Disable Auto-Update

How is it possible that a feature I use every day, in an app I rely on daily, entirely offline, just disappeared from my phone?

I use a fitness app. My metrics, such as steps, workout routines, heart rate, are collected from a wearable device like a smartwatch and sent to the app via Bluetooth. No third-party servers are involved in that transaction. The data lives on the phone. It costs the developer nothing to maintain, because there's nothing to maintain on their end.

Then the app updates, just once, and that data is no longer accessible. Not because it was deleted or corrupted. Because the developer decided you now need to create an account on their servers to access information that already exists on your own device.

That's why I have auto-update disabled on every device I own.

Some of the apps on my phone are older than my children. You couldn't download them today even if you wanted to. The developer no longer offers that version. One of my apps is a single screen that displays information based on GPS data and compass orientation. I downloaded it in 2014. I've switched phones twice since then, and each time I've made sure to carry that app with me.

I didn't keep it out of nostalgia, and because I have a hard time letting go. I kept it because the current version has three ads crammed onto that single screen. A full-screen ad hijacks the display at random intervals, complete with one of those countdown timers that slows down as it approaches zero. And of course, there are notifications now. None of that is for my benefit. I just need that one screen. Open the app, read the information, put it away.

You might say I'm being cheap. That if I've used the app for over a decade, I clearly value it. So I should pay for the subscription and lose the ads. Fair point. But I have the old version. It was free, had no ads, and worked flawlessly. No future version can improve that. On top of it, those ads expose me. Advertising is one of the most common attack vectors in mobile security. Malvertising is a real thing. Updating to the ad-supported version wouldn't make my phone more secure.

I don't update apps unless I've read about a specific vulnerability. Even then, I'll often delete the app rather than update it. I can't accept software that changes arbitrarily, especially when those changes almost never benefit me and almost always serve someone's bottom line.

As a developer myself, I have the advantage of actually reading changelogs. When an update says "bug fixes," that's not a reason for me to act, unless I've encountered those bugs personally. Every user engages with a different 20% of an app's features. Someone else's bugs may never be mine.

And why do developers push account creation so aggressively? Because your account is the product. An account means data. Data means third-party revenue.

Every update is a decision point for me. It requires me to set aside time, read about the changes, and think about what I'm about to embark into. My workflow matters. My data matters. My time matters. If a developer breaks what worked for me without a compelling reason, I'll find another app that respects those things. There's always one out there, probably one that hasn't been improved yet.

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