Apple releases a massive, entirely new version of macOS every year (such as moving from macOS Monterey to macOS Ventura, or Ventura to Sonoma). While installing minor security patches is always recommended, jumping to a completely new operating system on day one is risky. It can break critical professional software, introduce battery drain bugs, and disrupt your workflow.
Despite these risks, Apple will constantly bombard your screen with aggressive “Upgrade to macOS [New Version]” notification banners. Furthermore, a permanent, un-dismissible red notification badge will appear on your System Settings icon, nagging you every time you look at the Dock. To keep your current OS stable and regain your sanity, you can completely block these major upgrade notifications using the Terminal.
How to Block Mac OS Upgrade Notifications
You must use the softwareupdate command to explicitly tell macOS to ignore major release prompts.
- Open the Finder, go to Applications, open the Utilities folder, and double-click Terminal.
- You must tell the system updater to stop checking for major OS upgrades in the background. Type the following exact command and press Enter:
sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS" - Because you are modifying the update daemon, you will be prompted for your administrator password. Type it in (the characters will remain invisible) and press Enter.
- To wipe the annoying red notification badge that is already stuck on your System Settings icon, type this command and press Enter:
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0 - Finally, you must restart the Dock so the red badge disappears. Type this command and press Enter:
killall Dock
The red dot will instantly vanish from your Dock. Your Mac will still continue to download essential security patches for your current version of macOS in the background, but it will permanently stop nagging you to install the massive, risky annual upgrades until you are ready to do it manually.