Conflicting Update Notifications

[mac_in_tosh]

I'm running Mac OS Catalina on my 2019 MacBook Pro. I have an administrator account, where I usually do all the updates, and another account. Recently, for instance, there was an update to iMovie that I did in the administrator account and the App Store is showing it as recently updated. But if I go to the other account, it is still showing as an update to be done. Currently the App Store is showing one update available in the admin account while the other account is showing five updates available, most of which I had already done in the admin account.

So since all accounts use the same Applications folder, why is the other account showing an update is available? What would be the consequence of allowing it to do the updates?

 

[Longkeg]

Are both accounts logged in to the same Apple ID? If the “other account” is tied to an ID other than the one that originally downloaded the App... well, that might have something to do with it.

 

[mac_in_tosh]

I opened the App Store in both accounts, clicked on my name in the lower left corner and then on View Information. It asked me for a password, prompting with the same email address in both accounts. I successfully entered the same password for both. So both are using the same Apple ID. I rebooted to see if that would clear things up but it didn't - one account shows 1 update available, the other shows 5.

 

[Longkeg]

So what happens if you update one of the 5 available updates? Enquiring minds want to know. Does it put a duplicate app in the account’s Home Applications folder? Does it update permissions to the app that is already in the root Application folder or does it do something else. Make sure everything is backed up, just in case...

 

[mac_in_tosh]

Your questions reinforce why I'm hesitant to do it.