From time to time, the developers of even the most beloved and seemingly perfect iOS app will decide that it’s time for a change, and they will release an update.
Updates happen for a variety of reasons, some good and some frivolous: they may simply tweak the graphics or change the icon, or they may fix a critical bug, add a new feature, or make the app compatible with a newer version of iOS. Occasionally an update will make an app worse, but this is rare, and as a general rule it’s a good idea to install available updates for the apps on your iPhone 18 Pro Max.
Updating your iOS apps is an easy thing to do, requiring only a few taps. It’s also free. In this article we’ll show you how.
Checking if you need any updates
The simplest way to check if any of your apps have updates available is to check the App Store icon on your iPhone 18 Pro Max. This looks like a blue tile bearing a white capital A made out of three lines. Obviously, it also has App Store written underneath.
If the icon has a red circle with a number inside displayed in the upper-right corner, this means updates are ready to be installed. The number inside the circle denotes how many are available.
Installing updates
Tap the App Store icon to open the store itself.
We need to tap the account icon at the top right of the screen. It’s likely to be a picture of your face or your initials.
Tap App Updates, then tap Update next to apps you want to update, or tap Update All. If you’re wary of bad or unnecessary updates, go through them one by one and read the details before hitting Update. Tap More for extra information.
Before you start down either route, make sure you have a Wi-Fi connection. Updates can be quite large and therefore hazardous to your data plan.
Depending on the size of the update, the process might take seconds or a few minutes. You can track the progress by either watching the circle that replaces the Update button as it fills up with a deep blue colour, or by returning to the Home screen where you’ll see that the app icon is now greyed out and also displays a slowly filling circle.
Should you, for any reason, want to stop an update from downloading, just tap the square in the centre of the circle that replaces the Update button, or back on the Home screen you can tap on the app’s icon itself which will then pause the download.
Fixing a frozen update
If the update seems to have frozen, then you can either try rebooting your iPhone to see if that clears the problem or deleting it: Touch and hold the app on the Home Screen or in App Library. Tap Remove App, then tap Delete App. Tap Delete to confirm. Then return to the App Store and reinstall the app. That should clear the problem.
Set up automatic updates
We mentioned earlier that some updates aren’t essential, and you may choose to operate a policy of checking every update before installing it. But it’s a lot easier to simply tell your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max to install them all, as and when they become available.
Is this a good idea? Only you can decide. But the vast majority of app updates fall into three camps: important fixes that absolutely should be installed; free extra content that adds extra levels/options without affecting what you already had; and seemingly pointless updates that you don’t even notice. And in all three cases you would not be adversely affected by turning on auto updates.
There will be the occasional evil update that wrecks a good app, but these are genuinely rare. The author of this article turned on auto updates several years ago and hasn’t regretted it yet – but your mileage, as ever, may vary.
If you decide that this option is for you, go to Settings, tap Apps, tap App Store, then turn on App Updates.
