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I'm using a Macbook Pro mid 2010. I have an deleted app always showing in my update list and it's very annoying. Problem has occurred since Mountain Lion, but has since become quite eye-catching after I upgraded to Yosemite, where there's always a 'available updates' badge in the menu.

It's AngryBirds that I want to remove from the app update list. Users can't hide 3rd party updates. So I tried to get rid of it by trashing it from Applications folder (2 years ago maybe). I hope it would disappear in the update list after I trash it. But it still appears in the App Store update list.

I also tried to click the update button of the app, and the window told me 'update unavailable with this Apple Id'. I vaguely remembered that this is an app downloaded long time ago. By then I used a different Apple ID. When I deleted this app I have already changed into a new ID. Is this the possible reason for this app remains in the update list even if i've deleted from my mac?

Update: After trying the suggestions provided by all the answers below, I think there's nothing left in my mac with regard to 'AngryBirds' or 'Rovio'. It could possibly be the push from Apple Server that invokes AngryBirds in the update list. What can I do in this situation?

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  • ~/Library/Application Support/App Store/ (Note corrected directory name since original post.) Is it in there?
    – fartheraway
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:21
  • No there's nothing in AppStore. I'm the only user of this mac.
    – Choushishi
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:27
  • sudo find /private/var/ -name 'com.apple.appstore.pkg' What's your output? If there is anything at all, you've found an explanation.
    – fartheraway
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:43
  • Surprisingly I don't have any output in my terminal. What could it mean?
    – Choushishi
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:46
  • I'm trying to rule out locations where incomplete/temporary files could be created by App Store. Try sudo find / -iname '*angry*' . This will search all of your directories for Angry Bird related filenames. The command is case-insensitive. Maybe try the studio's name too, Rovio or something.
    – fartheraway
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:54

9 Answers 9

Reset to default
2

Right click the item description in the App Store Updates panel & Hide Update

enter image description here

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  • 1
    I'm sorry but I can't bring up this menu by right clicking. Nothing happens. I'm using OS Yosemite. Also, I know this may solve the problem but the update is still there somewhere in the system. Is there a more thorough solution?
    – Choushishi
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:01
  • It doesn't come with an uninstaller. I guess the store knows I 'bought it' but it only shows the updating option when it thinks I 'installed it'. If I need to manually delete some files to fix this problem, where shall I look at?
    – Choushishi
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:11
  • It's AngryBirds. itunes.apple.com/us/app/angry-birds/id403961173?mt=12
    – Choushishi
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:16
  • Try using something like EasyFind itunes.apple.com/gb/app/easyfind/id411673888?mt=12 which can search hidden folders/file contents far more thoroughly than spotlight, to discover what it may have left behind.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:20
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat.
    – Choushishi
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:40
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In older versions of the Mac App store, you could hide an update in the Updates panel, but in OS X Yosemite this feature has moved to the Purchases panel.

To hide an update in OS X Yosemite you need to sign in to the Mac App store, click on Purchases, and then right-click/control-click the item to bring up the "Hide Purchase..." pop-up menu.

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4928

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1
  • i'm having this same problem with other apps, and for me, the apps do not appear in the Purchases pane, so there's no way to right-click and get the pop-up menu to get "Hide Purchase"
    – john.k.doe
    Commented Aug 23, 2015 at 18:18
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Try resetting the Mac App Store.

  1. Enable the debug menu and restart the Mac App Store.

    defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true

  2. Choose the Reset Application option.

    App Store Debug Menu

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2
  • 1
    I reset application and after restarting the app is still there.
    – Choushishi
    Commented Oct 19, 2014 at 14:58
  • step 1 worked for me, and i tried the Reset Application choice, but the app i'm trying to hide is still there.
    – john.k.doe
    Commented Oct 15, 2015 at 10:59
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OS: 10.11.2 (El Capitan)

Situation

An app store app (let’s call it Annoying.app) is installed, but is no longer on the Purchases tab (moving countries, isn’t available in this country’s store). App Store shows a daily update notification for it. I want it to go away. None of the answers here helped.

Solution

Hide the app somewhere that isn’t inside /Applications or ~/Applications. In my case, I moved it to ~/.apps

Then I was able to symlink it to ~/Applications for convenience and so launchers like Quicksilver, Alfred, and Spotlight will find it. App Store stopped trying to find updates for it.

How To

Assuming the application is /Applications/Annoying.app

To move it then symlink it, run the following commands in the Terminal:

mkdir ~/.apps
mv /Applications/Annoying.app ~/.apps
ln -s ~/.apps/Annoying.app ~/Applications
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2
  • 1
    This doesn't work. Delete the ~/.apps directory if you made it and try this instead: apple.stackexchange.com/a/93715/75107
    – Kesarion
    Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 15:48
  • @Kesarion you probably wanted to say "this doesn’t work for me, here’s an alternative workaround." Thank you for the link though!
    – fanaugen
    Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 16:47
0

I run Yosemite 10.10.5. After I deleted an app (move to trash..) it first still appeared in the update list but after updating all other apps individually and after AppStore searched for updates again, it was removed from the list.

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0

I found this post after searching for a solution to problem similar to yours. After reading the posts, I decided to try a different approach and it fixed my problem. This requires you to be able to login to your old apple ID under which the problem app was originally installed.

  1. In App Store, logout current account and login using old apple ID
  2. Refresh the Updates tab and select update for the problem app
  3. Immediately hit pause
  4. Go to LaunchPad, press Alt and when the icons shake, delete the problem app which shows as paused by clicking on the x
  5. Go back to App Store and refresh the Updates tab.

At this point, my problem got fixed. I no longer saw the problem app in the updates list.

  1. Log out and login using current apple ID

Hope this helps!

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0

After a whole day going through forum posts that didn't work for OS X Mojave, this is the only thing that worked for me.

  1. Quit the App Store application
  2. Open System Preferences
  3. Click on Spotlight
  4. Click Privacy tab
  5. Click +
  6. Find "Macintosh HD" or whatever you called it
  7. Close System Preferences
  8. Restart App Store

The deleted app did not show anymore under the "Updates" folder. I could go under the app list and re-download it.

Then follow the steps above again, but on step 5 click "-" to remove the "Macintosh HD" from Spotlight so your drive will get indexed again. Hope this helps someone.

Referenced from this site.

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0

To see which packages are installed on your mac:

pkgutil --pkgs #try this

Which files got smeared onto my SSD?

pkgutil --files $PKGID #

Forget the package.

pkgutil --forget $PKGID

Then double back and use the --files output to walk the dir tree deleting the cruft

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-1

To reset Launchpad and remove that annoying bar under the icon that shows their is an update pending, use the following command:

defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool true; killall Dock
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4
  • 1
    How does this fix the problem described in the question?
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented May 8, 2016 at 6:46
  • Updated the answer, although it doesn't answer the question directly I think people having the same issue I was having will come to this page and find this solution very helpful
    – tread
    Commented May 8, 2016 at 11:17
  • Sure, this may get rid of the badge, but that badge is actually very useful aside from this one stuck app. Bad idea.
    – Edward Anderson
    Commented Oct 16, 2017 at 17:05
  • Horses for courses.
    – tread
    Commented Oct 16, 2017 at 19:36

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