Automatic updates grant snap users an ability to receive timely patches to their software, both in aspects of security and functionality. This can be rather useful and convenient, especially for applications that have online access. On the other hand, automatic updates can potentially disrupt users’ workflows if they happen to coincide.
By default, snap refreshes are triggered four times a day. Users have the option to fine-tune the exact schedule, which can help minimize any conflict with actual work, but even so, there might be an update to a running application while it’s in use. In this case, a notification is shown to the user asking them to close the application, in order to allow it to be refreshed in the next slot (about six hours later), or to allow them to manually run the snap refresh command. Of course, this behavior is confusing and inconvenient, and that’s why the snapd team is working on a number of methods designed to minimize impact in these scenarios. These…
