Biggest complaint in iOS 10: AppStore updates

[hobspain]

I'm very curious why this hasn't been commented before. The regular process I follow before I update any App is to verify that the new version has sufficient good ratings and reviews to be safe to update and not regret a lost functionality or buggy new release. Well in iOS 10 this is gone: in the Updates tab you can go through the list of apps and open the description of each App's changes but while doing so there is no way to check reviews as it was before (iOS 9.3.2 I believe). You have to go and individually search each app in the search tab and read the reviews and then switch back to the Updates tab. Super annoying !.

Definitely hope this gets reverted in next updates. Other than that very happy with iOS10 on the 6s.

 

[xeio]

i feel the same. its a bad new "Feature". maybe iOS 10.1 will Change it

 

[C DM]

I'm very curious why this hasn't been commented before. The regular process I follow before I update any App is to verify that the new version has sufficient good ratings and reviews to be safe to update and not regret a lost functionality or buggy new release. Well in iOS 10 this is gone: in the Updates tab you can go through the list of apps and open the description of each App's changes but while doing so there is no way to check reviews as it was before (iOS 9.3.2 I believe). You have to go and individually search each app in the search tab and read the reviews and then switch back to the Updates tab. Super annoying !.

Definitely hope this gets reverted in next updates. Other than that very happy with iOS10 on the 6s.

This kind of thing started before iOS 10 was released and seems to be affecting the App Store even in iOS 9 (if not other iOS versions as well). Most likely some server-side issue it would seem. Some discussion of it in some threads here as well as some other sections of the forum, like at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/app-store.1994959/.

 

[lelisa13p]

In the last release version of iOS 9.3.5, this ability was removed. I also used it to check every updated app prior to deciding to apply the update because some are really downgrades, losing functions that are important to me.

I've found the workaround is to use the Purchased tab to review the details that are now missing in Updates. It's an extra step and you have to scroll the list but the Update Available button shows there. A touch on the app icon opens a window with the missing info.

 

[C DM]

In the last release version of iOS 9.3.5, this ability was removed. I also used it to check every updated app prior to deciding to apply the update because some are really downgrades, losing functions that are important to me. I've found the workaround is to use the Purchased tab to review the details that are now missing in Updates. It's an extra step and you have to scroll the list but the Update Available button shows there. A touch on the app icon opens a window with the missing info.

Are you sure it's tied to iOS 9.3.5 and not just something that started to happen around the same time, independent of iOS 9.3.5?

Ultimately it seems like some sort of a bug/glitch somewhere than anything else, given that at times it actually works (like the first time after launching the App Store for the first time, or basically completely closing it and opening it and trying it then), and the rest of the time it seems like its trying to work since when you tap on an app icon you see the data/activity spinner appear in the status bar, but nothing actually ends up happening.

 

[sbailey4]

Are you sure it's tied to iOS 9.3.5 and not just something that started to happen around the same time, independent of iOS 9.3.5?

Ultimately it seems like some sort of a bug/glitch somewhere than anything else, given that at times it actually works (like the first time after launching the App Store for the first time, or basically completely closing it and opening it and trying it then), and the rest of the time it seems like its trying to work since when you tap on an app icon you see the data/activity spinner appear in the status bar, but nothing actually ends up happening.

Dont believe its a bug. It was being discussed in another thread and mine still worked as it used to. Then the next day it changed. What it appears to be doing is clicking on the icon now performs the same action as the down arrow "whats new" that used to be there to see whats changed. Now clicking anywhere seems to open the whats new only. And I do believe it was a server side change because like I said mine still worked the old way in iOS 10 one day and the next reverted to the new way.

 

[C DM]

Dont believe its a bug. It was being discussed in another thread and mine still worked as it used to. Then the next day it changed. What it appears to be doing is clicking on the icon now performs the same action as the down arrow "whats new" that used to be there to see whats changed. Now clicking anywhere seems to open the whats new only. And I do believe it was a server side change because mine still worked the old way in iOS 10 one day and the next reverted to the new way.

Well, it doesn't quite explain why it works on the first try after loading the App Store app, or why the data/activity spinner shows up for a moment every time you tap on an icon subsequently, like it's trying to do something. It seems that there's more likelihood of glitchiness there with all of that than necessarily an intentional design change.

Kind of like some glitches that have been there before with missing/gray icons for updates, or uodayes not fully installing and needing to be redone in some fashion. But it's hard to really say one way or another without knowing more from Apple's side of things.

