Automatic app updates are great for some users, but others would rather have more control over them. They can drain your data plan and battery life, for instance.
If you don’t want your iPhone to automatically download iOS and app updates over cellular, you can disable them easily. This will save you mobile data and a few bucks in the long run.
Go to Settings
Auto-updates are great features that help your device stay up to date with the latest software and apps, but they can also eat up your mobile data. That can be particularly problematic if you’re on a data plan that restricts your usage.
Fortunately, Apple and Google let you turn off automatic app updates to limit your data usage, lowering your monthly subscription costs. Here’s how to do it on your iPhone or Android smartphone.
To turn off automatic iOS updates, you’ll need to go to the Settings app and scroll down to the General tab. Here, you can toggle the Download iOS Updates and Install iOS Updates toggle switches to the green ON or off positions.
When you do this, it will stop your phone from downloading and installing a new iOS update until you either connect to a Wi-Fi network or put your device on a charger. It will also prevent you from receiving those annoying nagging messages about new updates.
If you’re looking to save on mobile data, you can also choose not to download apps that are more than 200MB in size. However, this will still result in a large amount of data being used on your phone.
Another option is to disable iCloud Drive updates, which are downloaded to your iOS device whenever you sync it with a Mac or PC. This helps to avoid wasting space on your phone’s storage, and you can delete them later.
It’s important to note that disabling automatic iCloud Drive updates doesn’t remove the ability for your device to update to the latest iOS versions when you sign in using the same iCloud account. You can still use iCloud Drive to manage your files, and you’ll be able to sync them to your other devices.
One last thing to keep in mind is that it’s worth checking out the Storage & iCloud Usage settings on your phone to see which of your apps are taking up most of your storage. You can then delete any apps that are causing the most problems, and it’ll be much easier to turn off automatic iPhone updates in the future.
Go to General
The iPhone has a built-in feature that can update apps automatically – and it’s good for time saving purposes, but it also uses mobile data and battery power without warning. That’s not a good thing, especially for users who are trying to conserve their data plan or those with limited battery capacity.
However, you can disable automatic app updates for some apps, and the process is actually quite simple. Simply open the app in question and uncheck “Enable auto-update.” Repeat this for any other apps you want to disable.
Another advantage to turning off automatic app updates is that you can verify that the new version of an app doesn’t have any bugs or problems before installing it. Moreover, this saves you from having to manually install a new iOS version if you find a bug.
While it’s good to turn off automatic software updates in order to save mobile data and battery, you should still update your iPhone as frequently as possible. This is to ensure that your iPhone receives fixes for security vulnerabilities in a timely manner, and gets the latest app features as soon as they’re available.
To do this, go to Settings and scroll down to the General tab. Tap the toggle next to the Download iOS Updates option and then turn it off.
This will disable the iPhone’s ability to download and install iOS updates, but it won’t stop them from downloading if you’re connected to Wi-Fi. To enable automatic iOS updates again, tap the switch again so that its background is green.
In the event that you’re on a limited data plan or want to avoid using too much cellular data, you can also disable iOS updates for specific apps by turning off the automatic downloads for them as well. This will restrict how many iOS updates your phone can receive over a cellular connection, and you’ll have to manually update those deselected apps when you connect to WiFi.
The same goes for the Play Store, though it’s not as easy to control the cellular data usage for apps that don’t need to be updated regularly. It does, however, allow you to limit the amount of cellular data that apps can use by tapping the “Automatic Updates” button in the Settings screen.
Go to Software Update
If you want to save some battery and data on your iPhone, you can turn off automatic app updates. By default, your Apple device will download and install all iOS apps automatically, unless you specifically disable this feature.
Auto-updates are an excellent way to keep your Apple devices updated and up-to-date with the latest software versions. They also help your devices stay safe by preventing malware infections and other security issues from occurring.
However, there are some instances when you may not want your iPhone to automatically download and install apps, such as if you’re using limited or capped data plans. By turning off automatic app updates, you can limit how much data your device uses on cellular and Wi-Fi networks.
Another reason to turn off automatic app updates is if you don’t like the way they drain your phone’s battery. This is especially the case if you’re on a long trip or are traveling with a carrier that doesn’t offer unlimited data.
You can prevent your iPhone from downloading and installing automatic software updates by turning the toggle off at Settings > General > Software Update. Once this is enabled, your iOS device will only install iOS updates when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network or charging the device.
In addition, you can disable automatic downloads for large apps that use a lot of data. This is particularly helpful if you’re on a mobile data plan, as it will save you money on your cellular bill.
When you have to manually check for and install updates, it can be a time-consuming process. Plus, it’s possible that an iOS update can cause your app to crash or lag.
To disable this, go to Settings > General and scroll down to the App Store. Then move the Download iOS Updates slider to off/white.
You’ll then see a notification that shows your iOS version and whether an update is available. You can also tap Show Details to view release notes and a description of the new features in the software.
If you’re on a tight budget, you can also disable automatic downloads for apps that are less than 200MB in size. This can save you a significant amount of money on your cellular plan, and will also prevent your iPhone from running out of data while downloading an update.
Go to Updates
Having a phone that updates apps automatically is great, but it can also be annoying. The updates can waste a lot of data, especially if you have low-data plans and a lot of apps.
One way to avoid wasting cellular data is to disable automatic app updates on your iPhone. The Settings app will allow you to do this easily.
To do so, open the Settings app on your device and scroll down until you find iTunes & App Store. Tap on it and then turn off the toggle next to App Updates.
Apple limits the size of apps and games that can be updated on a cellular connection to around 200MB, so this will save you a lot of data. However, this means that many smaller apps and games won’t get updated.
If you have a lot of small apps and games, this can be a big problem. If you have a slow Internet connection, it can take a long time for these updates to download.
Disabling these updates will save you a lot of cellular data while keeping your iPhone’s apps and OS up-to-date. It will also help to prevent battery drain.
In addition, the automatic downloads aren’t available while your iPhone is in low power mode or when you have a limited amount of cellular data left. You can still use your iPhone to download apps and software updates, but they will only happen when you’re connected to Wi-Fi.
To turn off these updates on your iPhone, open the Settings app and scroll down until you see App Store. Then tap on it and then turn off the toggle next-to App Updates.
Once you’ve turned off these automatic updates, you’ll only be notified when an update for a specific app is released. You can then choose whether to install the update manually or not.
In addition, you can also turn off the ability to update apps on other Apple devices that you’re signed in to with your iCloud account. This can be useful if you have multiple iPhones or other Apple devices.