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I have an app that has been radically changed (Skitch) and I'd prefer to not see any of the updates that the developer has made available to that app on the App Store. I'm lazy and like to use the "update all" function. When I forget I don't want this app updates, I then have to delete the newly downloaded app, restore the old one from my backups, etc...

Can I go in and change the package receipt or something else to trick the App Store into thinking this app isn't a lower version of the current program?

I am looking for a Mac OS X solution and nothing to do with the iOS app store in case that's not clear. I'm also not concerned about hiding things in the purchased history - just that I want the older app to stay installed and have the system not want to feed it updates anymore.

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6 Answers 6

Reset to default
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While I'm not abosultely sure, how achieved my result, but after a reboot the update for one app-store app is gone now. What I did:

  • the following is tested on old Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.app (free from appstore), before my tests the app-store showing an available update for it.
  • Right click on app, select Show package contents
  • go to "Contents"

  • Move the following files and folders to some backup place

    • _MASReceipt (folder)

  • reboot

If that doesn't work, remove these additional items from the package contents: - _CodeSignature (folder) - CodeResources (alias)

Maybe it is not enough, (in my tests i did the following too), try:

  • Go to Library (alt-click on Finder's Go menu, select Library)
  • Caches
  • move com.apple.appstore folder somewhere else(backup location)
  • reboot

After the above steps, the AppStore don't showing the available update for the "Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.app".

Warning: all the above is tested only in one app, needs more testing, it is absolutely without any warranty and don't blame me when your computer will burns, gets grabbed by aliens or anything other...

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    Oooh - I'm going to try this and if it does burn or summon aliens we can split the money, OK?
    – bmike ♦
    Oct 30, 2012 at 17:02
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    You accepted the answer, so, probably you still have a comp... Good to know. :)
    – clt60
    Nov 1, 2012 at 22:13
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    As a one liner shell sudo find /Applications -type d -name "_MASReceipt" -delete. Run without sudo and -delete first.
    – orkoden
    Oct 21, 2014 at 13:22
  • Yuk! Someone needs to write an app for this! :)
    – GreenAsJade
    Sep 16, 2016 at 23:10
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I typically have Macs that allow App Store and Signed apps to run by default, so I used jm666's answer and pared it down to one step:

  1. Delete the _MASReceipt folder from the Contents folder inside the app.

I have backups, so I'm fine just stripping things from the app's contents and testing. This has worked for me on 10.8.2 through 10.8.4 but could break things in the future so use this answer with that caution in mind.

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    Should this be the accepted answer?
    – GreenAsJade
    Sep 16, 2016 at 23:11
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Update in 04/2015 how to do this in Yosemite

Hi folks,

I was quite happy to find this post. Thanks a lot. In my case I paid for an App and read that an upcoming update would feature Ads which is a NoGo for me when I have paid money for it. So I decided to stick with the old version without Ads. But unfortunately it didn't work for me in Yosemite. After some try and error I found out the workaround as follows:

First, deleting _MASreceipt led to the situation that the AppStore didn't update the App any more as desired, but unfortunately with this change the App wouldn't start any more as it was supposedly corrupted.

In my case I found within the CodeSignature file near the end a reference towards the _MASreceipt file. So I deleted this reference including the subsequent dict /dict section of the XML structure and .... tararara ;-) ... it worked like a charme.

App starts as always and the App Store update ignores it.

I dunno if this applies to other Apps as well, but it's worth to try.

Have fun

Best Woife from Germany

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After signing in to the Mac AppStore, go to the Purchased panel, right-click on the Download, Install or Installed button - any button on the right - and the choice to Hide appears.

See this Apple Support page for details. To Hide and Unhide Purchases on the Mac App Store: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4928

"Note: You will no longer receive update notifications for items after they've been hidden from your Purchases page."

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    I went through the hiding steps and even though it seems from the wording I shouldn't get notifications (perhaps in the notification center) it does not suppress the update in the App Store. cl.ly/KV78 I won't be able to know if the next update will suppress the notification, but this hiding won't remove the app from the Update All list which is what I'm looking to accomplish.
    – bmike ♦
    Oct 28, 2012 at 2:46
  • In follow up - hiding did not prevent updates from happening when I press Update All or prevent seeing the skitch update available and having one program perpetually listed in the badge count as needing an update. Deleting _MASReceipt folder did work to suppress all updates and essentially removed that app as something the App Store cares about on 10.8.2 and lower.
    – bmike ♦
    Nov 16, 2012 at 14:27
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    Well, Apple lied, didn't they. Good thinking. Editing the Mac App Store plist would probably also work.
    – Zo219
    Nov 20, 2012 at 10:20
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This problem is unsolvable.Why?

Because OSX displays a notification message that "an update is ready to install", but - idiotically - it does not tell which app is to be restored.

Secondly, you cannot login to App Store because the old user`s email is greyed out and cannot be changed, also idiotic.

The lead text also suggest that if there are any trouble with the Apple ID, then create a new one. However, the "create new or transfer app to another Apple ID" is not available.

The obvious solution for app developers is to display the name of the app so that it can be deleted, IOW so that you do not need to delete all possible apps until you found the one causing the trouble.

The second part of the solution is to detect that a new user has been established on the machine, and therefore, ask this new user whether he/she wants to keep the existing apps, replace the Apple ID with his/hers own id, or similar.

These developers in Apple, how old are they? Do they get paid? Sorry for the sarcasm, but this has been going on for years and Apple probably do not read threads like this.

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If the app is on your device: uninstall it by pressing and holding on any app until they all start to jiggle. Press the red X by the one that you want to remove.

If you see the app under "Apps" in the side-pane of iTunes, you can delete it there by right-clicking (Option+click on a Mac) and selecting delete. You can also click on it to highlight it, and press the delete key on your keyboard.

Lastly, you can "hide" the purchase. Go to the iTunes Store homepage and navigate to "Purchases". From the home page, it's in the "Quick Links" section on the right-hand side, in the second section, it's the second link. Click on Apps at the top. Hover over the app in question and click the X that comes up at the top-left of it. This will "hide" the purchase all together.

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  • Angie - thanks for the answer. The purchase history doesn't really affect Mac OS X apps that the App Store app finds on the hard drive. Could you edit this to remove any iOS information. Much seems "up the wrong tree" to me. I'll edit my question to make clearer the situation.
    – bmike ♦
    Oct 27, 2012 at 22:29

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