- India
- International
Updating apps is essential for smooth functioning of smartphones. App updates, in many cases, use substantial amounts of data. Google Play Store, the default app store that comes pre-loaded with the majority of Android-powered devices, is getting a new option to help users who have limited mobile data.
Google says the new Play Store feature works by allocating a limited portion of your monthly mobile data to automatically update apps with new features. The feature is really useful if you live in a region where unlimited 5G is unavailable or have a plan that offers limited mobile data.
To calculate the mobile data budget, Google Play uses the total amount of data the device consumed during the last update of apps over mobile data.
If the user has not updated apps using mobile data, it will get the average amount of mobile data other people in the region/country use.
How to enable the feature
To use the new feature, open the Play Store on your Android device and tap on your profile icon on the top right of your screen. Now, click on ‘Settings’, proceed to tap on ‘Network preferences’, and choose ‘Auto-update apps’.
Here, tap on the option ‘Update with limited amount of mobile data’, and you are good to go. Google says that the option is currently limited to a handful of users, so you might have to wait a while before the functionality is available on your device. Last month, the Play Store received a huge update that allowed users to download two apps at the same time.