How to stop automatic updates using your mobile data
On iPhone, the Standard data mode allows automatic updates over mobile data, so the quick fix on a travel line is Low Data Mode, which pauses them. On Android, Google Play has an Update over Wi-Fi only option, and system updates are best done at home before you leave. Ten minutes of settings the night before saves the gigabytes for the trip.
See the data plansWhat updates itself while you are away
Three things download on their own. App updates, which Apple switches on by default for apps from the App Store, and which Google Play also handles automatically. System updates, which Apple and Google push to phones and which, as Google puts it, can be large. And in-app content, which the App Store can fetch in the background before you open a new app for the first time.
Whether all that reaches your mobile data depends on settings most people never look at. Apple's 5G page is explicit about the iPhone: the Standard data mode, generally the default, allows automatic updates and background tasks on cellular. On a home plan with plenty of data that is fine. On a travel plan sized for maps, messages and some photos, an app update of a few hundred megabytes on a hotel morning is a poor use of it.
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iPhone: one switch for the travel line
Low Data Mode is the broadest fix. Apple says it pauses automatic updates and background tasks when the iPhone is not on Wi-Fi, and for the App Store specifically, it turns off video autoplay, automatic updates and automatic downloads. On a dual SIM iPhone you set it per line: Settings, Cellular, tap the travel number, turn on Low Data Mode. Your home line keeps its own setting.
Avoid the opposite mode on the travel line. Allow More Data on 5G enables higher data-usage features, and Apple's list includes iOS updates over cellular and automatic iCloud backups. Apple also notes it is the default on some unlimited plans, so if you copied settings from a home line, check what the travel line is set to.
iPhone: App Store and iOS settings
- App Store on mobile data: Settings, Apps, App Store, then turn off Cellular Data. Apple says this section also holds other cellular settings such as automatic downloads.
- App updates: in the same screen, App Updates downloads and installs updates automatically. Turn it off and you update by hand from the App Store, under your picture, App Updates, Update All.
- iOS updates: Settings, General, Software Update, Automatic Updates. With Automatically Install, Apple says the iPhone installs overnight while charging and connected to Wi-Fi.
For a trip, switching off Cellular Data for the App Store is the clean rule: updates and downloads simply wait for Wi-Fi, and the store still works on the hotel connection.
Android: Google Play
In the Google Play app, tap your profile picture, then Settings, Network preferences, Auto-update apps, and choose Update over Wi-Fi only. The other choices are updating over Wi-Fi or mobile data, not updating automatically, and, for a limited group of users, Update with limited amount of mobile data. Google explains that last one uses a portion of your monthly data, based on what you updated manually over mobile data in the previous 30 days or on an average for your country.
Google adds that Play always tries Wi-Fi first. Even so, on a travel plan Wi-Fi only is the setting to have: the updates are still there in the evening, under your profile, Manage apps and device.
Android: system updates
Google says most system updates and security patches install automatically, and that Pixel phones install downloaded Android updates in the background. To see what is pending, open Settings, System, Software updates. Google's advice before updating is to connect to Wi-Fi, and it notes that updates can be large and take some time; if a download stops partway, the phone tries again over the next few days.
On a Samsung Galaxy, the setting is in Settings, Software update: turn on Auto download over Wi-Fi, which on older versions sits under the three-dot menu as Auto download. Samsung notes the menu can be called System updates on some models. With that on, updates download when the phone is on Wi-Fi.
The night before: update on purpose
The best way to avoid updates on a trip is to have none left. The evening before you fly, on home Wi-Fi, update iOS or Android, open the App Store or Play Store and update everything, and open the apps you will rely on, tickets, maps, banking, so any first-launch downloads happen at home. Then set the travel line to Low Data Mode or switch on Wi-Fi only updates.
It also avoids a less obvious problem: an app that updates on the road and can ask you to sign in again, maybe with a code sent by SMS to your home number. The before-you-fly checklist covers the rest of the preparation, and the iPhone and Android data guides go further on background use.
Does my iPhone update apps over mobile data?
It can. Apple says the Standard data mode allows automatic updates on cellular. Low Data Mode on the travel line, or turning off Cellular Data for the App Store, makes them wait for Wi-Fi.
Will an iOS update download on mobile data?
Apple lists iOS updates over cellular among the features of Allow More Data on 5G, so keep the travel line off that mode. Automatic installs happen overnight on Wi-Fi while charging.
How do I make Google Play update only on Wi-Fi?
In Google Play, tap your profile picture, then Settings, Network preferences, Auto-update apps, and choose Update over Wi-Fi only.
Is it safe to skip updates during a trip?
Letting app updates wait for Wi-Fi is usually fine. Update everything at home before you leave, and install anything urgent, such as a security update, on hotel Wi-Fi.
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