I just moved from an overpriced iPhone to a slim Android phone and am really liking the Android OS experience! Except, how do I know if there are app updates for my many apps?
I’m glad you have found the Android platform to your liking. As much as people talk about the differences, the fact is that it and the iPhone system – iOS – are about 97% the same and it’s quite easy to switch from one to the other for all but the most nuanced of interactions. As features migrate from one to the other, it’s also clear that each development team pays very close attention to what the other is introducing, so if you despair of a missing feature from iOS, just be patient, it’ll probably show up soon enough.
One big difference, however, is with versions; since iPhones are only from Apple, they either run the latest version of iOS or they’re stuck on an obsolete, older version, but generally people update pretty quickly. Android, however, has lots of manufacturers and they proceed with new versions of the operating system on their own schedules. Some customize Android before releasing it, while others have a “UI theme” utility that changes the appearance of Android and has to also be updated to match feature for feature. The long and short of it is that depending on what hardware you have, your latest version of Android might be Android 11.x, Android 12.x, or the most recent as of this writing, Android 13.x.
Just as all apps are installed through the App Store on an iPhone, the program that lets you get new apps and update existing apps is the Google Play Store. I’m sure you’ve already used it, but did you realize it also has an updater feature that lets you ensure all of your apps are the very latest versions?
CHECK FOR ANDROID SYSTEM UPDATES
To start out, though, be aware that you can check for Android updates by going to Settings > System > System update. If you’re up to date, it’ll show the following:
Unlike iOS, Android doesn’t tend to have super detailed numbers, so it’s Android version: 13, not Android version: 13.5.334z.
But what about apps? For that, we’ll need to switch to the Google Play Store app…
CHECK FOR APP UPDATES IN ANDROID PLAY STORE
Launch the Play Store and it’ll advertise some of the latest and greatest games, movies, utilities, and apps:
Earlier versions of the Play Store would have a tiny red dot on the profile image to indicate there was a notification (typically of apps with updates), but that’s no longer the case. Still, that profile image is the secret gateway to find what apps are ready to update. Tap on it to reveal the main menu:
Lots of interesting features and options to explore, but stay focused by tapping on “Manage apps & devices“. This, finally, reveals if there are any apps with updates:
You can “Update all” from this point if there are any updates available – I have 66 pending! – but I prefer to get a bit more information by choosing “See details“.
DETAILS OF AVAILABLE ANDROID APP UPDATES
Tap on “See details” from the previous screen and it will show a list of all available updates:
You can update specific apps if needed, but almost all of the time the correct choice is “Update all“. A close read of the list will also reveal that there are internal Android components that aren’t actually separate apps on your device too, like “Android Accessibility Suite”, “Android Device Policy”, and “Android System Intelligence” that will also be updated. Not sure why they don’t get updated with a full firmware OS update, but you can see that the two updaters work hand-in-hand to ensure that the device has the very latest versions of every component.
Tap on “Update all” and get a cup of tea. It’s going to take a while…
Notice that there are multiple Pending and active – denoted by the slowly filling in circle graphic around the app icon – along with others that are queued up but not yet active. After a while – my Pixel 6 Pro took about 20 minutes to update the 66 apps flagged – it finally shows this, indicating you’re done. For now:
“All your apps are up to date”. Sweet. I generally check for updates every week or two, but sometimes I forget for a while, which is how I ended up with 66 updates!
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about Android since it first showed up! Please check out my extensive Android help area for hundreds of useful tutorials and guides! Thanks.