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Comment by p0ppe | Hacker News Reader

I'm still perplexed that Apple doesn't offer over the air updates, especially for security updates. 137 MB shouldn't be that big a deal on a normal 4G connection.

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>137 MB shouldn't be that big a deal on a normal 4G connection.

"I can download a 137MB file when I want over a 4G connection when I want" does not equal "The entire 4G network can handle the high coincident demand of all iPhone users downloading 137MBs simultaneously"

That would be absolute madness. Can you imaging Apple pushing a 137MB file to all active iOS devices over cellular? I'm sure the carriers would appreciate :)

I highly doubt the engineers at Apple wouldn't think of that and work around it.

You mean like only allowing the update over wifi? ;)

The thread is about if they allowed updates over 4G, so not a solution.

That was a joke about how only allowing it over wifi is the workaround (to prevent saturating the network) you mentioned...

> engineers at Apple wouldn't think of that and work around it

How is it any different to an update to a large and popular app on Android... Facebook for instance?

Agreed, this is super annoying. You can install dozens of 99MB apps over 4G every day but nooo you can't have your broadpwn fix on the move. Except if you happen to have two devices with 4G, then you can wifi-hotspot-tether one to the other and vice versa for the update just fine.

Not everybody has unlimited data plans.

4G can certainly handle 137 MB in speed, but that doesn't mean users want to use their data plan for updates.

Then at least allow it for manual update requests. Just like 99MB app installs or updates don't have a problem with 4G :)

But that should be up to the users to decide. I'll be much happier to use up 137 MB for a critical security update than 354 MB for the latest Facebook app update (version 132.0).

FYI even though it says 324mb, App Store updates are delta updates as of iOS 6

https://developer.apple.com/library/content/qa/qa1779/_index...

Coming from 10.3.2, the 10.3.3 update was 84.4 MB for me.

These should be exempt from data caps then.

I don't know where you fall with Net Neutrality, but you can't have Net Neutrality and updates exempt from data caps.

Hmm, interesting. Updates, and especially security updates, can be seen as a common good. It's the only kind of thing I can think of that exemptions from data caps might be a good idea for.

Do you remember when you had to use iTunes to update iOS? Being able to update over wifi was huge...

Another oddity is the podcast app won't let you download something 100MB+ over cellular, but will happily let you 'stream' it.

I have unlimited data - let me use it.

Unlimited data plans is exactly what those limits are there to try and protect.

But presumably streaming the whole thing will use the same amount of data as downloading.

100MB seems rather arbitrary, and there is no option to change the max size/disable the 'feature'

I wager that they have agreed not to do so in their carrier agreements.

I wish there were a cellular broadcast mechanism for data like this. Sending out OS updates, cache prefill, etc. to everyone on a cell network during low use periods would be interesting.

That would be brutal on networks in populated areas I suspect. On update days our office network usage is huge.

Should be 84MB doing from 10.3.2-> .3, that should be about 90% of use cases I think

Strange my update was 1.8GB?

Did you have a beta release installed? Usually those are hit with a “full” update when GM version drops.

Ah yeah I was running the Beta for iOS10. Makes sense. Cheers :)

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