24 Mar 2012

Disable automatic updates for your crucial Android apps

Android Market has a per-app preference for automatically updating the app when a newer version is available.  It’s convenient, and is usually a good security measure to keep this option enabled for all your apps.  However, if there’s an app that’s “crucial” — i.e., if you cannot afford to have this app not running, you may want to disable automatic updates for that app.

I use Sleep as Android to track my sleep.  I turned on sleep tracking last night and went to sleep.  Woke up this morning and saw that the Sleep app wasn’t running.  Instead there was a notification from Android Market that it had updated the Sleep app overnight.  The app got killed when it was updated and was never started again.  Had it been a weekday, I would have missed my wake up alarm and could have slept longer than usual.

I have now disabled automatic updates for this app.  Disabling automatic update for this app would require that I manually update it every time there’s a new version.  It’s a pain, but it’s much better than oversleeping and being late to work.

2 comments:

  1. I purchased a LG e720 (really,it was passed on to me following 3 years of utilization,) and the bloatware from LG and Bell Mobility combined left around 20 MEGABYTES of internal storage space let on the device alone for around 200mb.Fortunately,it was running Android 2.2 (Froyo,) so I fired up Z4root,booted the device into temporary root mode,installed Link2sd and uninstalled the behemoth of pointless crap which LG and Bell included.
    @Linda Smith.

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  2. Great post.It's a smart thought to stay up with the latest on your smartphone or tablet to get the latest levels or vital bug and security fixes.In any case,it's not generally perfect to simply give them a chance to update without your consent.Have a nice day.

    Julia Adams.

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