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The timing nature of it might play into that--when an update is released there's more likelihood that more people will try to obtain it at more or less the same time which would put a strain on the available bandwidth of a shared cellular network.
People update apps everyday bigger than that by the millions. Not a very good explanation.
 
People update apps everyday bigger than that by the millions. Not a very good explanation.
Generally not at the same time and far from as many people as would do a software update once its released as many people barely even update apps at all on a consistent basis. It's similar, but not the same.
 
That's why I'm saying to require all cellular backup and upload operations to be manually initiated. IE, no automatic backups over cellular, but still allow them manually, with a dialog saying this may incur charges.

Apple covers their ass, and we get to still back up our stuff when away from WiFi.
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Frankly, this is the service provider's problem, not Apple or the user's.

The one case where I can see this making sense is software updates. You don't want a million phones doing a software update at the same time over cellular. But if the process is manually initiated it's less of an issue.

U have to understand Apple's mojo.

Apple tells people what they think they want. Not the other way around.

U less there is huge consumer demand asking Apple for manually cellular backup option. Apple won't listen unless it hurts their bottom line (i.e. See 5.5 inch iPhone finally).
 
Generally not at the same time and far from as many people as would do a software update once its released as many people barely even update apps at all on a consistent basis. It's similar, but not the same.

Your grasping at straws here.
 
Apple should just make it wifi by default and have an option to use your data. 95% of people use the default anyway.
 
Your grasping at straws here.

Not at all. If I remember correctly iPhones will download the latest version of iOS over WiFi when it is released as long as you have enough space available.

So say Apple gets rid of the WiFi restriction and then releases an iOS update that is 120MB. As soon as they release that update every iPhone that is out there (with free space) would start downloading it. That is millions and millions of iPhones.

Compare that to an app update that is 120MB. What are the chances that every iPhone out there has that app installed, and has auto update turned on? The vast majority of apps are only going to be on a fraction of the phones out there, and even out of those many people would likely have auto update turned off. So even if both updates are the same 120MB, the iOS update is going to get downloaded by a much larger amount of people at the exact same time, and put a much larger load on the cellular networks.

There would be a few apps like YouTube and Facebook that are on a large percentage of phones, so those apps could come close, but still not hit the networks as hard as an iOS update.
 
Just providing possibilities. Someone not liking them doesn't change that they are possibilities and the limitations are still in place.
Not at all. If I remember correctly iPhones will download the latest version of iOS over WiFi when it is released as long as you have enough space available.

So say Apple gets rid of the WiFi restriction and then releases an iOS update that is 120MB. As soon as they release that update every iPhone that is out there (with free space) would start downloading it. That is millions and millions of iPhones.

Compare that to an app update that is 120MB. What are the chances that every iPhone out there has that app installed, and has auto update turned on? The vast majority of apps are only going to be on a fraction of the phones out there, and even out of those many people would likely have auto update turned off. So even if both updates are the same 120MB, the iOS update is going to get downloaded by a much larger amount of people at the exact same time, and put a much larger load on the cellular networks.

There would be a few apps like YouTube and Facebook that are on a large percentage of phones, so those apps could come close, but still not hit the networks as hard as an iOS update.
Makes no sense. App downloads and software downloads are randomized precisely not to start downloading it at once all around the world slamming servers.
There is exactly 0 real explanations why I need wifi for a software update under 100 MB.
 
Yes, this is getting annoying. Sure, downloading more than 100MB apps was detrimental when data plans were in the hundreds of megabytes range. However, it's a bit backward when many data plans are in the gigabytes. This is even more annoying in developing countries where sometimes the only internet is the cellular wireless.

At the same time, I understand Apple's stance. Putting this restriction is easier than having to deal with the complaints. Until consumers put their complaints and demands to the wireless carriers instead of Apple, I am afraid this won't change.
 
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