Update so ofen. Once a month will be better.
Using the Brave Search Engine’s Brave Community Goggle, in order to find posts re the topic:
Disable Brave Browser MacOS Updates
20260315 Sunday UPDATE
Given that Brave strongly recommends updating the Brave Browser application, and, the Brave Browser application is routinely updated when Chromium is updated.
AND, that, accounts for “the when of it” … a Brave Browser user still might regulate “the when of it” by adjustments made, either a) Before running Brave Browser, or b) after Exiting / Quiting Brave Browser:
IF using a firewall, block (this is my much-preferred method):
laptop-updates-pre.brave.comlaptop-updates.brave.comupdates-cdn.bravesoftware.comupdates.bravesoftware.com
IF adjusting Group Policy:
THEN, you may notice that you sometimes / somewhere see a message to the effect of: “The browser is being managed by your organization.” And because of that, you also might discover that the “User Secure DNS” switch is Disabled.
You “really have to know what you are doing” here. You would be making changes to the com.brave.Browser.plist file at:
/Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.brave.Browser.plist
STRONG RECOMMENDATION: Locate that com.brave.Browser.plist file, and make a duplicate of that file, and save that duplicate file somewhere that you will remember. In addition, open that duplicate copy file with a text editor and read it - looking for lines that are the default:
<key>SUAutomaticallyUpdate</key>
<true/>
Because, if you follow the steps correctly, and you intend to Disable Brave Browser (MacOS) application updates, the true part of the contents of the com.brave.Browser.plist file at:
/Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.brave.Browser.plist
… will change to false:
<key>SUAutomaticallyUpdate</key>
<false/>
So, thus being prepared and fore-warned:
-
To Disable Brave Browser (MacOS) application update, use the Mac’s Terminal.app window, and enter:
defaults write com.brave.Browser SUAutomaticallyUpdate -bool false -
To Enable Brave Browser (MacOS) application update, use the Mac’s Terminal.app window, and enter:
defaults write com.brave.Browser SUAutomaticallyUpdate -bool true
… and Restart the Mac.
IF you think that you" flubbed it," replace the now-suspect com.brave.Browser.plist file at:
/Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.brave.Browser.plist
with the “known good one”: duplicate copy file ← that you saved.
… and Restart the Mac.
Brave info re adjustments to Group Policy:
‘https://support.brave.app/hc/en-us/articles/360039248271-Group-Policy’
CORRECTION, 20260319 - 20260320 … tested the issue with the com.brave.Browser.plist file at:
/Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.brave.Browser.plist
Settings changes (from true to false) for the following, do indeed FAIL to prevent Brave Browser (MacOS) updating:
<key>SUAutomaticallyUpdate</key><false/><key>SUEnableAutomaticChecks</key><false/>
Those two keys are controlled by Brave’s Sparkle integration code. Brave’s MacOS code (or Sparkle, when initialized by Brave) explicitly sets SUAutomaticallyUpdate = 1 and SUEnableAutomaticChecks = 1 at startup or when the updater object is created. See:
‘https://sparkle-project.org/documentation/bundles/’
- Perplexity.ai
As Omaha 4 gradually replaces Sparkle, those Sparkle‑specific keys will stop mattering for the update engine itself; control will shift to the Chromium updater’s policies and endpoints instead.
Brave Browser (MacOS) code, see (start with):
‘https://github.com/brave/brave-core/tree/master/browser/mac’
Search for automatically ... update and suupdater at the Sparkle project site mentioned, and search for automatic update and su_updater in the code at:
‘https://github.com/brave/brave-core/blob/master/browser/mac/sparkle_glue.mm’
That is, if you are interested in discovering details on how things work.
It used to be ~4 per month (which I’m actually fine with, weekly is ok, but not every other day to less than 24 hours), but oddly as of late every time I wake up, the browser wants to relaunch for an update. (On Windows as well, they are pushing far too many updates in a short time span, it’s leading me to some security trust issues.) The past 30 days has seen 8 updates, it’s is a bit much, especially when today’s update is just less than 24 hours from the last, which was just 3 days after the one before it?
It’d be nice if we knew why Stable is being updated as if it were a Nightly? (All the notes just say is Chromium was updated, but why does that require an update all on its own just days after 2 other updates that too? The last update before this just yesterday was the same deal, just a Chromium update. That’s suddenly feeling a bit like a Nightly, of which we didn’t sign up for.
Chromium bug fix:
skia/skia.git/50841da4a7b7..248acd90d9a3
- 248acd9 Make sure we are getting the correct atlas for glyph mask format. by Greg Daniel · 3 days agochrome/m146
Per Google Gemini, this is how to disable auto update:
cd “/Applications/Brave Browser.app/Contents/Frameworks/Brave Browser Framework.framework/Helpers/”
# 删除现有的替身或程序
sudo rm -rf BraveUpdater.app# 创建一个 0 字节的空文件占位
sudo touch BraveUpdater.app# 锁死这个占位文件
sudo chflags uchg BraveUpdater.app核心：：：
# 锁定 Versions 文件夹本身
sudo chflags uchg “/Applications/Brave Browser.app/Contents/Frameworks/Brave Browser Framework.framework/Versions”
and how to restore:
sudo chflags nouchg “/Applications/Brave Browser.app/Contents/Frameworks/Brave Browser Framework.framework/Versions”
I’ll check for the next update.
Failed. Brave itself just updated to the latest version.
New solution from Gemini:
sudo plutil -replace SUFeedURL -string “http://0.0.0.0” “/Applications/Brave Browser.app/Contents/Info.plist”
sudo plutil -replace KSUpdateURL -string “http://0.0.0.0” “/Applications/Brave Browser.app/Contents/Info.plist”
sudo plutil -replace SUEnableAutomaticChecks -bool NO “/Applications/Brave Browser.app/Contents/Info.plist”
sudo chflags -R uchg “/Applications/Brave Browser.app”
wait for verify.
Ain’t work. I already tried this command and since last month it updated many times.
~ % defaults read com.brave.Browser
{
LastRunAppBundlePath = "/Applications/Brave Browser.app";
NSNavPanelExpandedSizeForOpenMode = "{880, 448}";
NSOSPLastRootDirectory = {length = 676, bytes = 0x626f6f6b a4020000 00000510 40000000 ... 04000000 00000000 };
SUAutomaticallyUpdate = 0;
SUEnableAutomaticChecks = 0;
SUHasLaunchedBefore = 1;
SULastCheckTime = "2026-02-25 05:36:51 +0000";
SUScheduledCheckInterval = 10800;
SUUpdateRelaunchingMarker = 0;
}
New solution from Gemini in my previous post.