 

[sbailey4]

Well, it doesn't quite explain why it works on the first try after loading the App Store app, or why the data/activity spinner shows up for a moment every time you tap on an icon subsequently, like it's trying to do something. It seems that there's more likelihood of glitchiness there with all of that than necessarily an intentional design change.

Kind of like some glitches that have been there before with missing/gray icons for updates, or uodayes not fully installing and needing to be redone in some fashion. But it's hard to really say one way or another without knowing more from Apple's side of things.

Hmm I haven't seen it work on the 1st try since it changed. It was 100% working one day and the next simply opening the "whats new" context. Perhaps thats whats loading with the spinning asterisk, the app update info.

It actually makes since if you think about it. Typically folks would want to go to the app page to read about an app they dont have to see if they wanted it or not or what it does. Once you already have it seems that only whats been updated is what you would want in the "update" screen. I sorta like this better actually as all I care about is whats changed in the update.

 

[C DM]

Hmm I haven't seen it work on the 1st try since it changed. It was 100% working one day and the next simply opening the "whats new" context. Perhaps thats whats loading with the spinning asterisk, the app update info.

It actually makes since if you think about it. Typically folks would want to go to the app page to read about an app they dont have to see if they wanted it or not or what it does. Once you already have it seems that only whats been updated is what you would want in the "update" screen. I sorta like this better actually as all I care about is whats changed in the update.

It working can usually be reproduced by completely closing the App Store and then opening it up, going to the Update page, tapping on one of the icons, which expands to show the what's new information, and then tapping on the icon again which will take to the usual app details page as expected (as it was working before). It doesn't seem like it always does it, but often enough it does. This came up in another discussion about this and someone noticed this as well, so it definitely seem like others have been seeing various inconsistencies like this too. Actually, if you tap 10 times on any of the sections at the bottom of the app store, like the Updates section or any other, which reloads the App Store content, you will see this behavior.

As for the data/activity spinner, that happens each time you then tap on the app icon even when the what's new information is already present. Something doesn't quite add up about it all to make it seem like a completely deliberate change. Like I said, it certainly might be, but then there are enough inconsistencies about it to make it seem like it certainly might not be.

 

[lelisa13p]

Just reset my iPhone 6S Plus. Opened App Store. Chose Kindle (for example). Tapped icon. What's New opened. Tapped icon again. Might just as well have been tapping anywhere on a blank spot. Nothing happened at all. No spinning or whatever, just a lot of nothing happening.

Insofar as it being tied to the last iOS 9 upgrade, I had upgraded some apps the day before with the usual favorable icon tapping behavior. I upgraded iOS the next day. On the day following iOS upgrade, I checked App Store to see if anything that I use regularly had been updated (Nextdoor, for example) and the failing behavior was there.

 

[C DM]

Just reset my iPhone 6S Plus. Opened App Store. Chose Kindle (for example). Tapped icon. What's New opened. Tapped icon again. Might just as well have been tapping anywhere on a blank spot. Nothing happened at all. No spinning or whatever, just a lot of nothing happening.

Insofar as it being tied to the last iOS 9 upgrade, I had upgraded some apps the day before with the usual favorable icon tapping behavior. I upgraded iOS the next day. On the day following iOS upgrade, I checked App Store to see if anything that I use regularly had been updated (Nextdoor, for example) and the failing behavior was there.

If you go into the App Store app, tap 10 times on any of the sections at the bottom (like the Updates section or any other), which reloads the App Store content, then go to the Update page, tap on one of the app update icons there, which expands to show the what's new information, and then tap on the icon again, it should to the usual app details page as expected (as it was working before). After that it will be back to the same behavior where tapping on the app update icon will just try to do something (give that the data/activity spinner shows up), but without anything happening. Until you reload the App Store again, in which case the first try should work once more.

 

[lelisa13p]

No joy. Did your dance, sang a little song, tapped along with my music (10 times), App restarted itself, tapped icon for What's New, tapped icon again ---> nothing. Not a thing. The mystery continues...

 

[C DM]

No joy. Did your dance, sang a little song, tapped along with my music (10 times), App restarted itself, tapped icon for What's New, tapped icon again ---> nothing. Not a thing. The mystery continues...

Quite odd. That method works me, and seems like at least another person that tried it when this discussion came up before at https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...xes-and-changes.1992274/page-15#post-23377942
Perhaps speed plays a role too and something about doing it before everything is fully loaded.

I wonder if 3D Touch has something to do with it...perhaps Apple is trying to bring some support for some options into the App Store and it might behave differently on devices with 3D Touch vs those without.

