Bitwarden Desktop - enable/disable Automatic Updates

This request is MacOS specific; I don’t know if the same would apply to Windows or Linux.

Add a setting/preference for the Bitwarden Desktop app to enable the app to update automatically.

Reasoning for not enabling automatic updates in Apple System Settings can vary between end-users, for example one may not want other apps on their device to update automatically as a form of version control. My specific scenario prevents this setting from being enabled, or even performing a manual update from the App Store, as my device is controlled by our company MDM.

Adding this feature would allow me to easily stay up-to-date with new releases, without bothering my company IT or bypassing company security (company policy suggests auto-updates to be turned on whenever available, but unfortunately not through the App Store).

Feature name: Enable/Disable automatic updates

Feature function: Allow a user to set whether new updates must be downloaded automatically without any notification (as it is now) or whether Bitwarden should just notify the user that a newer version is available and then give the user the option to download it later.

What will this feature do differently?: A person may be in areas where large downloads are not allowed or where the cost of such downloads on mobile data (especially when roaming) can be very high. A setting like this will enable the user to decide whether an update must be downloaded, at that specific time, or not thus giving the user the option to download said update later.

What benefits will this feature bring?: Better control over what the application does in the background.

The ability to disable automatic updates is needed for situations such as bug #6169 where the desktop app updates before a compatible version of the browser extension is available. In the current situation one must downgrade to 2023.7.1 to restore functionality, but immediately after installing the user is prompted to upgrade.

I would like to be able to disable automatic updates for all users of a machine, because I don’t want the users without local admin to get the update prompt that they can’t authorize and don’t want it automatically downloading the installer that isn’t going to be used. Instead, our system management tool deploys the update quite quickly.

I’m stuck in this limbo :point_down:

(MacOS)

Policy prevents me from updating and I also keep getting harassed with popups asking for admin password.

Bitwarden isn’t controlled by MDM for me so I’m stuck without a working Bitwarden desktop client

Additionally, a setting to enable update check only on startup would be appreciated. I have the application set to start on login, and twice now the update prompt has booted me back to the desktop from a fullscreen application.

I want to be able to have full control over the software running on my OS

  • I don’t want to be forced to update my software
  • I don’t want to be harassed by dialogs / bouncing icons / popups etc

An option to disable automatic updates and prohibit Bitwarden from harassing users while in critical UX flows would be greatly appreciated