# Why do smartphone apps require (or at least prompt) updating so frequently? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smartphone-apps-require-or-at-least-prompt-updating-so-frequently/605989 "2011-12-13T03:37:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smartphone-apps-require-or-at-least-prompt-updating-so-frequently/605989/21 "2012-04-08T14:35:10Z")
> [@Dan\_Turk](#): > > One thing I enjoy about having an iPhone is that all of my updates go through iOS’ app store. A little badge appears over the app store icon denoting how many updates I have waiting - I can choose to ignore it as long as I’d like or I can open the app store and tap “update all” and enter my credentials only once regardless of how many apps are being updated. It’s centralized and very convenient, like some of the Android systems I’ve seen… so I know at least some OSs do it. Does Windows Phone 7? ? Android app updates go through the Market (or Google Play or whatever it’s called now.) I suppose the ones you looked at had sideloaded apps which had to update independently. as for WP7, if you have the Marketplace tile pinned to the Start screen, it’ll show the number of available app updates (Windows 8 does this too.) If you don’t have it pinned, it’ll tell you how many updates there are once to open the Marketplace app. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smartphone-apps-require-or-at-least-prompt-updating-so-frequently/605989/22 "2012-04-08T15:16:05Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The key thing is that most smartphone apps are web-based. > … > > The downside with this model is the version of the smart client is closely coupled to the version of the website. So in many cases where they provide a small change to the website, a corresponding change to the smart client is required. And to the end user that appears as their app needs updating. I don’t know that this is the case, at least on Android, I don’t know about iOS. Many apps get data from the developer’s website, but I have very few (Android) apps that are just a front end for a website. Of course some are because they have to be. IMDB, for example, is supposed to be a front end. But even then, the updates aren’t usually related to something having changed on the website. IMDB’s most recent update fixed bugs and added the ability to play HD videos on phones and tablets. Before that it was a new interface. Many “front end” apps also have location services, barcode scanners and other features specific to the phone that need updates and bugfixes. I’ve looked through apps that I’d expect to be front ends for a website, like IMDB, Home Depot, Office Depot, Pandora, Weather Channel, etc, but none of the recent updates are related to the website. It’s most often bugfixes for new devices, new translations, and new features that are related to the phone. I’d call those apps “semi-front ends” because they have other features, but they actually seem to have fewer updates than the apps that do not rely on content from the internet. And the apps I have that are true 100% front ends, like craigslist, TVTropes, Ebay etc seem to get updates very rarely. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smartphone-apps-require-or-at-least-prompt-updating-so-frequently/605989/24 "2013-10-03T12:11:30Z")
> [@John\_Cox](#): > > 🙂 Maybe it just has to do with how many apps we have on our phones so there’s always something updating. On my iphone 5 I set as many of them as I could to “Auto-Update” that way instead of seeing a notification that I had to update it and then going through all the steps to do it and then getting a pop-up that it was updated, all I got was the final notification that it was updated. That literally my post from above except you changed “on my last phone I set…” to “on my iphone 5 set…” What the hell? Nevermind, I’m sure it’s just spam. Reported [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-smartphone-apps-require-or-at-least-prompt-updating-so-frequently/605989.md?page=1)