Software Update notifications on MacBook Pro can't be turned off (OS 15 Sequoia)

You can try the following two terminal commands:

defaults write com.apple.SoftwareUpdate MajorOSUserNotificationDate -date "2030-02-07 23:22:47 +0000"

defaults write com.apple.SoftwareUpdate UserNotificationDate -date "2030-02-07 23:22:47 +0000"

The exact dates are not significant, as long as it's sometime in the future.

It should be correct. You can verify it with the following command:

defaults read com.apple.SoftwareUpdate

It should print a json like output and you should see the field "MajorOSUserNotificationDate" reporting the value "2030-02-07 23:22:47 +0000".

I recommend to execute also the second command about UserNotificationDate:

defaults write com.apple.SoftwareUpdate UserNotificationDate -date "2030-02-07 23:22:47 +0000"

Did this one also:

user@computer name ~ % defaults write com.apple.SoftwareUpdate UserNotificationDate -date "2030-02-07 23:22:47 +0000

and responded with:

dquote> 

Yes I have Sequoia 15.2 installed on an M1 iMac. Not able to reproduce the problem you report.

One other thing that might be suggested, is to see if rebooting into safemode and then back to normal

would help fix this problem:

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

Apple is not here. This is just a community of users like you. There is a way to turn that off.

System Settings > General > Software Updates. Click on the small i to the right of "Automatic Updates". You can then turn all those off.

KGPALMER wrote:

If I add a terminal command, won't that get overwritten when I do update my OS?

More than likely.

It sounds like the update already downloaded before you changed the system settings. In which case, either you let the update run or continue to see the notification. It shouldn't happen again for the next update.

Just to add, Sequoia 15.3.1 has some important security updates which should be installed.

Let us all remember that we Own the computer - Yes

We Lease the Operating Stem from Apple

As such, Apple can and does what Apple Believes is best for Apple.

It has worked this way for a very long time

There is not reason the believe it will change any time soon.

The links below other similar question include both Sequoia and Sonoma

So it appears this issue in not exclusively effecting Only Sequoia

How to turn off update alert prompt on my… - Apple Community

How to switch off 'Updates Available' not… - Apple Community

Hi KGPALMER,

I am not sure what happens when you upgrade your OS, most likely it will be overwritten. However, I had the same problem as you with those annoying notifications (in my case it was about updating Command Line Tools). I tried disabling the notifications from the settings as suggested by Randall_2023 but it didn't work, the notifications kept appearing. Instead, the two commands reported in my comment above solved the problem. Since I ran the two commands, no more notifications about the software update appear.

Wonderful thankyou for these, do I just open terminal and copy and paste these in directly? Or do I need to add anything to them? Do I try one and then if that doesnt work try the other? Thanks in advance.

I tried opening terminal and just pasting the first one in and nothing happened. Is there supposed to be an acknowledgment? Did I paste it into the right place?

So when I open terminal it says

user@computer name ~ %

so I pasted

defaults write com.apple.SoftwareUpdate MajorOSUserNotificationDate -date "2030-02-07 23:22:47 +0000"

is that correct?

Right thanks, ok it said this:

    MajorOSUserNotificationDate = "2030-02-07 23:22:47 +0000";

    UserNotificationDate = "2025-02-22 20:01:50 +0000";

So ill do the second one too now the same way.

arg, neither of them worked, im still getting the notifications. :( But I am open to me having done it wrong, once you’ve confirmed my previous replies then ill know if its user error!