Apple has announced that it will be increasing the cellular download limit for apps on the App Store. The amount isn’t considered “major”, but it is a welcome increase. Apple is increasing the cellular download limit from 100MB to 150MB, which it says will help users download more apps while using cellular data. Apple isn’t making much of a statement about this, which seems kind of odd, but this is what they had to say:
We’ve increased the cellular download limit from 100 MB to 150 MB, letting customers download more apps from the App Store over their cellular network.
It has been several years since Apple made any changes like this. It was back in 2013 that they bumped the limit from 50MG to 100MB. You might find this surprising, but iOS originally had a 10MB cellular limit. The big question I have is whether or not this increase will be enough? This update from Apple comes the same day as they are releasing iOS 11. I also ask the question because there are so many more unlimited data plans. Which makes you wonder why Apple isn’t more generous with their cellular download limit?
The reason that Apple has these limits in place is to avoid causing customers to unwittingly use high amounts of data when downloading apps. But, like I mentioned, with the introduction of unlimited plans from all of the major carriers, this idea doesn’t really make sense. So should there be a limit in the first place? If you do try to download an app that’s more than 150MB, Apple will notify you and tell you to use a Wi-Fi network. But what if you don’t care? What if you want to use cellular data to download that app? Apple says this will allow customers to download more from the App Store. But why does Apple get to make a decision on this?
For those of you who have read anything I’ve written before, you know that I like choice. If I have options, I will use them to my full advantage. If I have unlimited data through my cellular carrier, than it’s possible that I don’t care about using that data to download apps. So why is Apple taking this choice away from me? Perhaps a notification should come up that says “are you sure you want to use cellular data to download this app”? As opposed to limiting me to that amount.
There are several apps that are quite large. Facebook, Twitter, and Uber are all over 100MB in size. So it makes sense from that perspective, but I wonder how many apps exist that are over 150MB? I mean, I understand why there was a limit in the first place. Data plans were pricey, or you never knew if you were going over your limits. But those things don’t exist quite in the same way that they used to, so why are there still limitations on what we can and can’t do? I would prefer to have the option to download the app, if I want to. Rather than be told what I can and can’t do.