How to Turn on Automatic Software Updates on Your iPhone or iPad

Thursday July 5, 2018 10:37 AM PDT by Juli Clover
If you don't want your iPhone or iPad to bug you about Apple's frequent software updates but want your software to stay up to date, there's an option on the iPhone or the iPad to enable automatic software updates. Apple first enabled this change in iOS 12.


With this feature turned on, when a new version of iOS is released, your iPhone or iPad will be updated automatically
  1. Open the Settings app,
  2. Choose "General."
  3. Select "Software Update."
  4. Tap on "Automatic Updates."
  5. Toggle the option from off to on.
Automatic updates are turned off by default, so the default behavior of software updates hasn't changed. Unless this is turned on, your iOS device will wait for you to manually tap the install button when an update is released, though it will continue to download new updates in the background.

To turn off automatic updates, follow the same steps, toggling the update from on to off.

26 comments

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TMRJIJ
21 months ago

TLDR; Go to Software Update > Turn on Automatic Updates.

These tutorials are getting better..*facepalm*

Tutorial too confusing.... Got my phone stuck on the roof.....
Rating: 6 Votes
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-BigMac-
21 months ago
TLDR; Go to Software Update > Turn on Automatic Updates.

These tutorials are getting better..*facepalm*
Rating: 6 Votes
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Kaibelf
21 months ago

I want to turn it OFF: when I'm at my parents on vacation, I don't have Internet. So I bring my access Point which includes a 3G card. Overnight, as soon as our devices (2 iPads + 2 iPhones) see the WiFi, they start downloading several GB's of updates - and I reach my data cap in less than a week.

gees thanks! How difficult is it to be able to turn off updates depending on network ?


Or, just turn it off when you are experiencing your incredibly narrow use case instead of over complicating it for everyone else?
Rating: 4 Votes
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alllexx
21 months ago

I can’t agree more. All these ‘howto’s’ MR is posting seems to be an effort to simply add content, much of which is useless to anyone with half a brain.

I love them because my parents and some friends are really, really bad with technology so these articles break it down for them farther than I do.
Rating: 3 Votes
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bergert
21 months ago
I want to turn it OFF: when I'm at my parents on vacation, I don't have Internet. So I bring my access Point which includes a 3G card. Overnight, as soon as our devices (2 iPads + 2 iPhones) see the WiFi, they start downloading several GB's of updates - and I reach my data cap in less than a week.

gees thanks! How difficult is it to be able to turn off updates depending on network ?
Rating: 2 Votes
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jclo
21 months ago

I can’t agree more. All these ‘howto’s’ MR is posting seems to be an effort to simply add content, much of which is useless to anyone with half a brain.


Oftentimes with simpler how tos like these, the point is to serve as a reminder that a feature exists in the first place rather than as a walkthrough on how to do it. This is the case with automatic software updates. You might not even realize it's a thing, just because there's so much else going on in the beta.
Rating: 2 Votes
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vertical smile
21 months ago

If you don't want your iPhone or iPad to bug you about Apple's frequent software updates but want your software to stay up to date, there's a new option in iOS 12 to enable automatic software updates.



What if you want your iDevice to bug you about Apple's frequent software updates but want your software to stay where it is?

I can’t agree more. All these ‘howto’s’ MR is posting seems to be an effort to simply add content, much of which is useless to anyone with half a brain.


I don't mind these how-tos, it is not like you have to read them.

Over the past 5 years, the iOS has gotten a lot more complex and unintuitive when it comes to the settings. I am not saying that this how-to is complex, but many things that used to be really simple, are now moved, and hard to find.

I find myself having to do a something-search for where to find settings on Apple devices a lot more often than I used to. So, I appreciate how-tos like this one.
Rating: 2 Votes
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LarryBaker
21 months ago

TLDR; Go to Software Update > Turn on Automatic Updates.

These tutorials are getting better..*facepalm*


I can’t agree more. All these ‘howto’s’ MR is posting seems to be an effort to simply add content, much of which is useless to anyone with half a brain.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
LarryBaker
21 months ago

Oftentimes with simpler how tos like these, the point is to serve as a reminder that a feature exists in the first place rather than as a walkthrough on how to do it. This is the case with automatic software updates. You might not even realize it's a thing, just because there's so much else going on in the beta.



Thank you for taking the time to reply. Even though I may not agree, I sincerely appreciate knowing that users posts are noticed, and the staff will indeed respond.

Thank you again and have a great day!
Rating: 1 Votes
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-BigMac-
21 months ago

I can’t agree more. All these ‘howto’s’ MR is posting seems to be an effort to simply add content, much of which is useless to anyone with half a brain.

But did you know you can change your wallpaper under Wallpaper Settings? :rolleyes:
Rating: 1 Votes
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