IOS 8 apps store badge issue on iphones after sync to Itunes

This appears to be a simple software bug that Apple is just not listening to its users. I notice many of us users have reported the bug, some have even called and the numerous posts since 2014 in this discussion thread, but alas, Apple is deaf to all the requests...

I too am having all these problems ever since I update to iOS 8x a couple of years back, now even with iOS 9.3x Apple has not bothered to sort out this silly bug.

From going through all the posts here since 2014, I got an idea from all your ideas for a temporary solution, until and if at all Apple does fix this bug.

What if we only update our apps from iTunes to avoid double bandwidth by updating from both on the device and iTunes? Then we could just put the notifications off - just the icon badge notification under "Settings->Notifications->App Store-> Badge App Icon = off. This way the irritating badge will not appear and when we download from iTunes as most of us have concurred, the sync happens smoothly, not an issue.

However for this to work we need to follow a discipline of updating the Apps only through iTunes, with a caveat that you can download on the device but you will open yourself to a second update when you go to iTunes.

Hope this could be a solution for the time being till Apple starts to listen. If it works, it is all our joint ideas at work.... I am going to try this from today and will keep updating in case there is a problem.

All the best, cheers

I have an iPad 2 (MC769LL/A) running 9.3.1 (13E238). This morning the App Store icon showed that I had one update so I updated the app and the red badge indicating that I had an update remained. I was able to clear the bogus badge by going to Settings > iTunes & App Store and enabling the AUTOMATIC DOWNLOADS for Updates. I left the setting enabled.

go to settings <iTunes App Store> if buttons are on make them of all and close the page do the same again and switch the buttons on problem solved

Now using an iPhone 6 and iOS 9.3.1, and iTunes 12.3.3.17 on the Mac - the bug still exists.

Updates of App's that are installed on the iPhone via iTunes DO NOT clear the badge count. Also, these Apps are still listed as "Available Updates", but one can open the new version on the iPhone. Over-the-air App updates (= automatic downloads configured in <iTunes App Store> for Apps) work as expected.

In reply to saidhirsi: obviously, if you switch on auto-updates on the iPhone for Apps the bug gets hidden. The point is that loading Apps from a Mac to the iPhone via iTunes causes the trouble. There are several reasons for transferring Apps from a Mac to the iPhone, for example if the download takes a long time for larger Apps.

Thanks! That was the solution to my problem. The only thing I'd add was that I had to switch to airplane mode while I was on the App Store screen.

iOS 10 appears to have resolved this issue. After synching updated apps in iTunes to my iPhone 6S with iOS 10.0.2, I later see a flag on the App Store icon. On the update tab, it briefly shows the previously updated app then disappears (because I already updated via iTunes). I'm not sure whether it works the other way around yet - i.e., app update flag on the iPhone before update via iTunes. Will test when I can and let you all know.

Confirmed - this issue is now resolved in iOS 10. After update flags appear on iOS devices, download of app updates in iTunes on my Mac and sync to those devices now removes the app badge flags for new updates.