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Apple Increases Over-the-Air App Store Download Limit to 200MB

There needs to be a way to override the limit completely on a case-by-case basis. Same for iOS updates.

It’s a total pain and ridiculous that these can’t be downloaded without a workaround like “put SIM card in an old iPhone and download over personal hotspot” or “go to Starbucks”!

Come on Apple! I have unlimited 4G/LTE data and get 100 mbps downloads at home. I’m not going to pay extra for a separate WiFi/broadband just to download app updates?!
 
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mlody said:
Oh wow Apple. How generous of you. How about a toggle switch to allow us to remove the stupid limit, and while you at this, please also allow us to do OTA iOS updates.
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It’s not a matter of generosity, it’s about keeping apps to a reasonable size. Besides the obvious issue of truly unlimited cellular plans being relatively rare, Apple also has an interest in encouraging smaller apps. If you read the article, you’ll note that developers often work to keep under the limit, since being over presents a barrier to purchase.

If Apple removed the limit, devs would have less incentive to keep apps smaller. As there are still a lot of 16 and 32GB devices in the installed base, a limit makes sense. Apple knows customers wouldn’t be happy with a bunch of bloated apps.
 
They need toggle for this in iCloud settings. I have "unlimited" data 200mb is nothing. I know jailbreak can remove limit.
 
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I want an override switch! My T-Mobile plan doesn’t throttle until like over 50GB or something crazy nowadays. I never get anywhere close to that.
 
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With the current limit I’ve already crushed my data allowance by hitting “update all” by mistake. Twice. And my wife did it once.

Unlimited data is far from universal and I agree there should be a toggle.
 
dumastudetto said:
Great news, but there really should be a power users toggle to disable the limit if you don't want it.
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Yes, It is hard to believe Apple didn't learn anything from the "slow down for depleted battery" code.
[doublepost=1559318756][/doublepost]
Michvuee said:
They need toggle for this in iCloud settings. I have "unlimited" data 200mb is nothing. I know jailbreak can remove limit.
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jailbreaking is no longer a thing. If you can jail break then you sell it to FBI for $1M.
 
lederermc said:
Yes, It is hard to believe Apple didn't learn anything from the "slow down for depleted battery" code.
[doublepost=1559318756][/doublepost]
jailbreaking is no longer a thing. If you can jail break then you sell it to FBI for $1M.
Click to expand...
There ios 12 jailbreaks not on latest version. Jailbreak still a thing if you check the subreddit.
 
The limit is completely and totally obnoxious. It should be on by default but there should be a way to either shut it off or to simply display a warning if the size limit gets hit so the user is aware of how much they’ll actually be downloading.
 
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Last edited:
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genovelle said:
There is no real unlimited plan. I’ve had AT&T and Verizon and after you cross a certain usage point they throttle your speed to uselessness.
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That’s still unlimited. Unlimited data had nothing to do with speed, it’s “quantity” which you get unlimited of..
 
Who cares? If you enable Auto-Update over cellular you don't really care about the traffic anyway...
Meanwhile: The iPhone frequently wastes a lot bandwith of my mobile WiFi router when downloading iOS updates -because those can't be disabled. Real d**k move by Apple...
 
s54 said:
That is frustrating and frankly something that I never quite understood.

It’s 2019. Aren’t most people sporting unlimited plans? - I’ve had unlimited for over a decade. First with Verizon and now with T-Mobile.

The fact that I can’t download many apps without WiFi just sucks.
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I feel like the limit is there to encourage developers to make leaner apps that takes less space on the iPhone. Apps like Facebook would want to people to be able to download the app on the go, and without the limit these apps will balloon in size. But, it definitely inconvenient and a toggle is needed.
 
Looks like tethering one of my iPhone's so I can download updates on the other is still a valid need for me then, this is getting ridiculous. I submit things daily on the Feedback app and I constantly need Wi-Fi just to do that
 
Jimmy James said:
Unlimited data is far from universal and I agree there should be a toggle.
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Yes, with a great big disclaimer to warn all the litigious morons who will try and sue Apple because, “iOS let me do it and now I can’t pay my mortgage due to all the extra fees.”
 
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genovelle said:
There is no real unlimited plan. I’ve had AT&T and Verizon and after you cross a certain usage point they throttle your speed to uselessness.
Click to expand...

But the data is truly unlimited.

I said nothing with regards to speed - that's a different topic altogether.
 
genovelle said:
There is no real unlimited plan. I’ve had AT&T and Verizon and after you cross a certain usage point they throttle your speed to uselessness.
Click to expand...

My wife and I both have AT$T’s grandfathered unlimited data on our phones and iPads. I work on the road and use a ton of data. I’ve never been throttled on my iPad or iPhone. I received a warning email two times for my phone but they never throttled it. Been using it for since iPhone 1 and iPad 1. Never an issue. My kids both have the newest unlimited plans, neither of them have had any issues. Downloading over cellular isn't an issue for many people. We should have the option for sure.
 
Wow. A 50 MB increase to 200 MB! Color me IMPRESSED! And I'm not being sarcastic. No really. I'm not. Seriously. I'm serious here.

Okay I'm dripping sarcasm.
 
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Apple has this restriction because they don't want to get sued, due to some people being too lazy to take responsibility for their own actions. Its a shame because I want to take responsibility.

I needed to update a program on my iPad mini today (when I was out and about) and couldn't, (due to this problem) without using my iPhone as a temporary hotspot, even though I had unlimited cellular data.
 
Jsameds said:
From Reddit:

I believe network congestion has a lot to do with this cap. It’s not that YOUR data cap is unlimited and you have no throttling, it’s that multiple apps publishing updates all the time and distributing it over cell network limits EVERYONE’s bandwidth. After all, all networks have limited bandwidth.

Imagine a football match, stadium pack full of people have auto update turned on and a ticketing app or google maps decides to publish a major update. Now no one has any network.
Click to expand...

Then simply have automatic updates disabled when users are on cellular?

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ownload-limit-to-200mb.2183411/#post-27406650

Not being able to update or download specific apps over 200 MB (after a warning)seems like a weird limitation to me, especially since the problem can be avoided if connecting to the Personal Hotspot of another device, which in practice download the app over cellular anyway.
 
Honestly it’s ridiculously low limit compared to my 50GB data plan. Could we just got an option in settings for choosing limit or not? Or maybe a pop up asking for allowance for downloading bigger files?
 
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