Are Apple updates too frequent?

The frequency with which you prefer app updates seems to depend on whether you are a nerd, or someone who actually has a life. I don't want to see the red updates sign on my AppStore app every single day. It always shows a number like 7 for instance, and when you open the app that number usually increases by a third or so. I do always update immediately, but it's extremely annoying to have to update every day as it takes time out of my otherwise busy schedule, as I use lots of applications for my daily tasks.

I understand there are people out there who just love the cult of apple and enjoy spending their lives updating software and talking about new apple products and looking down their nose at people who don't understand instal updates quite as regularly.

I'm a person who installs every update immediately, I have never owned a computer or smart device of any kind that was not produced by apple, but I do appreciate that some people just don't want to spend their lives espousing how great apple is and how great they are for loving apple and everything apple do, and how rubbish everyone else is because they just don't l get the thing about apple that they get.

The question is still: are apple updates too frequent? Forget the part about you loving apple and everything they do, and pretend that you don't feel that way and give the question another go.

Thanks for the reply. Yes. My message was totally irrelevant to the original post. I was actually just venting as it's so difficult to get an answer to a question online as everyone wants to be an expert. I googled "what to give a cat visitor too drink" last week and found dozens upon dozens of posts relating to the feline digestive system. (The answer was simple people, "a saucer of half milk half water" - get a grip of yourselves).

Anyway. I was actually trying to find out why every day my App Store shows me the badge icon for updates waiting to be installed. It usually shows upwards of three, and sometimes as many as seven (this is actually every single day). When I open the App Store app that number usually increases by around a third to a half.

although it's no great inconvenience is slightly annoying that every day I'm being asked to update apps. I don't have an enormous number of apps by the way.

Yes, actually I'm sorry. In my defence it was a two-year-old post and didn't expect anybody to be reading it. However, it is awfully difficult to get an answer to very straightforward question. My query when I googled and found this post was "why are my apps asking me to instal lots of update every day"?

williworm72 wrote:

The frequency with which you prefer app updates seems to depend on whether you are a nerd, or someone who actually has a life.

I'm not sure why you think the two are mutually exclusive. I's rather like saying something seems to depend on whether you read books or have a life. Or whether you watch football (either variety) or have a life. Or whether you mix a mean martini or have a life. Such a statement is rather insulting.

Other than responding to a 2 year old post, you seem to be discussing two separate issues. iOS updates are infrequent, months apart usually, unless there is a critical security issue that needs immediate attention (10.3.2 was one of these.)

App updates have nothing to do with Apple. They are pushed by the app developers. If you don't like the frequency that an app developer pushes update, just delete the app.

But there's another option: Enable automatic downloads in Settings/iTunes & App Stores for Updates. That way you will never be bothered by having to install updates again, but you will still have the latest version of every app.

williworm72 wrote:

(The answer was simple people, "a saucer of half milk half water" - get a grip of yourselves).

Cows' milk will give cats digestive problems, ones you probably won't want to have to clean up.

williworm72 wrote:

"why are my apps asking me to instal lots of update every day"?

And the very simple answer is "because that's how often the app developers release updates". And, no harm, no foul.

Well I'm certainly not an internet troll, nor a nerd and a do have a life, but according to previous responses to original post these things do not have to be mutually exclusive. So that taken as a given, I don't suppose I have to be either one or other when in fact I could be both (I'm obviously not a nerd btw - but nothing against nerds).

This chat really made me smile. I originally searched for an answer to a question that was annoying me, then couldn't find one and vented a little because I thought no one was listening and instead I laughed out loud at least twice and feel much better. To be honest I no longer care how many tines I have to update my apps. And that is thanks to the apple community.

Thanks guys.

williworm72 wrote:

although it's no great inconvenience is slightly annoying that every day I'm being asked to update apps. I don't have an enormous number of apps by the way.

As this is a technical support forum, not a place to rant, the solution is, as I said, to enable automatic updates. You will then never again see a badge with the number of updates in it, but you will still have the most up-to-date versions of all of your apps.

Along with this suggestion, charge your phone overnight, every night, and enable iCloud backups. With the phone connected to power WiFi will remain on, so those app updates won't use cellular data. And the phone will back up to iCloud automatically also.

I didn't actually invent the categories. I think they were already out there. I just sort of juxtaposed then I suppose. Perhaps I invented a correlation between the two of them, but I'm long since over that now. It was never a serious comment anyway. I suppose I was just being facetious. It all worked out well in the end anyway as I came away from it with a smile on my face, and as far as I know (or at least I sincerely hope to be the case) everyone else should have parted with a similar smile on their respective faces, or perhaps even mildly suppressing a gentle chuckle from within.

App updates are entirely under the control of app developers. If you feel an app is updated too frequently you need to contact the developer. Note that Apple requires apps to keep current with the major version of iOS (e.g., 9.x, 10.x, etc), but those updates should only happen shortly before or after the iOS update.

One major one is coming up: All apps will have to update to 64 bit versions for iOS 11, or they will stop working. Apple has been warning about this for a year, so developers have had plenty of time to prepare. However, some older apps that have been orphaned but are still useful will no longer work.

Your choice is to update or to leave your phone vulnerable to hacking. Most updates fix newly discovered security vulnerabilities, in addition to routine bugs. Once an update comes out hackers will attack the devices that haven't been updated, as the vulnerabilities that have been fixed are published. Your choice, however.

I'll take that into consideration. But they fix one thing and break another. Recently the Apple Contacts doesn't allow me to scroll down and read what's in the notes. That's a new thing. It was working just fine before one of the last updates. I feel that Apple just is writing sloppy code and releasing it to the public full of bugs and then we have to spend all this time doing the updates when staff should have worked out the kinks in beta. It feels in a way that we are doing Apple's testing for them.

Security fixes are not something that Apple can wait around and accumulate in order to make the updates less frequent. Almost all iOS updates include security fixes. If you are not worried about security, then just don't update until you feel like it.

GB