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Apps Installing w/o Permission?

Cmd-Z

Cmd-Z

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 14, 2014
594
666
Coyote, CA
When I set up my Watch I elected to not sync all available apps from my iPhone, I wanted to keep the app installations to a minimum and choose what I wanted.

Lately I've been seeing apps show up on my watch that I did not install, and it appears that if the app updates on the iPhone it is being "pushed" to my Watch, judging by the app update history on my iPhone. There seems to be no setting on the watch or iPhone to control this behavior, anyone else seeing this? Running 1.01 Watch OS/ iOS 8.3 BTW.
 
If you elected not to sync all apps during watch setup then this shouldn't happen.

Did you check the the Automatic Downloads toggle in the watch app? Maybe it got flipped accidentally?
 
Again.

It's most likely a bug that every time there is an update for an app on your iPhone it will be installed on the Apple Watch as well. It even happens when you turned off the "install it on the watch" switch. I guess it will be fixed soon in a 1.0.x update.
 
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Rok73 said:
Again.

It's most likely a bug that every time there is an update for an app on your iPhone it will be installed on the Apple Watch as well. It even happens when you turned off the "install it on the watch" switch. I guess it will be fixed soon in a 1.0.x update.
Click to expand...


I've reported this to apple and they stated that they are aware of it. I would look for it to be fixed in this next watchOS update. 1.1
 
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I've had this happen too a few times now. Very odd bug but it does seem to be just that; a bug in the software.
 
Are you using version 1.0.1 or 1.0? I'm using 1.0.1 so maybe that's the difference. Seems to happen when there is a Watch-compatible update issued by the app developer, but maybe not subsequent updates, just the first one that is capable of running on Watch.
 
dotnet said:
If it's really a bug I wonder what triggers it. I have not observed this behaviour in my own or my wife's watch.
Click to expand...
When the accompanying iPhone app gets a software update, which get pushed automatically at night while your phone is plugged in, the app gets pushed to the Watch whether you wanted it to or not.

If you have auto-updates turned off on your phone, you wouldn't experience this watch bug.
 
Cory Bauer said:
When the accompanying iPhone app gets a software update, which get pushed automatically at night while your phone is plugged in, the app gets pushed to the Watch whether you wanted it to or not.
Click to expand...

By turning automatic downloads on you indicate that you do in fact want this to happen, how is this then a bug?

EDIT You may not realise it but we're talking about the automatic download toggle inside the iOS Watch app, not the iOS option in the Settings apps.

If you have auto-updates turned off on your phone, you wouldn't experience this watch bug.
Click to expand...

Right, so either way the watch/phone are doing what you told them to.

I would consider it a bug if you had automatic downloads turned off and apps would still appear on the watch all by themselves without being placed there manually. This is what I believe the OP experienced.

EDIT2 The latter is something I have not experienced on the two watches I have access to. In both cases no apps ever appeared on the watches by themselves (automatic downloads enabled in iOS under Settings > iTunes & App Store but disabled in Apple Watch > General). Hence I'm wondering what triggers the bug (if there is one).
 
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There is one cause it happened to me. The iOS app updates and all of a sudden app is on watch. Automatic downloads off in iOS watch app.
 
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Just happened to me today. Set up as a new watch, and to not install apps.

After a few hours, all these apps started to show up on my watch anyways.

I had a problem with weather not syncing, so I had to unpair the watch and re-do it. The second time, apps did not show up unless I manually added them.

First time was on 1.0. Second time on 1.0.1
 
dotnet said:
By turning automatic downloads on you indicate that you do in fact want this to happen, how is this then a bug?

EDIT You may not realise it but we're talking about the automatic download toggle inside the iOS Watch app, not the iOS option in the Settings apps.
Click to expand...
I have the iPhone set to accept automatic downloads, but the Watch is set to NOT accept automatic downloads.


I would consider it a bug if you had automatic downloads turned off and apps would still appear on the watch all by themselves without being placed there manually. This is what I believe the OP experienced.
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Yes, this is correct and appears to be a bug since automatic downloads are turned OFF for the Watch. Even if the Watch was set for auto downloads, it should only download updates to apps that are already on the Watch, not install them just because there's been an update to the version on the iPhone.

As an example, the app Things (to-do list) is on my iPhone but I did not install it on my Watch (have not spent time on how to use it, so no need to install it on my Watch yet). Things was updated yesterday on my iPhone, and it is now on my Watch without me putting it there -- definitely a bug, or if by design then an annoyance. This has happened many times this week.
 
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Had the same thing, I just try and remember every so often to open up and scroll round the apps view on the watch, ditching any I haven't installed, hoping they'll sort this in the next minor release.
 
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dotnet said:
By turning automatic downloads on you indicate that you do in fact want this to happen, how is this then a bug?

EDIT You may not realise it but we're talking about the automatic download toggle inside the iOS Watch app, not the iOS option in the Settings apps.



Right, so either way the watch/phone are doing what you told them to.

I would consider it a bug if you had automatic downloads turned off and apps would still appear on the watch all by themselves without being placed there manually. This is what I believe the OP experienced.

EDIT2 The latter is something I have not experienced on the two watches I have access to. In both cases no apps ever appeared on the watches by themselves (automatic downloads enabled in iOS under Settings > iTunes & App Store but disabled in Apple Watch > General). Hence I'm wondering what triggers the bug (if there is one).
Click to expand...
I am not sure if you understood what we were talking about here in the first place.

I had the following happen twice at different times:

Apps for the iPhone that have an Apple Watch counterpart appeared on the watch although the "show app on watch" switch is clearly off and the "automatic app installation" switch is clearly off as well in the Watch app on the phone. Yelp and Skype appeared on my watch e.g. I have automatic app updates download turned on on the phone, though. When I looked it up in the update section of the phone, there were updates for those apps right before it happened .

It's a bug no matter if you've experienced it or not.
 
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I had 2 of my iphone apps sneak onto my watch and it was hurting my battery life so I deleted those apps from the iPhone and watch and so far so good. My battery life is much better now.
 
Cmd-Z said:
When I set up my Watch I elected to not sync all available apps from my iPhone, I wanted to keep the app installations to a minimum and choose what I wanted.

Lately I've been seeing apps show up on my watch that I did not install, and it appears that if the app updates on the iPhone it is being "pushed" to my Watch, judging by the app update history on my iPhone. There seems to be no setting on the watch or iPhone to control this behavior, anyone else seeing this? Running 1.01 Watch OS/ iOS 8.3 BTW.
Click to expand...


Known bug, when the iPhone app is updated it adds it to the watch.
 
Stephencovar said:
Yeah, it definitely a bug. Myself and several coworkers have been dealing with this. Hopefully Watch OS 2 will resolve this small and slightly inconvenient bug.
Click to expand...

Every time I get an update for an app that I have clicked off in my apple watch app the update reinstalls that app on my watch. :mad: (not a big deal but annoying, I'm sure it'll be fixed soon-ish.)
 
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