How to Disable OTA Notifications on Android

Android users nowadays get a lot of updates and security patches for their phones. These updates are now getting more frequent. That is there is at least a security patch update once every month. These updates become annoying when they prompt you with frequent notifications to update your android device. Sometimes the notification won’t go away. It will simply stay in your notification bar and you cannot slide the notification to remove it. This is another nuisance of OTA update notification on Android.

What are OTA updates?

• OTA expands to Over-the-Air.
• OTA updates upgrade your System apps and the operating system.

When are OTA updates annoying?

When too many frequent OTA update notifications pop up, there arises a nuisance. People are often annoyed by the notifications. Even for minor updates, these notifications would continuously appear until you proceed with the update. But there are some times when you won’t need the update really. Also, some updates can cause applications to crash. A few updates even come with a lot of bugs, which destroy the smooth working of your android device.

Contents

• How to Disable OTA Notifications on Android?
• Method 1: Disabling Notifications
• Method 2: Disabling Software updates
• Method 3: Disable OTA notification using third-party service disablers
• Method 4: Using Debloater to Disable apps
• Method 5: The FOTA Kill App

How to Disable OTA Notifications on Android?

Let’s discuss the various methods that you can use to disable OTA notifications on your Android phone:

Method 1: Disabling Notifications

If the OTA update notifications on your Android phone annoy you, you can try disabling the notification on your phone.

1. Swipe down your Android to view notifications.

2. Press and hold the OTA update notification.

3. Tap on the info icon which will open notification permission settings of Google Play Services.

4. Toggle the block option to disable all notifications from Google Play Services, including OTA update notifications.

An alternate method:

If the info icon does not show up when you press and hold the notification, then you can disable the notification from the Settings page of your phone. Since OTA update notifications are from Google Play Services, disabling the notifications of Play Services can stop these notifications.

To disable OTA Notifications using Android Settings,

1. Open your phone’s Settings App.

2. Scroll down and open“Apps”. Locate Google Play Services and open it.

3. Choose Notifications and choose Block all or disable the toggle for “Show notifications”.

Also Read: Fix Problem Sending or Receiving Text on Android

Method 2: Disabling Software updates

If you really think you don’t need minor updates, you can disable software updates on your phone. This would stop the annoying update notifications. However, if you wish to update your phone, you can manually check for updates and install them.

To disable Software Updates on your device,

1. Go to Settings.

2. Scroll down and tap on “Apps”. On some devices, you can see it named as Applications/Application Manager.

3. Locate Software Update and tap on it. Choose Disable.

If you cannot find Software Update listed in the Apps of your Settings, you can disable updates from Developer Options.

To disable updates by using this method, you need to enable Developer Options on your Android phone.

Once you have enabled developer options then go back to Settings. Scroll down and you will find Developer Options at the last. Open the options and disable Automatic System Updates.

Method 3: Disable OTA notification using third-party service disablers

1. Search for apps like Disable Service or Service Disabler on Google Play.
2. Install any good service disabler app.
3. You will have to root your device to use such software. After rooting your device, open the software and Grant Root Access to the software.
4. Search for keywords like Update or System Update and disable them.
5. Restart your smartphone. Done! You no more will have annoying OTA notifications.

Method 4: Using Debloater to Disable apps

Debloater is a software tool to disable a variety of apps including the System apps. You need not root your phone to use Debloater. You can see a list of all your System apps in the Debloater Window and you can disable the one that checks and downloads OTA updates.

First of all, Debloater is not an Android app. It is a software tool that is available for Windows or Mac PCs.

1. Download and install the latest version on Debloater.
2. Enable USB debugging on your phone from the Developer Options.
3. Connect your Android device to your PC via USB.
4. Ensure that you have connected and synced the device (Indicated by green dots near Device connected and Synced options).
5. Choose Read Device Packages and wait for a while.
6. Now remove the app that downloads OTA updates (system updates).
7. Disconnect your phone from your PC and reboot your device. Great! You have just got rid of annoying OTA updates.

Method 5: The FOTA Kill App

1. Download the FOTAKILL.apk app and install it on your phone.
2. Install a root file manager app. You can find many such apps in the Google Play Store.
3. With the help of your Root file manager software copy FOTAKILL.apk to system/app
4. If it asks for root permission, you would have to grant root access.
5. Scroll down to FOTAKILL.apk and press and hold the Permissions option.
6. You have to set the permission of FOTAKILL.apk as rw-r-r(0644)
7. Exit the application and restart your device. You would never see OTA notifications again until you re-enable the services.

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I hope the above guide was helpful and you were able to disable OTA Notifications on your Android device. Having any issues? Feel free to comment below. And don’t forget to leave your suggestions in the comments box.