Fixing Phantom App Store Updates

The OS X Mac App Store sometimes doesn’t correctly recognize that an app update has succeeded. The update does get correctly applied, but the notification remains in the App Store “Updates” tab (with a greyed-out button saying “Installed”) and the update count badge does not disappear from the App Store icon. Restarting the App Store or even the computer does not cause these phantom updates to go away. In the last week, I have had this happen to me a couple times. So, I went about finding a solution. Here’s what worked for me:

The Non-Geek Way

  1. Open up a Finder window and navigate to the Applications folder.
  2. Find the app with the phantom update and drag it to the Trash.
  3. Open up the App Store, find the app, and reinstall it.

The Semi-Geek Way

  1. Install OnyX.
  2. Open OnyX. Under Maintenance > Rebuild, check LaunchServices.
  3. Click Execute.
  4. Open up the App Store, click on Updates. The phantom updates are still there, but you can now (re)install them. After you do, they should disappear correctly.

The Alpha-Geek Way

  1. Open the Terminal.
  2. Enter the following command (on one line) to rebuild the Launcher library:
    /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
  3. Open up the App Store, click on Updates. The phantom updates are still there, but you can now (re)install them. After you do, they should disappear correctly.