disappeared from the pages of games and programs. All this is for the sake of speeding up the download and installation process, as well as to make each page easier and, accordingly, speed up its loading. You can now find this item in another way:
1. Open Play Market.
2. Pull out the curtain with the main menu from the left edge, then click on the item “ Settings».
3. Click on " Automatic application updates».
4. Here you can disable this feature by checking the box next to “ Never».
5. If you do not want to receive notifications about updates, then a corresponding subsection has been created for you in “ Settings" Just uncheck the " Availability of updates».
This is how easy it is to disable updates on Android. But do not forget that from time to time you need to install new versions of programs and games, as developers regularly improve their stability and functionality.
How to disable automatic application updates on Android if constantly installing new data consumes a large amount of traffic and phone RAM?
You can disable the function using the built-in functions of your gadget.
How does software update work?Android
When releasing software, developers cannot make it perfectly adapted to all devices. That is why the program may often not work correctly on certain smartphone models. Noticing such inaccuracies, programmers correct the flaws, test the resulting product and release new components. By installing them, the user will receive a more advanced version of their favorite game or other type of software.
Each update has its own digital designation - version number. It is written in 1.0, 2.0, 2.1 and so on. When you first install something on your gadget from the Play Store, you get the latest version of the update. Over time, more and more improvements to the program will appear.
To prevent the user from uninstalling and installing it again, the store provides an update function - you simply press the appropriate key and get the latest version in a few seconds. All user data and files will be saved. In the Google Store window, you can see what's new and what features have been added to your favorite application.
Rice. 2 – view information about new components on Google Play
Often, in the Android store, the function of automatically updating the software installed on the phone is already activated. This feature will allow you not to monitor the constant releases of components, because developers create them almost every week. If the background installation interferes with your work with the device or consumes a lot of Internet, you should disable the function.
Disable automatic updates usingPlay Market
If you do not want to install additional utilities that are designed to work with updates in the Android system, use the standard Play Market. With its help, you can also configure the operation of updates. Follow the instructions to prevent automatic downloading and installation of new components:
- Open the application store;
- The store home page will appear. Open the menu by flicking to the right or clicking on the corresponding icon;
Rice. 3 – home screen in Play Market
- At the bottom of the menu list, select “Settings” and go to the window for changing the program configuration;
Fig. 4 – main menu of the store
- In the general settings category, click on the “Automatic software updates” option. A window for selecting an update method will open. Select "Never" and close the window.
Rice. 5 – disabling the update
Disabling the update in the phone settings
By installing any game or program, you accept the user agreement that the software may have access to built-in system functions and other programs. Even if you have disabled updates in the store, the installation of a new version may not be carried out by the Market, but by the application itself. This happens if the automatic software update function is activated in the smartphone settings.
To disable the feature, follow these steps:
- Go to the gadget settings;
- Click on the “About device” icon;
- Select the "Software Update" option;
Fig.6 – “About device” window in Android OS
- In the new window, deactivate the checkbox next to the “Auto-update” item.
Manually updating programs
By downloading the latest news and versions of your favorite programs manually, you can reduce traffic consumption and simply speed up the operation of your smartphone, because the background processes will not constantly be downloading data. Manual work with updates is suitable for those users whose phones have too many applications installed, and the phone’s resources do not allow them to perform many background operations.
Also, constantly enabled updates quickly reduce the battery charge and make the gadget work slowly. After disabling the installation of new data, you should periodically carry out updates yourself. You can do this as follows:
- Go to Google Play;
- Click on the menu icon in the upper left corner of the application;
- In the list that opens, select “My applications and games”;
- Go to the “Installed” tab;
Fig.8 - viewing and updating installed applications manually
- An “Update” button will appear next to the software for which an update is available. You can start the process of downloading a new version of the utility for one application or for all at once. Just click "Update All" at the top right of your open store tab.
After clicking on the “Update all” button, the process of downloading and installing the latest program data from the store server will begin. This may take a long time, depending on how much software is on your gadget.
For each program, the process of installing new components through the Google Play Market will begin:
Fig.9 – installation of new components
The advantage of this method of working with applications is that you choose the installation time of the components and they will not start downloading at the wrong time, when there is little traffic on the phone or a low network connection speed.
Another update method is to monitor system messages in the running application window. When a developer releases important security or functionality updates, and the user ignores them, immediately after launching the software, a window will appear notifying them of the need to install a new version of the game/utility. In this case, just agree to the installation, check your Internet connection and download the developer data package so that the program works stably.
Even if you have turned off automatic updates, the Play Market will periodically notify you about the availability of new versions of games and utilities. One or more messages will appear in the notification center with information about new program features and a button for installation.
Fig. 10 - notification center in Android
Please note that if the Google Play window does not have a button for updating specific programs or all installed data, you should install new components for the store itself:
- Go to the device settings;
- Open the “Applications” - “All” - “Play Store” window;
- Start the update process and also delete the cache to prevent errors.
Fig. 11 – Play Market update
How to remove a program update?
If the update has already been installed, but after it there were difficulties in using the application: freezes, errors, bugs, or you simply did not like the new design. On Android you can always return to the previous version of the software. To do this, disable automatic updates and in the settings do the following:
- Open the list of all programs;
- Select the desired application;
- In the window that opens, click on “Uninstall updates”.
Fig. 12 – deleting the update
Thematic videos:
How to disable auto-update of Android applications on Google Play
Not everyone knows that Google Play may have an option to automatically update applications. This can lead to unexpected expenses if you have a tariff package with payment for Internet traffic. This screencast shows you how to disable automatic app updates.
How to disable automatic app updates on Android
How to disable automatic app updates on Android
Automatic application updates usually do not create any problems. In most cases, updated applications work more stable and offer the user more features.
But, in some cases, auto-update is undesirable. For example, in cases where the user is forced to pay for each byte of transferred data. Also, sometimes the user is completely satisfied with the current version of the application and does not want to update it.
In this article, you will learn how to disable auto-updates for all (or some) applications on Android.
How to disable auto-update for all applications
If you need to disable auto-update for all applications installed on your Android device at once, this can be done through the Play Market settings.
To do this, you must first open the Play Market application. After the Play Market application opens, swipe your finger from the left edge of the screen to the right and select “Settings” in the menu that opens.
After this, the Play Market settings will open in front of you. Here you need to open the settings section “Auto-update applications”.
If there is no mobile connection on your Android device, then in the “Auto-update applications” section there will be 2 options available: “Never” and “Always”. If there is a mobile connection, then another option will be available - “Only via Wi-Fi”. In any case, in order to disable auto-updating of applications on Android, you need to select “Never”. After selecting the “Never” option, the Play Market application store will stop updating applications installed through it.
It should be noted that in the Play Market settings there is also a function called “Auto-update”. It is located in the “Notification” block and is responsible for notifying the user about installed updates.
Disabling this feature does not disable the installation of auto updates, so don't get confused.
How to disable auto-updates for specific applications only
If you do not need to disable auto-updates for all applications at once, then you can manually specify those applications that should not be updated automatically.
To do this, you need to open the Play Market application store and find there an application that should not be updated. After this, you need to open the application page in the Play Market and click on the button with three dots (upper right corner of the screen).
After this, a menu will appear with one single function “Auto update”. Uncheck this feature and you will disable auto-updates for that specific application.
In order to turn auto-update back on, you will need to go to the application page in the Play Market again and check this box.
