Should I be in admin account to update programs?

[mac_in_tosh]

On my MackBook Pro I have a couple of accounts other than the administrator's. Often a notification of a program update will come when I'm in one of those other accounts. For some reason going back many years I always have only done updates in the admin account but am questioning if this is necessary or advisable. Does it matter which account does the update?

 

[bogdanw]

If you are referring to apps from the App Store, it doesn’t matter.

Only if you restrict app installation for the other accounts, you would have to use the admin account to update.

restrict-store-disable-app-adoption
“If true, disables app adoption by users. Available in macOS 10.10 and later.”
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/appstore
restrict-software-update-require-admin-to-install
“If true, restrict app installations to admin users. This key has the same function as the restrict-store-require-admin-to-install key in the com.apple.appstore payload. “
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/softwareupdate

With apps from outside the App Store, it depends on the app. An example: LibreOffice doesn’t reacquire an administrator account for instalation/update, but Microsoft Office must be installed by an administrator.

 

[wonderings]

If you are referring to apps from the App Store, it doesn’t matter.

Only if you restrict app installation for the other accounts, you would have to use the admin account to update.

restrict-store-disable-app-adoption
“If true, disables app adoption by users. Available in macOS 10.10 and later.”
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/appstore
restrict-software-update-require-admin-to-install
“If true, restrict app installations to admin users. This key has the same function as the restrict-store-require-admin-to-install key in the com.apple.appstore payload. “
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/softwareupdate

With apps from outside the App Store, it depends on the app. An example: LibreOffice doesn’t reacquire an administrator account for instalation/update, but Microsoft Office must be installed by an administrator.

I have been in a secondary account that was limited with installation, it was a while ago but I believe I was given the option to enter the admin username and password to allow it rather then having to log out and into another account to do this.

 

[bogdanw]

I have been in a secondary account that was limited with installation, it was a while ago but I believe I was given the option to enter the admin username and password to allow it rather then having to log out and into another account to do this.

I said use, not log in to
Apple:
"You can use a macOS restrictions payload in your MDM solution to require an administrative user password to install or update apps. When users try to install an app or app update, they’re asked for their Mac administrator account credentials and the procedure is prevented unless these credentials are entered."
https://it-training.apple.com/tutorials/deployment/dm195