iPhone (or iPad too I suppose?) app auto updates?

B0bbyEwing

Ok the requirement here is for apps to auto update (like they do no problem during the night on Android) & this is how the phone is set:



So I thought by checking "App Updates" then so long as the phone is 1) on charge - which it is, wirelessley and 2) connected to WiFi - which it is, then it would download app updates during the night, since this is when the phone is on continuous charge the longest.

But nope. 

Wake up & every single time without fail there's updates waiting. Could be a small handful, could be 30, 40+.


Side note - same with the iOS version updates. They have to be manually done, they don't just update themselves.
Bigger side note - that isn't the main issue here, I'm just throwing it out there. The main issue is the apps not updating at all.

Money_Grabber13579

Even if automatic updates are selected, I don’t think they necessarily happen as soon as they are available. It might take a couple of days before they will install. Are you saying that even if you wait a couple of days, they still don’t install automatically?

Neil_Jones

Android apps dom't update overnight, there's a certain criteria that has to be met:

https://support.google.com/googleplay/work/answer/9350374?hl=en - basically on charge, connected to wi-fi, sitting there doing nothing and the apps to update aren't open.

Android will check every 24hrs but that doesn't mean the apps will update themselves pending on the above, they'll just sit in the queue until the criteria is met. Certain critical updates like Google Play will update regardless of what you want.

Can't comment on IPad, but pretty sure the experience is the same.  Might be worth trying a wired charging rather than wireless to see if that makes any difference.

debitcardmayhem

https://www.idownloadblog.com/2021/12/10/how-to-update-apps-iphone-ipad-apple-watch/

MikeJXE

I have iPad iPhone and MacBook Pro but never had that issue

All three are charged by wire

B0bbyEwing

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Are you saying that even if you wait a couple of days, they still don’t install automatically?

No.
I've no idea how long an update has been available tbh. The only way to know would be to check what's available, note it, check again tomorrow, then the next day etc. 

What I'm saying is, this person has come from Android where updates happened overnight (& that's a 100% definitely did as well!). Maybe iPhone/Apple works differently in this regard. They just weren't expecting to wake up & see things like 35 updates & then the next day (after manually hitting update) another 20 etc.

Neil_Jones said:

Android apps dom't update overnight, there's a certain criteria that has to be met:

https://support.google.com/googleplay/work/answer/9350374?hl=en - basically on charge, connected to wi-fi, sitting there doing nothing and the apps to update aren't open.

Ok, to clarify ...

they update overnight for me, I can assure you.
And I meet that criteria.

Neil_Jones said:

Might be worth trying a wired charging rather than wireless to see if that makes any difference.

Possibly worth ruling out, although on Android it did it while I was wirelessley charging. 
I've since moved to wired myself after reading about battery charging & it being better for the phone. Whether it's accurate or not I don't know, I'm not a battery scientist, it's just what I read.

This person will probably stick to wireless I'd say. They were just asking me about the update situation.

debitcardmayhem said:

https://www.idownloadblog.com/2021/12/10/how-to-update-apps-iphone-ipad-apple-watch/

PHK

Neither Android or iOS roll out app updates straightaway. Both operate a scheme whereby a small percentage get the update straight away. Then over the next few days an increasing amount. (In the case of Android up to 14 days) This is a sensible precaution in cases where apps go wrong and is why when they do you see companies say "some of our customers are having a problem"

Also imagine servers trying to cope with a billion phones updating WhatsApp in 24 hours.

The difference is that on iOS if you refresh the update page then you'll see pending updates marked with the day they were initially made available even if they've not rolled out. On Android if you refresh  it will only show you updates that are ready to be rolled out to you. So it looks like you are getting them more frequently. 

Developers can set an update to roll out immediately and apps with a small number of users don't take long to roll out.

DullGreyGuy

Have to say that I've now noticed that each morning when picking up the iPhone for the first time there are typically 2-3 apps that appear to instantly start installing an update (as in the pie chart shows as c75% as soon as it appears) but complete within a couple of seconds.

Not sure if this is supposed to be some form of visual to show you what has updated overnight or if it's just downloading overnight and doing the install on first awaking.  Certainly wasn't how my previous iphones used to work but if its the phone or the software no idea 

zagubov

A word of caution: back up your phone before updating the iOS. It's possible to update the iphone so it won't recognise your macbook or link to it.
For example the OSX version Mojave (10.14) has a better interface with iphones than Catalina (10.15), but if you update your phone from iOS 16 to 17, the phone can't connect to the computer any more.
I've not seen any warnings about this, so I'm mentioning it now.

Neil_Jones

zagubov said:

A word of caution: back up your phone before updating the iOS. It's possible to update the iphone so it won't recognise your macbook or link to it.
For example the OSX version Mojave (10.14) has a better interface with iphones than Catalina (10.15), but if you update your phone from iOS 16 to 17, the phone can't connect to the computer any more.
I've not seen any warnings about this, so I'm mentioning it now.

If you have iOS 17 Beta installed (or a preview) then this is normal behaviour apparently.

Anyway the only place this is documented is on Reddit, for all the authority that has.

B0bbyEwing

zagubov said:

A word of caution: back up your phone before updating the iOS. It's possible to update the iphone so it won't recognise your macbook or link to it.
For example the OSX version Mojave (10.14) has a better interface with iphones than Catalina (10.15), but if you update your phone from iOS 16 to 17, the phone can't connect to the computer any more.
I've not seen any warnings about this, so I'm mentioning it now.

No macbook owned here

Thanks though.