How to enable automatic app updates on MacOS

I regularly check for and apply updates. It's one of the first things I do, each morning, on my Linux desktop. But with my MacBook Pro and iMac, I often forget to check. The next thing I know there are 5 or 6 pending updates that I have to apply.

I'm not a fan of that process. Why? Because every update might bring with it a crucial bug fix or patch for a security vulnerability. As well, it might add new and exciting features to the app. For those reasons, I try to be diligent about updates.

But for some reason, I have a mental block with those MacOS machines. 

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Fortunately, there's an easy solution for that in the form of automatic updates. With MacOS you can easily enable automatic updates for apps. You can also automate the process of OS updates but I shy away from enabling that because I'd rather not get Windows'd and have the operating system randomly reboot on me when I'm in the middle of something. To that end, I also regularly check for OS updates.

But for the app updates, I don't mind if they happen automatically. The only caveat is that you might, every so often, be warned (out of the blue) that you must close an app before the update can continue.

It's worth the hassle.

Let me show you how it's done.

Enabling automatic app updates

What you'll need: The only thing you'll need for this is an Apple device running an updated version of MacOS. I'll demonstrate the process on a MacBook Pro running MacOS Ventura 13.4.1.

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You're all set. Now, application updates will happen automatically, so you don't have to worry about manually going through the process. Just remember, if you see a warning that an app must be closed before the update can continue, save your work, close the app, and allow the update to complete before re-opening the app.