Key Takeaways
- Disable unnecessary macOS software update notifications.
- Prevent interruptions caused by software update alerts.
- Improve the user experience on managed Mac devices.
- Centrally manage software update notification settings using Intune.
This guide will go through how to disable Software Update Notifications for macOS Devices using Intune. macOS software update notifications are controlled through the built-in Software Update preferences. Microsoft Intune can be used to manage software update notifications directly on the macOS device. To update macOS devices, it’s recommended you create policies that update your devices without putting this responsibility on end users. Intune has built-in policies for managing macOS software updates, configuring when devices are updated, and reviewing the device update status for macOS devices.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Manage macOS Software Update Notifications Using Intune Settings Catalog to Prevent User Interruptions
Microsoft recommends mac Admin to create a managed software update policy to force updates to be downloaded and installed in convenient time, also setting up a policy to prevent end users from disabling update checks. It’s important to understand that although you have the ability to modify how software update notifications behave on macOS devices, fully suppressing these notifications would not be idle by considering system security and stability.
However, It’s important to ensure that Mac users are not interrupted when security and other updates are being applied to Mac. When automatic updates are enabled for macOS, Typically, these updates are seamlessly installed in the background without user action needed, and users won’t experience any disruptions.
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Disable macOS Software Update Notifications using Intune
The following steps help you effectively manage automatic updates for macOS managed by Microsoft Intune. This allows admins to disable software update notifications. Sign in to the Microsoft Intune Admin portal. Select Devices > Configuration profiles > Create profile or navigate directly to macOS > Configuration profiles. Here, in this case platform will be prepopulated.
Create a Profile
Navigate to Devices > Configuration in the Microsoft Intune admin center. On the right side, click + Create and select New Policy. In the Create Profile window, select macOS as the Platform and Settings Catalog as the Profile Type. Once you have selected both options, click Create to proceed with the policy configuration.
Configure Basic Policy Details
In the Basics tab, enter a suitable name and description for the configuration profile. For this policy, the name is Disable macOS Software Update Notifications. In the description field, enter: This policy disables macOS software update notifications to prevent unnecessary alerts and interruptions for end users. After entering the required details, click Next to continue with the configuration.
Configuration Settings
On the Configuration settings tab, With the settings catalog, you can choose which settings you want to configure. Click on Add Settings to browse or search the catalog for the settings you want to configure. Search for “Software update” or “Software update notifications”. Select the “App Store” from the search result. Select “Disable Software Update Notifications” and close the settings picker pane.
Disabled State Of Policy
After selecting the policy, you will be directed to the Configuration settings page. Here, you can find the Disable Software Update Notifications option, which is set to False by default. This means the setting is currently disabled, and macOS software update notifications are not suppressed by this configuration. As a result, users may continue to receive software update notifications on their Mac devices.
Configuration Value – True
Once you enable the Disable Software Update Notifications option, the value will be set to True. This allows administrators to suppress software update notifications on managed macOS devices. It helps prevent users from receiving unnecessary update alerts during their regular work. This setting reduces interruptions caused by software update notifications. After configuring the value, click Next to continue.
Scope Tags
The next step is the Scope tags tab, where you can add scope tags to control which IT administrators can access and manage this policy. Here, I have added London as an example scope tag. Scope tags help organize and manage policies based on administrative requirements. You can add the required scope tags depending on your organization’s needs. Once completed, click Next to continue.
Assignments
Next, you will be directed to the Assignments tab, where you can select the user or device groups that should receive this configuration profile. Here, I have selected 2 groups, HTMD Test Policy and HTMD CPC Test as examples. These selected groups will receive the policy when their managed macOS devices check in with the Intune service. After selecting the required groups, click Next to proceed to the Review + Create tab.
Review + Create Tab
In the Review + Create tab, you need to review your settings. After clicking Create, your changes are saved, and the profile will be assigned to the added devices group. A notification will appear automatically if you see it in the top right-hand corner. You can see that the Policy “Disable macOS Software Update Notifications” was created successfully.
Monitor Software Update Notification Policy for macOS
Intune provides several features to monitor and manage device configuration profiles. Once the configuration profile is applied, To monitor Intune policy assignment, from the list of Configuration Profiles, select the policy you targeted, and here you can check the device and user check-in status. If you click View Report, additional details are displayed. Additionally, you can quickly check the update as devices/users check-in status reports:
Note! The device groups will receive your profile settings when the devices check in with the Intune service. The Policy applies to the device.
macOS Software Automatic Update Management
To check macOS software updates, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click General in the sidebar (you may need to scroll down), then click Software Update on the right. You can simply click on the Automatic Updates (i) button to get the offered options for you, then make sure that Settings is turned On. This way, you can set up macOS to offer automatic updates. This Automatic Updates for macOS Devices policy locks these settings, so users can’t change them. On the device, the software update settings are greyed out.
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Author
About Author – Jitesh, Microsoft MVP, has over six years of working experience in the IT Industry. He writes and shares his experiences related to Microsoft device management technologies and IT Infrastructure management. His primary focus is Windows 10/11 Deployment solution with Configuration Manager, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), and Microsoft Intune.