How to Stop Automatic App Updates in iPhones?

It is good to use the latest app version for getting new features and using secured apps. By default, all apps in your iPhone will be updated automatically to the newest version. However, this automatic app update can be a big headache when an app suddenly stops working after an update. In this article, we will explain how to stop automatic app updates in iPhone along with how to manually update whenever you need.

Related: How to disable automatic update in Google Chrome Windows and Mac?

Why to Disable Automatic Updates in iPhone?

Since automatic app updates work in the background, you may suddenly notice some problems in the following situations:

• Your favorite app may suddenly stop working after an update. You will not even know that there was an update caused the problem.
• Background update may affect your iPhone’s performance when you are doing something important.
• New app version may remove a feature that you frequently use with the old version.
• Some apps are updated to work with the latest iOS and iPhone models. It may stop working if you are using old iPhone model or not updated to latest iOS version.
• You may not like updates happening without your knowledge and prefer to do manual update after checking the change log of the apps.
• Some apps like Microsoft Office gets large update which needs many GBs to be downloaded. This may affect your internet bill and bandwidth. The situation will become worst if you have wrongly enabled automatic updates with cellular data.

At any case, if you do not like automatic updates, you can choose to update the apps manually.

Related: How to stop automatic updates in Microsoft Edge browser?

How to Stop Automatic App Updates in iPhone?

Follow the below instructions to disable automatic app updates in iPhone:

• Tap on Settings app, scroll down a bit on the page and go to “App Store” section.

• Disable “App Updates” option under “Automatic Downloads” section. This will stop automatically downloading of any app updates available for both free and paid apps in your iPhone.

• The “Apps” option allows you to synchronize apps across all your devices. For example, installing an app in your iPhone also will automatically install it on your iPad when you logged into both devices using same Apple ID. This includes both free and paid apps that you purchase on any of your devices. Toggling “Apps” option off will stop downloading apps that you have purchased on other devices.

Both “Apps” and “App Updates” options work only when you have connected to wireless network.

Allowing App Updates with Cellular Data

For cellular network, “Automatic Downloads” are disabled by default to avoid hefty cellphone bill. However, make sure you have not enabled the option mistakenly. If you really wanted to update an app using cellular network, you can enable “Automatic Downloads” option and tap on “App Downloads”. Here you have three options to restrict automatic app downloads based on download file size limit.

• Always Allow – allow automatic app updates using cellular data regardless of the size.
• Ask If Over 200 MB – automatically download the updates for less than 200 MB size and as only if the download file size is more than 200 MB.
• Always Ask – you will get a prompt to update an app regardless of the size.

If you want to enable automatic updates through cellular data then use second or third option. This will help you to know what you are downloading to control the data usage.

Note: Disabling automatic app updates will not have any impact on your iOS update settings. You can control the operating system update as explained in this article.

How to Manually Update Apps in iPhone?

After disabling auto updates through wireless and cellular data, you may want to know how to update the apps manually.

• Whenever an update is available, you can see the batch notification on the “App Store” app. For example, 10 in the below screen indicates there are 10 app updates available on the iPhone.

• If you want to update, open “App Store” app and tap on the profile picture showing on the top right corner. Your profile picture will also show the batch with the number of updates available.
• Scroll and check under “Available Updates” section to view all apps waiting for an update.

• Tap on “more” under any app to view the details of latest update along with the size of the download.

• You can also tap on the app to open it in App Store to read the version history and customer reviews. Or tap and hold to open the pop-up preview of the app along with an option to delete from your iPhone.

• You have two option to update – tap on “Update All” to start downloading all the available app updates. Alternatively, tap on “Update” button against each app to download the updates one-by-one.