I have a few free games on my phone that I use to kill time in waiting rooms etc. Along with the annoying ads I also get requests/demands to download the latest version of solitaire or whatever. The games themselves don’t seem to change much or at all. I assume there is some advantage to advertisers or data collectors or something. So, what’s the SD?
Impossible to know without more details. It’s certainly possible they’re just adding more advertising or data collection. It’s also possible they’re fixing legitimate bugs, or adding features that you might not notice. Or they may be making continuous small tweaks so as to ensure you see the updates and don’t forget about the app.
I’m not sure if this applies, since the degree to which app developers take support seriously varies, but they may press users to keep current because they don’t want to increase their support burden supporting out-of-date versions of the application.
Another thing to remember is that mobile operating systems are constantly updating and changing. Apps that don’t update will eventually no longer work. It’s literally “evolve or die”. I have fond memories of nice games I’ll never be able to play again because they’re no longer supported. I’ve also had to uninstall old apps because of that.
Where I work, one of my roles is supporting people who use mobile devices. We have our own catalog of approved apps that people can download, and we’re constantly having to remove (and sometimes replace) apps that no longer work.
While true, this happens way more slowly than apps tend to actually update. Android at least supports apps that are years old. But some apps seem to update weekly or more.
It’s pretty easy and almost automatic to push out updates. So another possibility is that because devs need to automate their update process anyway, they may as well push out small changes as they make them, even if it’s not particularly valuable to the user. It’s just a side effect of a continuous development process.
Absolutely, I agree. I was offering a hypothetical explanation why an app might update when it looks like nothing was changed. But that certainly wouldn’t require weekly updates.
If this is an iPhone, go into App Store, tap on your account up the top right, and scroll down the updates there. In general each one will have update text that at least gives some idea of what was done in the latest update.
I would always keep them all up to date !
Android has that, too in the Play Store. However, half the time the description of the update is “Bug fixes” Geez, that’s really helpful. I also look at the reviews, if there’s a bunch of one & two-stars I keep the version I have.
I also limit the permissions that they get, & frequently play Solitaire in airplane mode - no ads that way as it can’t connect to their server.
I used to do that with a Sudoku I play. Then they updated it so that if it can’t contact the ad server on startup, it closes immediately. So now I have to be online to start it, which instantly downloads about a dozen ads, then I kill the internet, then put up with those dozen ads. But after I’ve sat through those dozen flashing scrolling ads I get blessed relief; no more ads but the game doesn’t shut itself down.
It’s remarkably hard to play a race-the-clock game well with flashing changing distractors along the edge of the screen. Bastards.
Man, just pay the $5 to get the ad-free version.
I wish there was a way to exclude ad-supported apps from the listings completely, but at least on Android it helps if you use the “premium” option.
If there was a $5 version with no ads I’d do that. I do it for other apps.