Once you bought your first iPhone, you immediately started experimenting with its various features. At the moment, you have quite clear ideas on the use of the “iPhone” and you can feel very happy and satisfied with the choice made. There is only one thing, however, that you still don’t understand: how to update the applications installed on your device.
How do you say? Would you like to know if I can help you? Of course yes, there would be more! Indeed, if you dedicate a few minutes of your precious free time to me, I can explain to you, in a simple yet detailed way, how to update apps on the iPhone : an operation which, I assure you, is much easier than you might imagine . I already anticipate that everything revolves around the App Store, the virtual store of the Cupertino company’s applications.
At that time? How about we finally put the talk aside and get busy? Yes? Very good. So position yourself comfortably, take your Apple-branded smartphone and start concentrating on reading the following. I am sure that, in the end, you will be able to say you are very happy with what you have learned. Let it bet?
Index
- Preliminary operations
- Update apps on iPhone
- Update apps on iPhone manually
- Update apps on iPhone automatically
- In case of problems
Preliminary operations
Before getting to the heart of the tutorial, going to explain how to update the apps on the iPhone , there are some preliminary operations that I want to tell you about and that you must do to make sure that everything runs smoothly. To find out more, continue reading.
The first thing you need to do to update apps on iPhone 13 , to update apps on iPhone 14 or any other Apple smartphone model is to connect the device to the Internet . You can accomplish this using both Wi-Fi connection and mobile data . Personally, however, I suggest you opt for the first option, in order to avoid wasting Giga or incurring unexpected costs from your mobile phone provider.
Having said that, to enable the Wi-Fi connection on your iPhone, you must do this: take the device, unlock it, access the home screen and/or the App Library and touch the Settings icon (the one with the gear wheel ) . On the new screen that appears, tap on the wording Wi-Fi and move the switch located next to the Wi-Fi item to ON .
If the iPhone does not automatically connect to the detected networks or if you have never connected the device to Wi-Fi, then tap on the name of the connection you are interested in in the list below that is proposed to you, type the password access in the appropriate field shown on the screen and wait a few seconds for the connection to be established. For more info, check out my article on how to turn on Wi-Fi .
As regards the use of the data connection, however, to be able to enable it, proceed as follows: open the iOS Settings as seen together above, tap on the Mobile phone item and turn ON the switch located next to the wording Cellular data present on the next screen. For more insights, you can refer to my specific guide on how to activate mobile data .
As well as as I have just indicated, you can activate the Wi-Fi and data connection from the iOS Control Center : to do this, access the latter by swiping down from the upper right corner of the screen on iPhone with Face ID or bottom-to-top of the screen on iPhone with Touch ID . Then, tap the button with the cleats (to enable Wi-Fi) or the one with the antenna (to enable the data connection), so that they turn from gray to blue .
Another operation that you must perform in advance to be able to update the apps on the iPhone is to log in with the Apple account on the device. If you don’t have an account yet, you can fix it right away by reading my guide on how to create an Apple ID .
To log in with your account, access the iOS Settings by proceeding as I have already explained to you, touch the wording Log in to [device name] at the top of the new screen that appears, type your Apple ID and password associated with it in the appropriate fields and, if you have also activated two-factor authentication, enter the verification code provided to you.
Update apps on iPhone
At this point, you are finally ready to take action and therefore go update the apps on your iPhone. The procedure to put into practice is extremely simple and fast.
It is possible to intervene manually or automatically . Find everything explained in detail below.
Update apps on iPhone manually
To begin with, let’s see how to update apps on iPhone manually . It’s super easy, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.
To update a single app , just visit its page on the App Store and press the Update button (if it’s not there, it means you’re already using the most recent version of the same).
Otherwise you can view the menu with all the app updates ready to be installed: take your iPhone, unlock it, go to the iOS home screen and/or App Library and tap on the App Store icon (the one with the background blue and the “A” ), then select your profile picture located at the top right of the screen to access the list of apps installed on the device for which an update is available, in the Updates available section .
At this point, all you have to do is identify the applications you want to update in the proposed list and press the Update button , located next to their name , to proceed. If you want, you can also update all the apps in the list at the same time by tapping the word Update all .
