How To Enable / Disable Automatic App Updates On Samsung Galaxy S4

One of our readers was complaining that some of the apps in his Galaxy S4 were automatically updated without his knowledge. While auto updates is a good thing because you don’t have to check every now and then which app needs to be updated, there are times when the installation is messed up and you’ll end up reinstalling the app because it won’t run smoothly like it did before.

Here’s the actual email message from our reader that described everything about the problem he’s currently experiencing:

Hey, 

I would like to know how to disable automatic updating of apps. 

I’m not really a techie person so I would just ask you to tell me how since there’s no one I trust on the internet than you guys. 

I bought my Samsung Galaxy S4 just a couple of days since it was released. Since then, I didn’t do anything with it but install apps and games I often use. I am happy with my phone but recently I received notifications saying some apps have just been updated. I didn’t initiate any of those updates so I guess it was automatic. 

The thing is the apps that were updated automatically couldn’t run smoothly. For example, the racing game I often play now shows some lagginess; I had to uninstall it and install the newest version to make it run smoothly again but that means losing everything I achieved before. 

Others just won’t launch. I know it’s a good effort for Google to enable auto updates but sometimes things just won’t work out well.  

So, can you tell me how to disable automatic updating on apps

Thanks, 

Greg

Solution

Enabling / disabling automatic app updates on Galaxy S4 is easy to do. However, one of the disadvantages of having this feature turned off is that in the long run apps may not also work properly as they become incompatible with new versions of Android. Owners can still initiate manual updating, though.

Here is the answer to our reader’s question:

  1. From the Home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Tap Play Store.
  3. Tap the Menu key.
  4. Choose Settings.
  5. Now, tap on Auto-update apps.
  6. To enable automatic application updates, tap Auto-update apps at any time or Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only.
  7. To disable automatic application updates, tap Do not auto-update apps.

The automatic app updates was designed by Google to keep both apps and Android compatible.

Having problems with your phone?

Tell us about them by emailing us at [email protected]. Make sure to include as much details as possible so that we could understand the problem well and find the best solutions for you. If you can share a screenshot or two, that would be better.

We may not be able to respond to every email we receive but rest assured we do read them… yes, all of them even if some do look like spams.

6 Comments

  1. Also had trouble finding a key marked as menu and just kept pressing and there it was. Your instructions worked like a charm. Thank you.

  2. Sorry but this doesn’t work. It keeps doing the download as soon as i connect to wifi.

  3. I’ve done this and my s4 still downloads some samsung apps without being told, like watchon, Google maps and group play. I even went through and manually disabled these apps a week or so ago and today I picked up my phone and they were “updating”. I had to turn my wifi connection off to stop it but then they started again not long after I turned it back on. Am I missing something here? It’s driving me insane as I do not want these apps On my phone!

  4. Harold, thanks for the above. There is also another methiod, so to SETTINGS MORE and the ABOUT DEVICE and at the top it says “SOFTWARE UPDATE” and you can turn that off too. However… I have all the above turned off and Samsung Apps still auto update and I dont know where to stop this. ideas?

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