Microsoft Store won't let you disable app updates, adds option to pause updates for 5 weeks

Microsoft is changing how the Microsoft Store handles app updates, it has removed the option to disable app updates permanently. Instead, users will now be able to pause updates temporarily.

Windows allows users to disable app updates from the settings. You could toggle the option off, and it would stop updating apps automatically. The only way to update apps is to trigger a manual download. This is how it works currently.

However, with the upcoming change, Microsoft Store will kill the option to disable auto updates. It will let you choose to pause app updates for 1 week, or up to 5 weeks. After this time has passed, the apps will be updated automatically to the latest version.

(Image courtesy: Deskmodder.de)

I don't see the new option in my Windows 11 virtual machine, or on another computer running Windows 10. So, it's rolling out slowly.

It is not possible to change the update behavior via the Windows Registry, but you can change a Group Policy to stop app updates. Tom's Hardware reports (via Deskmodder) that the change may have been done for security reasons. Older versions of apps that contain security vulnerabilities could be exploited by hackers to attack computers. Forcibly updating an app could protect users, but this may not be the right approach.

Why not just allow developers to warn users with an in-app banner or a pop-up warning, that informs users that the current version of the app is insecure, and offer an option to update it?

There are many reasons why one may not want automatic app updates. Maybe you want to use an older version of an app because a new one is buggy, or the latest version has an interface/redesign that you don't like, or it introduced ads, or removed features, or locked formerly free options behind a paywall, or maybe an app got sold and its trash now, etc. It's a personal choice, but that's the issue here, lack of control.

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