Why aren’t my iOS apps updating? Not to worry. It’s just the annual App Store holiday break.
On Tuesday, November 27, Apple announced its annual App Store downtime. For 2018, this is scheduled for December 23 through December 27, Pacific time. While the App Store will be open for sales and downloads (you can still buy and download apps for Mom’s new iPhone as usual), no existing apps will be updated during this time and developers will not be able to submit new apps for approval or updates. In theory, this means emergency updates also have to wait. And in years past, I’ve seen updates trickle back into the App Store shortly before the end of the holiday break and I live two hours ahead of Pacific time.
It’s not just iPhone photo apps. This effects the entire iOS and Mac App Stores.
Releases will still be able to go live during this time, but they will have to have been submitted, approved, and scheduled prior to the App Store’s holiday break.
Typically, iOS apps seem to get updated much more often than their mac OS counterparts. I, for one, look forward to the daily App Store update notification badge. It’s like a small, daily dose of, well… Christmas for me (sorry). Five days of no updates is a little uncomfortable at first, but knowing the time frame up front is half the battle. Hey, time off for developers and Apple’s testers is a good thing.
Go enjoy your friends and family. After its break, the App Store will be back before you know it, full of all sorts of new and updated apps.
