Your Android phone will soon stop pestering you with pointless app update notifications
Because you probably don’t care
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Googleis changing the way your Android phone receives app updates. Rather than giving you a notification every time an update is downloaded and installed, theGoogle Play Storewill handle things quietly in the background without pestering you.
These notifications rarely contain any information about what the update actually contains (bug fixes or new features) and are therefore of limited use.
It’s a simple solution to a small but frustrating issue, which happens when you plug your phone in to charge and the notification shade suddenly goes crazy as apps are updated automatically.
The change was first reported byAndroid Policein December, when alarmed Android users on Reddit began complaining about ‘missing’ app notification updates.
Google has now stepped in to clarify that this is actually a feature, not a bug, and we can expect to see far fewer notifications from the Play Store in future.
Out of the loop
Although many users will welcome this change, not everyone is pleased and manyhave taken to Redditto voice their complaints.
“It’s baffling,” said userCarighan. “It provides no benefit to the end user to not know what was updated, if anything one could think about automatically clearing the notification X hours after it happened. It also provides no benefit to developers, because for testing and for exposure you want users to know how active you are with updating!”
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If you’d prefer to always be informed when an app receives an automatic update. you can revert the change by going to the Google Play Store’s settings, selecting ‘Notification settings’ and toggling the ‘Auto-updates’ switch.
You can also deactivate automatic updates here, enabling you to review the contents of each update and any substantial changes before it’s downloaded.
Cat is TechRadar’s Homes Editor specializing in kitchen appliances and smart home technology. She’s been a tech journalist for 15 years, and is here to help you choose the right devices for your home and do more with them. When not working she’s a keen home baker, and makes a pretty mean macaron.
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