How can I disable the red Software Update notification bubble on the System Preferences app in MacOS Mojave (not App Store)?

Question

I keep the "System Preferences" app icon in my dock in Mojave. I recently checked for updates, and found one, but I'm not ready to install it just yet and the red notification dot over the settings app is really bothering my obsessive-compulsive self.

To make things worse, there's no way to disable the notification for the settings app, from the settings app.

How can I banish the notification icon until I'm ready to deal with doing updates?

(Note: this a the red notification badge/dot over the System Preferences app, not the App Store one. It is also not the big textual one that will appear in the upper right corner of the screen. And, unlike all the other questions I found while searching for this, I am in Mac OS rather than iOS.)

The closest thing I found was Why is the System Preferences Dock icon showing a Badge?, which was about iCloud security problems rather than software updates. My question isn't why, but how to ignore a software update for a while.

Answer 1

After some unsuccessful googling, followed by loads and loads of digging and grepping through binary files, I stumbled upon a key in a .plist which, when written, appeared to make the system temporarily forget it had any updates to bother me with. Running:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0

fixed my issue for now on 10.14.1 (Apparently, you may also have to restart the dock with killall Dock, but I don't remember having to do so).

It seems to work up through at least Monterey (12), too.

If you have automatic checking for updates turned on, this might not work for you. Not for long, anyway. In my case, on a fresh install, I went to the settings page to turn off checking for updates, at which time it checked for an update before I could close the page. After running that command again it went away once more, though. Basically, turn off automatic update checks, or it'll come right back and you'll have to run the command again.

Re-running the update checker should undo this. One might be able to find that .plist (I believe it was in /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist) and set the immutable bit on it/give it read only permissions to prevent it getting modified, but I have no idea what the fallout from that could be. You'd probably not be able to change any other per-user settings anymore.

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Edit: Some have suggested setting it like:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs '{ "com.apple.preferences.softwareupdate" = 0; }'

instead. This seems to work, and is the default value on a fresh install, at least for some newer versions - but it is also more difficult to type and ultimately has the same impact, so I still just use the top version and have noticed no ill effects.

Answer 2

Here is what worked for me to get rid of the red notification ballon and still have access to System Preferences from the dock.

Replace the Systems Preferences icon on the dock with its Alias:

1. Remove System Preferences icon from dock (either drag icon off dock or right-click on it and choose "Options" and then "Remove from Dock").

2. In a Finder window navigate to the Applications folder, right-click on the Systems Preferences app and choose "Make Alias".

3. Add the alias file to the dock by dragging it to the desired location on the dock.

The alias icon does not include the red notification bubble. The Systems Preference panel will still show the red notification on the Software Update icon (as shown in the partial screen shot image).

Answer 3

I found that the killall Dock solution didn't work (anytime I restarted my computer I had to run the code in Terminal again), and the Alias solution left me wanting to really figure out how to do this!

So, with some searching, here is how I've permanently handled this issue (without the need to run code in Terminal):

1. Open system preferences
2. Open software update
3. Click "advanced..." (bottom right)
4. Unclick "check for updates"
5. Command + Q system preferences.
6. Turn off internet.
7. Reopen system preferences.
8. Reopen software update.

Ta da! No red dot.

Here are those steps in photos:

Step two (red dot!!) - Open software update:

Step three - Click "advanced..." (bottom right):

Step four - Unclick "check for updates":

Step six - Turn off internet:

Step six - Reopen software update (no red dot!):

Step seven - Turn internet back on:

Answer 4

It's not the red dot itself that bugs me, it's that I'm still on Mojave, not yet ready to go to Big Sur, and don't want that reminder in my face all the time. I want syspref in the dock and running. Similarly, I always have a Terminal window open. I put the command in a file where I wanted it, named it, and updated my path. When I get the occasional red dot, I can hit the terminal window, enter "badge" and that is that. Elegant?...maybe not so much, but works for me.

#!/bin/bash  
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0  
killall Dock

Answer 5

Here is a simple solution that worked for me to get rid of frequent update notifications for a specific app:

I created a new /Applications folder on a separate drive. This probably works with any folder name in any location though. Then excluded the folder from Spotlight (System Settings->Siri&Spotlight->Spotlight Privacy).

Then moved the offending app to that folder (requires admin approval).

The app still works, but shows as uninstalled in App Store and I receive no more update notifications for it. I can update by downloading a new version from App Store and replacing the one in the secondary app folder, or from within the app.

I wish that would also work for macOS update notifications...