 

[lelisa13p]

I'll have to ask my son to check on his iPhone 6. (I gave him my previous iPhone when I upgraded to iPhone 6S Plus last September, 2015.) Will update with his answer, running iOS 9.3.5.

Also, I neglected to say that I'm still running iOS 9.3.5, having elected to wait until the next release of iOS 10.x when the major bugs now manifesting hopefully are fixed.

 

[Agit21]

I was just too lazy to open a thread on this topic
But yeah it's annoying that we can't go to the review section anymore. I have to search for the app in the store to see the reviews and or write a review of my own.

 

[GreyOS]

fwiw i can't get to the details when doing the quit/reopen and tap 10 times trick. iphone 6

 

[daydotz]

it no longer works 9.3.2 it's always bugged me you can't do this on iPad but mentioned work around is handy

 

[C DM]

it no longer works 9.3.2 it's always bugged me you can't do this on iPad but mentioned work around is handy

Sounds more and more like some sort of a server-side/back-end glitch.

 

[hobspain]

I have verified on an old iPad (3rd gen) with iOS 7.1.2 that indeed App updates don't let you check the reviews or screens anymore , as it used to be before. So as some people have said it looks like it is a server side change, not necessarily iOS 10; they just changed it along iOS 10 release. Would be interesting if you have other older devices and see the same behaviour.

As for the suggestions people have mentioned, the one from lelisa13p of going through the Purchased tab is a good one indeed, but the problem is that my list must have over 1000 apps, most of them freebies I tried that are not on my phone any more, so that is actually quite painful to go searching for the ones that are in the phone and have an update.

The other trick about tapping 10 times the Update icon on the bottom of the screen or quitting the Appstore app, that didn't work for me, except on a single occasion. Tried many times later and no go.

At this point my hopes are the Apple reconsider their decision. I amnot going to update Apps that I use and care about if I don't see a healthy response from users. I understand the intention behind this from Apple, to install apps that use the new APIs. I would even be happy to update everything if there was a simple way to roll-back to the last version if the new one doesn't work as expected but that is not Apple-like.

At the very minimum, showing the date of the update would be very helpful. I have more than 200 apps that have an update available, some of them I simply won't update because they changed for worse.

 

[C DM]

I have verified on an old iPad (3rd gen) with iOS 7.1.2 that indeed App updates don't let you check the reviews or screens anymore , as it used to be before. So as some people have said it looks like it is a server side change, not necessarily iOS 10; they just changed it along iOS 10 release. Would be interesting if you have other older devices and see the same behaviour.

As for the suggestions people have mentioned, the one from lelisa13p of going through the Purchased tab is a good one indeed, but the problem is that my list must have over 1000 apps, most of them freebies I tried that are not on my phone any more, so that is actually quite painful to go searching for the ones that are in the phone and have an update.

The other trick about tapping 10 times the Update icon on the bottom of the screen or quitting the Appstore app, that didn't work for me, except on a single occasion. Tried many times later and no go.

At this point my hopes are the Apple reconsider their decision. I amnot going to update Apps that I use and care about if I don't see a healthy response from users. I understand the intention behind this from Apple, to install apps that use the new APIs. I would even be happy to update everything if there was a simple way to roll-back to the last version if the new one doesn't work as expected but that is not Apple-like.

At the very minimum, showing the date of the update would be very helpful. I have more than 200 apps that have an update available, some of them I simply won't update because they changed for worse.

The fact that that reload "trick" even worked for you once shows that the functionality is there, meaning that it's quite likely a bug of some sort rather than a deliberate decision. Whether or not Apple gets on it to address it, or when that might happen, that's a somewhat different thing to ponder.

 

[C DM]

Well, it looks like whatever was causing this has been addressed and things seem to be back to working as they should (and as they have been before) once again.

 

[hobspain]

Excellent news! Thank you for notifying it!!

 

[lelisa13p]

Yes, indeed. I was checking to see if App Store was available again and (as I always do lately) tapped an icon and was delighted to be taken to that app's page. YAY!

Maybe that function was one of the things being repaired when the App Store was unavailable on and off over the past few days.

 

[Peepo]

It's been like this on iPad as long as I can remember. I always found it frustrating.

 

[lelisa13p]

It appears that I was only half right about it being fixed. Only working as before on my iPhone 6S Plus, not on either my iPad 4 or iPad Mini-R. Same old dead icons. (All are still on iOS 9.3.5.)