The Snap Store Override
In older versions of Ubuntu Linux, Mozilla Firefox was installed via the traditional `apt` package manager, giving users precise control over when the browser updated. However, starting with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu) completely replaced the Firefox `.deb` package with a “Snap” package. Snap packages are sandboxed applications designed to run securely and, crucially, to update themselves entirely automatically in the background. While this ensures you always have the latest security patches, it is extremely annoying if an automatic update breaks a critical browser extension, alters the user interface without your permission, or consumes your mobile hotspot bandwidth by downloading a 200MB update silently.
How to Temporarily Defer Snap Updates
Because Snaps are designed to be unstoppable, you cannot permanently turn off updates for Firefox while keeping it installed as a Snap. However, you can configure the Snap daemon to delay updates, or only perform them at specific times (like the middle of the night).
1. Open your terminal application.
2. To force the Snap store to only update Firefox (and all other snaps) between 2:00 AM and 4:00 AM, run the following command:
sudo snap set system refresh.timer=02:00-04:00
3. If you want to temporarily pause updates entirely while you are working on a critical project, you can “hold” the refresh for a maximum of 90 days (you cannot hold it forever):
sudo snap set system refresh.hold="$(date --date='30 days' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%:z)"
This specific command halts all snap updates for exactly 30 days.
How to Permanently Stop Updates by Removing the Snap
If you demand absolute manual control over your web browser, the only solution is to rip the Firefox Snap completely out of Ubuntu and install the traditional “binary” version provided directly by Mozilla.
1. Open the terminal and uninstall the Snap version:
sudo snap remove firefox
2. Add the official Mozilla Team PPA (Personal Package Archive) to your system, which provides the traditional un-sandboxed `.deb` version of Firefox:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa
3. Because Ubuntu will try to reinstall the Snap version if you simply type `apt install firefox`, you must instruct the package manager to prioritize the Mozilla PPA over the Ubuntu repository. Create a new preference file:
echo 'Package: *' | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla-firefox
echo 'Pin: release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla-firefox
echo 'Pin-Priority: 1001' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla-firefox
4. Finally, update your package lists and install the traditional version of Firefox:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install firefox
Firefox will now behave like a normal Linux application, only updating when you explicitly run an apt upgrade command.