🚫 Disable Automatic Updates for Chrome on macOS

To properly disable Chrome’s automatic updates, follow these steps:

1. Close Google Chrome

Make sure Chrome is not running before proceeding.

2. Navigate to the system-level update folder:

cd /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate

Then delete the GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle directory to stop the update process.

3. If /Library/Google doesn’t exist:

On some Macs, the Google folder may not be found in the system /Library path. Instead, check the user-level path:

cd ~/Library/Google

Then run the following command to restrict update access:

sudo chown root:wheel GoogleSoftwareUpdate

This command changes the ownership of the GoogleSoftwareUpdate directory to the system root:wheel, preventing Google Chrome from modifying or updating it. This method is proven to work.

After restarting Chrome, you can verify the result via Help -> About Google Chrome.

🧊 Note on Microsoft Edge

Since Microsoft Edge is also built on the Chromium engine, it inherits the same automatic update behavior. Disabling updates follows a similar process—look for and modify the relevant update-related folders as needed.

🔁 Re-enable Chrome Updates (if needed)

If you later decide to allow Chrome updates again:

cd ~/Library/Google
sudo chown your_username:staff GoogleSoftwareUpdate

Replace your_username with your actual macOS username.

Restart Chrome to apply changes.