Apple didn't think auto downloads through.

[oldmacs]

I'm currently holidaying with my family, and within the first day we went way over the data(wifi) limit of the place we are staying. I couldn't work that through considering I'd just connected the devices ( 5 iPhones, 3 iPads)

I realised this morning why - bloody iOS 9 was ( and still is) slowly downloading onto 3 of the iPhone's and all of the iPads.

I'm sorry but it should be an option to turn off auto downloads. Plenty of people have small home internet allowances, and do have done our holiday allowance in is freaking annoying.

A simple ' allow auto software updates ' toggle switch would fix the problem.

 

[lagwagon]

I'm currently holidaying with my family, and within the first day we went way over the data limit of the place we are staying. I couldn't work that through considering I'd just connected the devices ( 5 iPhones, 3 iPads)

I realised this morning why - bloody iOS 9 was ( and still is) slowly downloading onto 3 of the iPhone's and all of the iPads.

I'm sorry but it should be an option to turn off auto downloads. Plenty of people have small home internet allowances, and do have done our holiday allowance in is freaking annoying.

A simple ' allow auto software updates ' toggle switch would fix the problem.

Lol. There ARE toggles already available.

 

[The Doctor11]

Lol. There ARE toggles already available.

I thought that only works on App Store updates.

 

[lagwagon]

I thought that only works on App Store updates.

For the top section, that may only apply to apps and App Store (but there are separate toggles for apps and updates which might include OS updates.) But I believe the cellular data option works for everything (apps and OS)

 

[xraydoc]

iOS updates are not automatically downloaded over cellular. Wifi data caps are uncommon enough that I don't really blame Apple for not having a wifi data meter. But you can shutdown background data use for individual apps.

 

[oldmacs]

Lol. There ARE toggles already available.

Wrong - works only for the app store. Its turned off anyway on every single device that auto downloaded.

 

[oldmacs]

iOS updates are not automatically downloaded over cellular. Wifi data caps are uncommon enough that I don't really blame Apple for not having a wifi data meter. But you can shutdown background data use for individual apps.

Thats not the point though.

Most placed i've stayed have data limits on the wifi (IE a gigabyte a day), and we went way over, because a version of iOS downloaded without permission and without asking.

I can think of plenty of situations where you're limited in wifi. Being at a friends place (and not wanting to be on their wifi), being at uni (where we have limits on how much we're allowed to download), my shopping centres all have limits on how much you can download (usually 50 MB per hour - Also at times I have a mobile 3G hotspot, which I usually buy 1 GB to use for a week or so (however long I'm away from home). Since I'm (plus my family) are almost always at home when the major version of iOS comes out, its not much of a problem ( though it used to be when we had 50GB monthly allowance, as an iPad + iPhone for each person meant taking 1/5 of our monthly allownace).

iOS should not download unwanted updates - putting a switch into software update would be a simple way to deal with it.

 

[caligurl]

that's interesting... i couldn't even download is ios9 at work over cellular (no wifi) because when i attempted to i was told i had to be on wifi so download...

 

[oldmacs]

that's interesting... i couldn't even download is ios9 at work over cellular (no wifi) because when i attempted to i was told i had to be on wifi so download...

it didn't happen on mobile data it happens over metred wifi where my family are staying.

 

[caligurl]

it didn't happen on mobile data it happens over metred wifi where my family are staying.

ahhh... well you CAN turn it off... there's a toggle to decide if you allow automatic downloads for music, apps, books, updates.... i have all four turned off....

 

[KALLT]

I agree with the OP. Downloading something big like that in the background without your permission is a dumb practice. Apple sells the iPhone in countries where people don’t necessarily have access to unlimited Wi-Fi. Also, suppose you don’t want to update to iOS 9 yet, perhaps because one of the apps you rely on is not working correctly yet. In addition, iOS will download every update for you. When iOS 9.0.1 is released, the system will discard the other update and download this one. It’s a waste of data and space that you can use for other things.

 

[AlliFlowers]

Odd, I know people who have updates showing for months because they don't want to update to the newest version of iOS for whatever reason. It always asks for permission.

 

[GrumpyTrucker]

Odd, I know people who have updates showing for months because they don't want to update to the newest version of iOS for whatever reason. It always asks for permission.

