Quick Thought: Skipping iPhone app updates
I’ve had this thought for a while, but Patrick’s most recent post about the memory app stunned me out of my silence. Apple doesn’t want developers tinkering with the free program memory, and they made my favourite memory-freeing app, iStat, remove that particular feature a little while ago. I haven’t upgraded on purpose so that I can keep my version 1.0 copy of the app, but it sure is annoying to see the iStat update stay there in the App Store.
I’m constantly affronted by this “1″ badge above the App Store icon that I know I’ll never be able to rid myself of. It’s funny, too, since the Mac seems to allow me to “skip this update” whenever it notifies me of new ones. Why can’t I “skip updates” on my iPhone, too? I know, I know…I could always just jailbreak and then use SBSettings to free memory, but I don’t want to go there yet!
[I should also add I harbour no ill will towards the cool folks at Bjango who developed the app -- I know it wasn't your fault!]
great idea. i'd like that too. (btw, another option with jailbreak: just hide the appstore app, call it up with spotlight). i recommend jailbreaking. at least, on a 2g or 3g, it's easy. not sure how easy it is on 3gs. if you ever decide to go that route, follow the dev teams blog and the bigboss site for reliable info.
@Iquanyin
I'll probably JB eventually.
good tip! and as for the JB — I have done so before on my 2G, but I was basically a slave to the dev team process for a year since the 2G was never sold in Canada. As such, I'm just enjoying the freedom to update whenever the heck I want to without having to wait for hacks
Thomas, is it hard to "live" without apps like sbsetting and winterboard?
Maybe the only one app i DO need is sbsetting, but it's still a good reason to me to jailbreak. But this is me. How about you?
Great concept Thomas – and one I'd love to see Apple implement if they continue to be anal about stuff like this.
Yeah – I'd vote 'Aye' for this as well.
another thing that you can do , if it is that big of a bother, i just leave it and dont care, is if you update on teh computer that will take it off the iphone app store, just save the file you want from the folder in the finder… then refer back to the saved file, that is what i have done…
I've got 39 apps. waiting for me to update. Updates are not always an improvement. My shopping app used to delete bought items with one click. The "improved" version gives you more options but it's now 3 clicks. That's too many clicks for me. I also don't like many logo changes so I keep the old version.
JB makes such a major difference if only for SB Settings, Winterboard, & Backgrounder
Amen re the skipping updates. I have 6 "pending" updates that I need to remind myself every time not to accept. These "updates" will either add advertisements to free apps that were previously ad free or take away functionality that I value. Hardly an upgrade. There shouild be transparency as to what an update will really change and the option to never accept it. While I'm at it, what is the deal with ads in paid apps?
I want that, too. Eventually Apple will become even more evil. You'll see how bad it gets with closed source. Now they are the liberator from Microsoft, but will become the next Big Brother.
The Third Wave, open source, will save us…
if you got a jailbroken device:
1. ssh your phone
2. go to: root/var/mobile/Applications
3. search for the folder wich includes the app
4. delete this file: iTunesMetadata.plist (wich is in the same folder as the app)
from now on, the app-store will ignore this app from all future updates:-)