iPhone101: Updating Apps Automatically or Take Control of What Apps Update When and Where

Podcast Summary:

Blind Abilities presents another episode in their iPhone101 Series. Today, Pete Lane walks us through the process used to arrange our iOS Settings to allow for the “manual” updates of apps in the App Store. Why manual updates you might ask? Every once in a while, we encounter an update that present some kind of a problem, either with the way VoiceOver behaves, or something else proves to be unreliable or unsteady. Updating your apps manually gives you control over if and when apps are updated on your phone.

Here’s how Pete’s settings look in two primary areas:

App Store settings for automatic downloads, and Background App refresh:

1. Go to:

Settings, AppStore:

1. Apps is off for me.

2. App updates is off for me

Cellular Data Heading

3. Automatic Downloads is off for me.

4. App Downloads, I have mine set to “Always Ask” because it is Cellular on this setting.

5. Video Autoplay is off for me.

6. In-App Ratings & Reviews is on for me.

7. Offload Unused Apps is on for me.

2nd location to set settings.

Background App Refresh.

Go to:

Settings, General, Background App Refresh

8. Background App Refresh is turned on for me.

Allow apps to refresh their content when on Wi-Fi or cellular in the background. Turning this off may help preserve battery life.

While this may use a bit of battery, I like this on for the Weather apps, GPS and maps, etc. so they are always ready to go when I use them

Try taking control of your App Store updates by adjusting these settings and you just might avoid inadvertently updating to a broken app and find yourself dealing with functions or features that don’t work for you for the duration of that update.

For more details about how to adjust your iOS Settings

to allow for automatic updates of Apps in your App Store, check out the Blind Abilities Quick Byte by Jeff Thompson, published on July 15, 2021.

Thanks for listening.

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