Can't disable automatic download of iOS 8

[jj5406]

Come on Apple. Why are you doing this to me? Some of us who live in rural areas get our internet from cellular providers (Verizon wireless in my case), and we pay a lot for data and even more for data overages. Because of this I turned off all automatic download capabilities on my phone. But Apple doesn't seem to care about those settings do they?

It was bad enough when an unwanted U2 song was downloaded, but now a 2GB update? That just cost me $30. Yup, our data quota for the month was already busted because of an inadvertent dropbox blunder on my wife's macbook pro, and it's $15/GB for overages. It will be another $30 each for our iPad, my wife's phone and my daughter's iPod touch if anyone makes the mistake of charging them at home without first turning off the device's WiFi antenna.

Apparently there was a big brouhaha when the iOS 7 update came down automatically (and couldn't be deleted). Why didn't Apple learn its lesson then? Maybe they learned it partially - at least you can delete the new update apparently. When I want to download an update, I can press that button. If I wanted my device to download updates automatically, I wouldn't have disabled automatic updates. Duh! What's the likelihood Apple will send me a check for $30 (or more if one of my other devices falls victim to this crime)?

I know, first world problems right.

-J

 

[jj5406]

And my router won't let me block mesu.apple.com

I've read that if one blocks the update download site (mesu.apple.com) that it will prevent the automatic downloads on that network. I just tried to do that, but unfortunately my router (MiFi 4510L from Verizon) does not have the functionality to block websites. It can block ports - but blocking HTTP would make the router about as useful as turning it off entirely (for my family's purposes). Sigh.

-J

 

[jj5406]

And 8.02

I thought I was done now that I'm running iOS 8, but now update 8.02 has downloaded automatically. And I presume all future incremental updates will as well if I don't turn off WiFi when I plug my phone in to charge. Apple, please cease and desist. Or send me a check for my data overages.

-J

 

[C DM]

I thought I was done now that I'm running iOS 8, but now update 8.02 has downloaded automatically. And I presume all future incremental updates will as well if I don't turn off WiFi when I plug my phone in to charge. Apple, please cease and desist. Or send me a check for my data overages.

-J

This is how their system is setup to work, and has been for some time. Short of you taking some steps like turning off WiFi when charging or blocking something there's not much else that can really be done about it (unless Apple changes it in some way in the future).