Your iPhone apps will occasionally require updates. If you have been checking for and installing these updates manually through the App Store, then you may have found it to be fairly tedious.
It gets especially bad as you download and install more apps on your device, to the point where it can be time-consuming and annoying to do it continuously.
Fortunately, there is a setting on the iPhone that allows you to check for and install app updates automatically.
You can enable these automatic app updates on your iPhone by going to Settings > App Store > then turning on the App Updates option.
Now your iPhone will check for available updates periodically, and install those updates as they become available.
Continue reading our tutorial below for additional information on this automatic update feature for your iPhone apps and find out if it’s a setting that you may want to enable.
How to Enable Automatic App Updates on an iPhone 13
- Open Settings.
- Choose App Store.
- Turn on App Updates.
Our guide continues below with more information on how to install iPhone app updates automatically, including pictures of these steps.
If you are wondering what happened to the “Do Not Disturb” feature, then check out our where is do not disturb on iPhone 13 article and see how to use it.
How to Let Your iPhone Update Installed Apps Automatically (Guide with Pictures)
The steps in this article were performed on an iPhone 13 in the iOS 15.4.1 operating system.
Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone 13.
Step 2: Scroll down and select the App Store option.
Step 3: Tap the button to the right of App Updates under Automatic Downloads to enable it.
Note that there is also an “Apps” option in that section. If you turn that on then your iPhone will automatically download and install apps that you have purchased on your iPad, or another iOS device that uses your Apple ID.
Our tutorial continues below with additional discussion about iPhone app updates, including how you can manually install app updates, as well as how you can turn on automatic iOS updates.
More Information on App Updates on an iPhone
Once you enable this setting your iPhone will automatically check for updates that are available for your installed apps, then install those updates.
Note that these updates won’t happen as soon as the update is available. It can take a little while for the iPhone to see the update and install it on the device.
One of the other related settings on the App Store settings menu in a “Cellular Data” section, and concerns whether or not you want your device to install updates automatically if you are connected to a cellular network.
If you have a limited amount of data and you have a lot of apps installed, then this can use a lot of your data. You may want to consider disabling cellular downloads. If you do wish to use that setting, however, you can elect to make your iPhone ask you before it downloads an app that is more than 200 MB in size.
App updates are different than iOS updates. You can have automatic app updates enabled using the steps above, but not have automatic iOS updates enabled.
If you don’t want to use automatic updates then you can manually install an app update by going to the App Store, tapping your profile icon at the top-right of the screen, then tapping Update to the right of apps that you want to update.
If you would like to enable automatic iOS updates then you can go to Settings > General > Software Update > Automatic Updates > and configure the options there.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing technology how-to articles and tutorials for over a decade. He has extensive experience in information technology both in small business and as a consultant.
His articles have appeared on dozens of websites and been read millions of times.
He covers many different topics concerning technology, but focuses primarily on smartphones, consumer software, and consumer electronics.
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