How to Turn Off Automatic Updates on Your iPhone
While the automatic updates feature on iOS and apps can be helpful, it can also be annoying for people who want to control when their iPhones download or install software. This is especially true if they have limited cellular data each month or a fixed amount of storage on their phones.
Settings
Apple’s Automatic App Updates feature is a great way to keep your apps up to date with new features and bug fixes. However, you may want to disable it for a variety of reasons, including increased battery drain or data usage. Fortunately, you can still update your apps manually. To do this, head over to your settings and swipe up to find iTunes & App Store. From there, you can choose to enable or disable the ‘Updates’ toggle under the Automatic Downloads section.
You can also limit the types of apps that automatically download updates by choosing to only allow updates to be downloaded via Wi-Fi. This will prevent large apps and games from downloading updates over your mobile network when you are not on Wi-Fi. This can be especially helpful if you travel and use a lot of cellular data.
When you turn on automatic app updates, you can also select whether the updates should be installed over Wi-Fi only or also over your mobile data connection. This is especially useful if you frequently travel and use a lot of data on your iPhone. However, it is important to note that even if you disable automatic app updates, you will still receive notifications of available updates for the apps on your device.
While most of the time, app updates are a good thing as they can add new features and improve your experience with the app. However, occasionally the apps are not updated correctly and can cause a problem or remove features that you actually use. Disabling the automatic app updates will prevent you from getting these alerts in the future and removing the update will stop it from installing on your device.
Once you have disabled automatic app updates, you will need to manually install any available updates for the apps on your iPhone. This is very easy and can be done by opening the App Store, tapping on the Updates tab, and selecting the updates you would like to install. Alternatively, you can also check for and download updates in your Settings -> General -> Software Update menu.
General
Apple’s iOS and App Store apps automatically update themselves to ensure you always have the most recent features. While this can be convenient, it also uses up your mobile data on cellular networks. You can turn off automatic operating system and App Store updates to limit your cellular data usage.
To disable automatic updates, open the Settings app and tap General. Then, scroll down and tap the green “Updates” switch to turn it off. You can still manually check for updates, and you can update apps individually.
You can use Wi-Fi only to download software updates, or you can let your iPhone download them over cellular data as well. The option to download over cellular data can be helpful if you have a limited amount of mobile data and want to update your apps without going over your cap. However, some people dislike this feature because it can lead to battery drain and other issues. It can also cause their iPhone to update even when they don’t want it to.
The problem with turning off auto-updates is that it can take a while to manually install an update. This is because Apple has to first send a signal to every iPhone with the update enabled to start downloading it. Depending on the size of the update, this can take up to four weeks. In some cases, this means that bugs in an update can go unnoticed for a long time.
Some users are willing to deal with these issues and keep their Auto-Updates turned on, particularly early adopters who like to be among the first to use new apps. Others, however, are concerned about the impact of these updates on their device and would prefer to have more control over when and how they update.
For these users, turning off Automatic Updates and updating their apps manually is the best option. This way, they can update their apps only when they’re connected to a Wi-Fi network and avoid using up their mobile data or suffering from added battery drainage or the inability to use app features that have been discontinued.
Software Update
If you’re noticing that your iPhone is updating apps and software over night when it isn’t being used, it may be due to the automatic updates feature. It’s a great way to keep your phone running smoothly and with the latest features. However, some users prefer more control over when their apps update. They’re also concerned about how updates can affect other apps on the device.
To disable the auto-updates feature on your iPhone, tap on Settings and scroll down to the “iTunes & App Store” section. On this page, toggle the switch that says “Updates” off. This will stop your iPhone from downloading app and iOS updates automatically until you manually turn the feature on again.
This option is especially important if you have a limited data plan as it will save you mobile data usage by only downloading apps over WiFi. If you want to turn the feature back on, simply toggle the Updates switch to green.
Some users don’t enjoy the fact that their apps will automatically download and install updates over cellular data. This can lead to unnecessary battery drain and data overage charges, especially if you have a small data plan. Others aren’t happy with the way that app updates will sometimes remove or change features they use. To avoid this, you can limit the apps to only update over WiFi and disallow the “Use Cellular Data” option for those apps that are larger than 200MB.
You can also go a step further and select individual apps in the App Store and choose to Update Manually. This will allow you to choose if the apps will update over WiFi only or over cellular data, and you can also review changes in advance of the app being updated.
If you decide to enable the automatic updates feature again, you can do so by returning to the “iTunes & App Store” settings page and tapping on the Updates switch to make it green. Then your iPhone will download and install app and iOS updates automatically until you toggle the switch back to off.
Updates
While app updates are important for security and keeping your apps up to date with new features, they can also be a source of battery drain. If your iPhone is constantly downloading and installing app updates, it can eat up a lot of your data plan or even run out of battery power. Luckily, you can control how frequently your apps update by changing the settings on your device.
The Automatic Downloads setting controls whether your iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch) download and install software updates over the internet. To disable automatic downloads of app and OS updates, tap the switch next to Automatic Downloads and turn it off. If you want to re-enable automatic app updates, toggle the switch back to green.
Automatic updates for your apps will still occur over Wi-Fi as usual, but they won’t be installed when the device is plugged in or not being used, such as when it’s charging at night. This is a good way to save your battery life while still ensuring you get the latest bug fixes and security updates.
If you’re concerned about how much storage your apps are taking up, you can also check the amount of storage they’re using by tapping on your profile icon at the top of the App Store and then going to your Updates tab. Here you’ll see a list of all your apps, their version number, and how much space each one is taking up.
You can also use this tab to install the latest app updates manually if you wish, but it’s generally best to leave them turned off unless you’re concerned about your battery life or data usage. You’ll still get notifications from the App Store when there are pending updates, but it’s up to you to decide when to install them.
If you’re worried about a specific app using up too much of your data, you can restrict how much of your data it can use by selecting the Limit Data Usage option in the Cellular plan settings. This will set the maximum amount of data a single app can use on a particular network connection, which will prevent it from wasting your data when it’s running in the background.