It doesn't ask permission to download though, not always anyway. Sometimes the OS update will download in the background without you clicking "download and install" and even if you don't install it just sits there taking up 4GB of space on your device. I can see how this could be an issue for people on limited wifi availability, if on holiday etc. I've yet to figure out how & when iOS decides to automatically download an update in the background opposed to letting us choose to. Sometimes my devices do, sometimes they don't.

 

[KALLT]

It doesn't ask permission to download though, not always anyway. Sometimes the OS update will download in the background without you clicking "download and install" and even if you don't install it just sits there taking up 4GB of space on your device. I can see how this could be an issue for people on limited wifi availability, if on holiday etc. I've yet to figure out how & when iOS decides to automatically download an update in the background opposed to letting us choose to. Sometimes my devices do, sometimes they don't.

iOS does this at least since iOS 6. It was a huge issue at the time with people who didn’t want to upgrade to iOS 7 and had to accept that they would lose a few GB of space due to the preloading of the update. Apple didn’t add the possibility to remove downloaded updates from your device until a minor update to iOS 7.

 

[GrumpyTrucker]

iOS does this at least since iOS 6. It was a huge issue at the time with people who didn’t want to upgrade to iOS 7 and had to accept that they would lose a few GB of space due to the preloading of the update. Apple didn’t add the possibility to remove downloaded updates from your device until a minor update to iOS 7.

True enough. But I tend to find that I might get the update auto downloaded and my wife won't, or the other way around, or neither of us will. It's. It consistent and it's like iOS just randomly picks a time after an update drops to notify you and then may or may not auto download. It's not an issue for me, I'll just delete the download if I need to to, but I can see how if you're on monitored or even metered wifi it could be a problem. I don't think a toggle to allow/disallow OS updates to download automatically would hurt them. Or default to "off" and let the geeks among us turn them on iff we want to.

 

[Abazigal]

iOS updates are not automatically downloaded over cellular. Wifi data caps are uncommon enough that I don't really blame Apple for not having a wifi data meter. But you can shutdown background data use for individual apps.

A wifi data cap is pretty common for anyone using a mobile router. Wish there was a way to let features like icloud photo library work only at home so videos I take at work don't immediately start syncing over my limited 5 gb/month cap.

 

[oldmacs]

Odd, I know people who have updates showing for months because they don't want to update to the newest version of iOS for whatever reason. It always asks for permission.

It still asks permission to install, but it will download without permission.

iOS does this at least since iOS 6. It was a huge issue at the time with people who didn’t want to upgrade to iOS 7 and had to accept that they would lose a few GB of space due to the preloading of the update. Apple didn’t add the possibility to remove downloaded updates from your device until a minor update to iOS 7.

Yeah, in the past it hasn't been a big deal (except the year we were on a 50 GB data plan), however this year being on a metred connection it has been a big big (expensive) annoyance.

True enough. But I tend to find that I might get the update auto downloaded and my wife won't, or the other way around, or neither of us will. It's. It consistent and it's like iOS just randomly picks a time after an update drops to notify you and then may or may not auto download. It's not an issue for me, I'll just delete the download if I need to to, but I can see how if you're on monitored or even metered wifi it could be a problem. I don't think a toggle to allow/disallow OS updates to download automatically would hurt them. Or default to "off" and let the geeks among us turn them on iff we want to.

This year it was on everyone's devices except for my own iPad which has the iOS 9.1 beta downloaded and not installed.

I think they should have an opt out system - usually on and if you don't want it, turn it off.

With my family, some devices I wait till January of the next year to update, others (the older ones) I wait till the week before the next one comes out to get the most stable one possible. Essentially with certain members, stablitly is needed not features.

ahhh... well you CAN turn it off... there's a toggle to decide if you allow automatic downloads for music, apps, books, updates.... i have all four turned off....

No - iOS 9 still downloads with all four turned off. I set up and maintain all of the devices in my household and make sure that nothing is automatically downloading .

 

[oldmacs]

A wifi data cap is pretty common for anyone using a mobile router. Wish there was a way to let features like icloud photo library work only at home so videos I take at work don't immediately start syncing over my limited 5 gb/month cap.

I believe that windows has a metred connection setting... Could be making that up though.

I do agree. I would like profiles for wifi networks. For example I would like my iPad to treat my iPhone's mobile hotspot differently to my home wifi.