Can I stop the updating of apps that I never use?

[bfotk]

I recently updated from Android 2.2 to 4.1. That gained me a lot of apps that I'll never use. So it goes. I don't mind ignoring them...if I could.

It seems like every couple of days I get bugged to allow and update of, for instance, Hangouts or Google Play Newsstand. I'd like to be able to pretend that those apps (and others) simply don't exist. Also, I have to assume that updating means adding things rather than slimming down.

I see that I can uninstall updates but that's precisely the sort of interaction I'm unhappy being dragged into.

I don't want to disable ALL updating or offers of updating. I'm happy to have my Backgammon or Cribbage updated although I could live without that if I have to.

Any suggestions?

 

[hallux]

Go into Settings > Apps then tap the app you want to work with. I BELIEVE that version of Android allowed for the disabling of apps that can't be removed. You will need to uninstall any already-installed updates (the button says uninstall updates, then changes to disable once the updates are uninstalled). This will not reclaim the space used by that app being there but it will stop the annoying prompts for updates.

 

[anon(123856)]

That's what I've done on my Droid Maxx2 to disable all the Verizon bloatware. It keeps them from running in the background but also has the side benefit of preventing those apps from updating. Good call.

 

[bfotk]

Yup. That did it. Thanks.
And I could see the available internal storage going up as I uninstalled updates, ultimately freeing up about 100Mb.