If you’ve ever had trouble due to automatic app update in the Google Play Store, you may have been irritated by the use of mobile data or even the crash of your smartphone. Learn how to have full control over Android app updates.
Application updates have their advantages and disadvantages. First, application updates are very important because they protect you from security vulnerabilities. Each new version may include features or bug fixes from previous versions. While application updates improve the performance of your devices, they often consume your mobile data, deplete battery power, slow down your device, and soon.
The Google Play Store allows you to automatically update applications when a new version of the app is launched in-store. You can enable automatic app updates to never need to update apps manually.
But as the number of apps on your device grows, automatic app updates can become annoying as they can consume your mobile data or even crash your smartphone.
And if you prefer to update them manually, you can also configure your Android to not do automatic updates. Here we will teach you to prevent automatic updating of all your apps on Android or just a few, individually.
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How to turn off auto-update on Google Play
First, open the Google Play Store and touch the (three bars) menu icon in the upper left corner. Then scroll down and choose the ‘Settings’ option. In the Play Store settings, tap Auto-update apps.
You will see three options (which can be changed at any time):
- Through any network
- Wi-Fi only
- Do not update apps automatically
Choose the last option (Do not update apps automatically). Note that this means that you will always need to manually upgrade all applications in the future.
If you still want applications to update automatically, but not on your data connection, select automatic Wi-Fi-only application update.
Manually updating apps in the Play Store
If you’ve told the Play Store not to update applications automatically, you’ll need to manually update your apps. To manually update an app, you must visit ‘My apps and games’ on Google Play, open the navigation window and select it (on the three bars button next to the search bar).
You’ll see a display of your apps in the list: The ones that are currently installed on your device, and the main list of all apps you’ve downloaded. In the list ‘Set’, you will see that the applications are divided into categories: Updates, Updated recently and Updated.
Applications with available updates are listed at the top. You can choose to install them one at a time in ‘Update‘ or all of them with the ‘Update all’ button at the top.
Individual Application Update
If you want to set the automatic update setting for individual applications, you can do so through these steps.
1. Open the Google Play Store, go to ‘Menu’ in the upper left corner and choose ‘My Apps’.
2. Go to Installed and click on the application you want to modify the automatic update settings. Press the Menu button in the upper right corner of the screen and uncheck Automatic update.
You now have full control of when your Android apps will be updated. You can visit your list of apps installed on Google Play if you want to manually upgrade in the future.
How do I update APK apps on Google Play?
You can not update apps installed outside the Google Play Store. You will have to manually install a new APK file when one is available. Google Play settings only control apps that you’ve downloaded directly to Google Play.
How do I turn off notifications?
In Google Play Store settings, there is a ‘Notifications’option. Verification will enable notifications, and unchecking will disable it.
What happens when my smartphone switches off in the middle of an app update on Google Play?
Downloading the update will be interrupted when your device is turned off, for example, if the device battery runs out in the middle of an update. You will need to return to the Google Play Store updates page in case your updates are manual to proceed with updating the app.
If your Google Play Store is set to update automatically, as soon as your device reconnects and connects to the Internet, downloading is done normally, so you do not need to do anything.
If you need help, have doubts or concerns, do not hesitate to leave a comment in the comment box below and we will try to help you as soon as possible!