I refuse to allow software to update without my express permission, and so I have been forced to get creative since so many software companies feel the need to ignore my wishes on the matter... I have no interest in beta-testing features, nor do I want my personal space (my computer) invaded by rogue installers.

Since I was informed that my reply was to a Windows thread, I will post a new thread specifying MacOS for those like myself.

I found a way to disable the auto-update feature in the MacOS version of Opera.

If you wish to do so follow these steps:

1] Go to the Applications folder and click on the Opera.app while simultaneously pressing the "Control" key you will get a pop up menu. From that menu, select "Show Package Contents" which should be your second option.

2] Then a window opens with a folder that says "Contents." Open that and then you will see a bunch of files and folders.

3] Open the folder that is labeled "MacOS." Inside you should find a set of "exec" files. There is one called "opera_autoupdate"

4] Rename that to "opera_autoopdate," (just one letter wrong so you can change it back if so needed) and then closed everything and launched Opera as usual.

When I opened the opera://about page the app said it was checking for updates for about 5 minutes then displayed "An error occurred while checking for updates."

The app behaves normally in every other way.

So apparently I accidentally found the way to disable updates on the MacOS version of Opera. I was just fooling around and didn't think it would work, but it does.

I am sharing this in the hope it will help others.

I had returned since upgrades allowed me to do what I wanted with Opera, making it a viable option. Now with this news I will be deleting Opera once again.

Yes the world's governments like the US and UK and etc. spy on people, but usually their interests are narrow- they want to gather data about XYZ issue and do a little spying on government or organizations they are paranoid about. Their operations within their country's companies are usually indirect, done in the back room, in the basement, where few can see them, via secret court order.

China on the other hand is deeply involved in the companies its country hosts, and is openly in the board room. Additionally, it's activities are broad and covers everything from spying on governments, organizations, people, to sabotaging governments and organizations, to theft of financial data both personal and corporate, to censorship and everything in between.

If the sale goes through they'll have direct access to Opera, and SurfEasy, the VPN network Opera runs.

I don't trust the world's governments any more than I trust China, but China has proven itself far more enthusiastic when it comes to its surreptitious activities... especially regarding the internet.

Opera does not sync cookies.

All the settings are is Settings > Browser, under Synchronization click the Advanced Configuration button.

Actually no. There is no "Advanced Configuration" button under Synchronization in Opera 31.0

Under synchronization it says:

"You're currently signed in as abcd@whatever.com"

And below that it has a button saying "Sign Out" and a link that says "learn more"

From Opera's own FAQ:

"Opera synchronizes bookmarks, open tabs, Speed Dial shortcuts and more from all of your devices."

The FAQ specifically lists History, Settings, Speed Dial, Tabs and Bookmarks as being synced automatically. I have no way to control what is being synced.

As for Cookies, since Opera is apparently a Chrome clone and Chrome syncs cookies, I see no reason why that would be changed, especially when they don't explicitly say "Cookies are not synced."

I'm impressed that Opera has taken the time to make their Chrome clone more visually appealing and generally easier to use, since Google can't design UI's worth crap... but there's still too many similarities to make assumptions about functions.

I have found a partial solution.

I am always curious and I don't hesitate to mess with the guts of an app, since if I can't use it the way it is, there's nothing to risk if I do something that causes it to malfunction.

So I discovered that if one types opera://flags/ you get a set of controls for some features.

In the search field on the left, I typed in "Sync" to show the content related to the Sync process.

There are a number of options, but the ones I wanted were:

Synchronize Typed History

Synchronize Passwords

Synchronize Opened Tabs

I set all three to Disabled.

I also disabled "Tab Menu With Recent Tabs" since I don't want anything synced regarding tabs, but I doubt its important.

I don't see any settings for Autofill data or Cookies, which I also need to disable before I can consider Opera a viable browser app, but I'm still experimenting.

It would be nice if the people who built Opera simply made these options available to the user like they do in Chrome and in Firefox.

I refuse to allow software to update without my express permission, and so I have been forced to get creative since so many software companies feel the need to ignore my wishes on the matter... I have no interest in beta-testing features, nor do I want my personal space (my computer) invaded by rogue installers.

Since I was informed that my reply was to a Windows thread, I will post a new thread specifying MacOS for those like myself.

I found a way to disable the auto-update feature in the MacOS version of Opera.

If you wish to do so follow these steps:

1] Go to the Applications folder and click on the Opera.app while simultaneously pressing the "Control" key you will get a pop up menu. From that menu, select "Show Package Contents" which should be your second option.

2] Then a window opens with a folder that says "Contents." Open that and then you will see a bunch of files and folders.

3] Open the folder that is labeled "MacOS." Inside you should find a set of "exec" files. There is one called "opera_autoupdate"

4] Rename that to "opera_autoopdate," (just one letter wrong so you can change it back if so needed) and then closed everything and launched Opera as usual.

When I opened the opera://about page the app said it was checking for updates for about 5 minutes then displayed "An error occurred while checking for updates."

The app behaves normally in every other way.

So apparently I accidentally found the way to disable updates on the MacOS version of Opera. I was just fooling around and didn't think it would work, but it does.

I am sharing this in the hope it will help others.

This is an three month old thread in the Windows forum. You must want to post in the Mac forum

I searched the site for help on disabling auto-updates, this is the thread I was sent to. I wasn't even aware there was any specification regarding OS, just a general discussion. I would have specified Mac OS in my search if I was provided the option to do so.

Greetings,

I was attempting to set the sync settings so that ONLY bookmarks and settings are synced and for some bizarre reason I cannot. I don't need or want my history or "open tabs" or passwords and other data saved. I merely want those two essential things saved. Everything else is unnecessary. I don't believe in having non-essential data shared between servers, in case of a breach of privacy and for simple avoiding cluttering the bandwidth with unnecessary information.

It may be fine to have the settings default so that all the possible sync data is saved, but there should be an option- as there is in Chrome- to specify what is to be synced for those who choose to do so.

Given Opera doesn't give me the choice, I cannot use it, and won't until this is fixed/changed. Either a browser has features I want or it's a waste of my time. Chrome and Firefox allow me to do what I want on all the important issues, Opera fails on this issue.

Thank you.

I found a way to disable the auto-update feature in the MacOS version of Opera.

Go to the Applications folder and click on the Opera.app while simultaneously pressing the "Control" key you will get a pop up menu. From that menu, select "Show Package Contents" which should be your second option.

Then a window opens with a folder that says "Contents." Open that and then you will see a bunch of files and folders. Open the folder that is labeled "MacOS."

Inside you should find a set of "exec" files. There is one called "opera_autoupdate"

I renamed that to "opera_autoopdate," (just one letter wrong so I can change it back if doing so did something bad) and then closed everything and launched Opera as usual.

When I opened the opera://about page the app said it was checking for updates for about 5 minutes then displayed "An error occurred while checking for updates."

The app behaves normally in every other way.

So apparently I accidentally found the way to disable updates on the MacOS version of Opera. I was just fooling around and didn't think it would work, but it does.

Hopefully this will help others.

All this is great, but none of the suggested methods work in the MacOS version. Or if they do, I haven't figured it out yet.

I don't allow anything to auto-update, this is my machine, I will choose what to put on it, thank you. If I can't choose by official or unofficial methods, I won't use it.