In modern versions of Ubuntu, essential applications like the Firefox web browser are packaged as “Snaps.” Snaps are heavily isolated, containerized applications. A major feature of the Snap system is that it forces silent, automatic updates in the background. You have absolutely no control over this via a graphical menu.
If a new Firefox update introduces a terrible UI change or breaks a vital web extension you need for work, the Snap daemon will force the broken update onto your machine. If you want to lock an application to its current, working version, you must safely bypass the Snap auto-update daemon by applying a terminal “hold.”
How to Safely Bypass Ubuntu Snap Store Auto-Updates
You must use the `snap refresh` command in the terminal to freeze the specific package.
- Open your Terminal application (Ctrl + Alt + T).
- First, verify the exact name of the Snap package you want to freeze. Type this command to see a list of installed snaps:
snap list - Locate the application (e.g.,
firefoxorchromium) in the list. - To safely bypass the auto-update mechanism and lock the application to its current version indefinitely, type the following command (replacing
firefoxwith your app name) and press Enter:sudo snap refresh --hold firefox - Type your administrator password when prompted.
The terminal will instantly reply: General refreshes of "firefox" held indefinitely.
The background Snap daemon will completely ignore Firefox during its automated update sweeps. The rest of your system (including other Snaps and apt packages) will update normally, but Firefox is permanently frozen. (If you ever want to allow updates again in the future, simply run sudo snap refresh --unhold firefox).