Microsoft Store – Major change to delivery of app updates

Until the past month or so, app updates through the Microsoft Store (on Windows 10 – and 11 too I guess) worked just like Android and iOS app updates: Automatic updates, unless you enabled the option to disable that in favor of tapping to install whatever specific app updates you want.

Microsoft has quietly changed that now: Turning off app updates only “pauses” them for a few weeks (a la Windows updates), at which time they’ll all be forced on you.

I write quietly because I failed to find any website reporting on this change.

I discovered this upon opening a particular app that I haven’t updated for years (since I know, from another computer, that its later versions got stuffed to the brim with junk that makes the app nearly useless) – and upon opening this app I was surprised to see it had been automatically updated. Navigating to the Microsoft Store’s downloads tab, I discovered that all other apps were updated as well, and that the Store’s settings were changed to disallow updates by-choice as is still possible with competing App Stores.

Given that I, like most, barely use Microsoft Store apps, it’s not especially annoying to me as it would be if the Google Play Store did the same shenanigans. But it’s real disappointing that Microsoft, the company once known for giving users the most options, is further chipping away at user choice.