Then wait for the update to finish. You can easily see the progress of the update using the circle that appears next to the name of each application, in the list as well as on the individual icons on the home screen.
Once the update process is complete, you can start the updated apps by pressing the Open button next to their name, or by touching the icon on the home screen and/or in the App Library, as you usually do when you want to start an app installed on the device.
If this may interest you, I would also like to point out that, on the screen visible after touching your photo on the App Store, there is also a section called Recent Updates , where you can find the list of apps installed on the iPhone that have been updated lately.
Another detail that may be useful for you to know is that on the main screen of the App Store, on your profile photo , in the event of the availability of new app updates, a badge is affixed indicating the number of updates available .
Update apps on iPhone automatically
If you don’t like the idea of having to update the apps installed on your iPhone from time to time and, above all, manually, I inform you that you can also enable the automatic download of updates, in order to download and install the most recent versions of the various applications, without even having to lift a finger.
To enable the feature in question, take the iPhone, unlock it, access the iOS home screen, select the Settings icon ( the one with the gear wheel ) and then tap the App Store item . Subsequently, turn ON the switch that you find next to the App updates item , present in the Automatic downloads section , and that’s it.
Note that, by default, updates are performed only when the device is connected to the Wi-Fi network, to avoid unexpected consumption. If you want to ensure that the download of updates also takes place with the data connection, after going to the App Store section of the iOS Settings , turn ON the switch that you find next to the item Automatic downloads , under the heading Cellular data .
Proceeding as I have just indicated, with the data connection updates weighing less than 200 MB will be automatically downloaded , while for those weighing more than 200 MB you will be asked each time how you intend to proceed. If you want, however, you can change this behavior and make sure that no request is ever displayed or that it is always displayed: to do this, tap on the item Download app found in the section above and select the option that you deem most suitable for the your needs between Always allow and Always ask .
I also point out that, despite having enabled automatic updates, you can still keep track of the various updates available for the apps installed on your iPhone, by starting the App Store , selecting the relative icon ( the one with the blue background and the “A” ) that you find on the home screen and/or in the iOS app library, by tapping on your profile photo located at the top right and viewing the list you find in the Recent Updates section .
If the app updates have not yet been performed automatically in the above list and you need them to be performed immediately, you can fix it by selecting the Update all item to update all the apps at the same time or on the Update button that you find next to each individual app to work on one element at a time.
In case of problems
If you are having problems and unable to update the apps installed on your iPhone, before you get alarmed I would say that you can try to deal with it by implementing the following suggestions .
- Use a different update method— if you’re trying to update apps automatically try doing it manually and vice versa, sometimes a particular system at a particular time may not be effective.
- Add a payment method— Make sure you’ve added a valid payment method to your Apple account, even if the app you want to download is free (sometimes it’s still required). For more details, check out my tutorial on how to switch payment methods on iPhone .
- Troubleshoot payment method issues— you may not be able to update apps because your payment method has expired, isn’t working, or you see a message stating “There was a billing error with a previous purchase” . In this case, you can try to remedy by updating the existing payment system. In this regard, it may always be useful for you to follow the instructions contained in my guide that I have indicated to you just now.
- Prioritizing downloads— even deciding to update one particular app first over another might come in handy. To do this, go to the iOS home screen, touch and hold the icon of the app being updated and from the menu that appears choose the option to set the priority for the download.
- Restart the iPhone— as perfect as it may be, even the iPhone can get stuck. Therefore, if none of the systems already indicated is useful for you to deal with the inability to update the apps, I suggest you try to solve it by restarting the device. I explained how to do this in my post on how to restart iPhone .
If then, despite having slavishly followed my instructions, I still haven’t been able to figure out how to update the apps on the iPhone or if during the work you’ve run into some other hitch that you haven’t been able to remedy independently I would say the best thing you can do is contact Apple Support .
Based on your very personal needs and preferences, as well as, clearly, the means in your possession, you can do it in various ways: by telephone, via the Internet or in person. For all the details of the case, I invite you to refer to my tutorial dedicated specifically to how to contact Apple .
I also point out that, on the Apple website, there is a section dedicated specifically to iPhone support , with numerous guides and instructions relating to the operation of the Cupertino company’s smartphone.
