You may soon be able to turn off automatic updates on your Chromebook

First discovered by 9to5Google, Chrome OS may be preparing to let anyone utilizing its operating system turn off automatic updates. This is an unprecedented move as automatic updates have been a staple of Google’s security-first OS since its inception. Thanks to a commit that Google is working on, we can see that the following flag is on its way and will be able to be toggled by early adopters – probably in the Chrome OS Canary channel first.

Allow Consumer Auto Update Toggle

Allow enabling the consumer auto update toggle in settings

#consumer-auto-update-toggle-allowed

Since automatic updates on Chrome OS bring the latest features and security guarantees, Google states that toggling the feature off will place you at risk of missing out on these and potentially being vulnerable.

9to5Google actually did a really nice mock-up of what the toggle may look like once implemented. You can see below that an “updates” section could appear in the “Additional details” section under “About Chrome OS” in the settings app. Again, this is just a mock-up, but if I had to guess as to where it would appear, I think they’re spot on!

You may be asking yourself right about now why the heck anyone would want to turn off such a vital feature as automatic updates. Well, I did the same double-take the moment I saw this news, and my only thought was that the newly released Chrome OS Flex could have something to do with it.

Giving users of Windows and macOS hardware who install Chrome OS Flex on their aging hardware may find that updates being pushed instantly as they become available could break more than they fix. There’s a reason that Chromebook hardware is hand-picked and crafted – it works flawlessly, or near flawlessly with Google’s lightweight operating system. Installing it on so many wildcard devices is bound to break something, so this feature to disable a feature could be the company’s saving grace for consumers in extreme situations.

Until now, the only time you’ll have ever seen a Chromebook without automatic updates enabled is when they reach End of Life (EoL) and are no longer directly supported by Google. There’s no saying whether this feature will come to Chrome OS or Chrome OS Flex, or even both, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Let me know if you’d welcome the ability to go it alone without official support on your Chromebook or if you prefer the updates being pushed to you without your intervention. In rare cases, this does tend to bust some things, so I know there may be a few of you out there who concur!