Applications on your iPhone or iPad receive regular updates, from minor bug fixes to major feature or design updates. Apple encourages users to automate these updates through the App Store. Still, many users prefer more control, for example to manage data usage or to prevent an app from suddenly changing after an update.
Fortunately, you have the option to determine when and how apps are updated. In this article we explain step-by-step how to perform manual updates and how to enable or disable automatic updates. This way you can manage your apps the way you want, without surprises or unwanted downloads in the background.
Update apps on iPhone or iPad
- Open the App Store app
- On a tab, for example ‘Today’
- Tap your profile photo or initials at the top
- Select the ‘Updates’ option
- Swipe the page down
You can immediately perform the updates, either individually by tapping ‘Update’ next to the update or all at once by choosing ‘Update all’ at the top of the list.
Trick to quickly update apps
Do you want to quickly open the overview of available updates? Then all you have to do is place your finger on the App Store icon on the home screen until the shortcuts menu opens. Then let go, tap on ‘Updates’ and immediately the update page will open and you can update it.
Automatically update applications
If you find manually updating applications a bit too cumbersome, you can choose to have the updates installed on your iPhone or iPad automatically. You can activate this via Settings ▸ Apps ▸ App Store ▸ enable the ‘App updates’ option under ‘Automatic downloads’.
Apps are then updated automatically in the background with a working internet connection. Under ‘Mobile data’, disable the ‘Automatic downloads’ option if you only want to use WiFi when updating automatically.
Still updating manually
Although apps are automatically updated by default, this does not always happen immediately when a new version is available. iOS and iPadOS often only perform automatic updates when the device is charged, connected to WiFi and not used for an extended period of time. As a result, it can sometimes take hours or even days before you have the latest version. It’s therefore wise to manually check for updates in the App Store every now and then so that you can benefit from improvements, new features and more as soon as they are released.