iOS 7 is bringing a ton of new features - see our complete iOS 7 preview - but one of the more controversial is automatic app updates in the App Store. The idea is simple enough. Instead of seeing a red, numbered badge on the App Store app, tapping it, then going in and manually updating all or specific apps, if enabled, it just downloads updates as they're ready and installs them automatically. Without any involvement on your part. The good side, it's effortless. The bad side, what if it automatically installs a buggy app?
That's the big fear. A server-side problem could be fixed almost immediately. However, given the delays for most developers - anyone not Facebook or Twitter - in getting even an expedited review, if an app update leads to crashes, feature failures, or any other problem, it won't be fixed for one to ten days.
But fear is normal. People are change adverse. Automatic updates could fix security issues people haven't bothered to update and get on their own. They could force developers to take yet one more look before uploading apps. They could force Apple to provide a better, faster process for developers to fix bugs when they do, inevitably occur.
It could also be the first step towards a Google Chrome-style model where apps are just updated constantly in the background, all the time, and everyone, every day, has the latest version. Discreet updates become a thing of the past, and new bits simply replace the old whenever they're ready.
I'll be turning them on with reckless abandon. I fear no future. But what'll it be for you? Can you just not wait for auto-updates, or are you going to turn them off as fast as Apple and iOS 7 turns them on? Vote in the poll and tell me why you voted the way you did in the comments.
