Google will soon let you deactivate automatic system updates on your Chromebook - Android Police

Chromebooks are among the easiest devices to maintain, with basically all of the software updates you’ll ever need being taken care of in the background, never interrupting your workflow. However, sometimes you might not want to upgrade to the newest version automatically, like when Google makes a typo in its code and you don’t want to install that faulty update. You’ll soon get a toggle that will let you disable automatic system updates.

According to 9to5Google, evidence for this option can be found in the Chromium Gerrit. An entry describes how a toggle will be added to Chrome that will allow for toggling auto updates. While the feature is currently hidden behind a flag (chrome:flags#consumer-auto-update-toggle-allowed), it’s pretty clear how it will function based on the description. A simple toggle will be available in the settings page to set your update preference. We assume that your Chromebook will still notify you when updates are available when you flip the switch, but it probably won’t automatically download them anymore.

Right now, you can’t really deactivate automatic updates for Chrome OS. You can stall them for a while by simply not turning your Chromebook off when a new software version is pending installation, or you can set your Wi-Fi to metered mode, which activates an array of data-saving measures including a stop to system and Android app updates. You need to active this metered mode under chrome:flags#show-metered-toggle first, though.

As you can tell, both of these routes aren’t perfect, with the former preventing you from fully shutting down your machine for a long time and the latter stopping some data-intensive applications, so the fact that Google is working on this option is appreciated.

As with any of these experiments, it might take a long time until it becomes available in the stable channel, and Google could stop working on this at any time for any reason. We will keep you updated on the development.

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Manuel Vonau (1600 Articles Published)

Manuel is a tech enthusiast and Android fan based in Berlin. When he's not writing articles for Android Police, he's probably out and about as a videographer.

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