Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

#91

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 6:31 AM UTC

_-x-_ wrote: post #33

yokuze wrote: post #32

Do you have Settings > Apps > App Store > (Automatic Downloads) App Downloads turned on? I noticed apps appearing on my Home Screen I’d never heard of before. Turns out with that setting and Family Purchase sharing turned on, every time my wife installed a new app, it installed on my phone too. That may not be your exact scenario, but I wonder if turning off that Automatic App Downloads setting (if enabled) changes a…

App Downloads and App Updates are both turned off. I don't have anyone else's devices on my account, just me. Thank you for the suggestions though!

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

#92

Post by bharat1010 » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 6:40 AM UTC

_-x-_ wrote: post #19

Here's a Reddit thread of other people experiencing the same issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1su82sc/headspace_app_...

looks like, no where its safea anymore

Re: Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

#93

Post by steve1977 » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 6:43 AM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #45

I wonder if U2, or Bono, has taken a significant stake in Headspace recently (kidding).

A 50th anniversary gift you mean?

Re: Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

#94

Post by swiftcoder » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 6:53 AM UTC

edbaskerville wrote: post #75

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #45

I wonder if U2, or Bono, has taken a significant stake in Headspace recently (kidding).

Deep cut

Jesus, I hope not. That happened just a few years ago... right?

Re: Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

#95

Post by forsalebypwner » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 6:58 AM UTC

nottorp wrote: post #89

Meanwhile, I can't install an iOS game i bought in 2021 (Azure Saga if it matters) because it's delisted from the app store. Damned if you pay them, damned if you don't.

Took me a minute but I found it https://archive.org/download/iklassika_archive/AzureSagaPath...

Re: Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

#96

Post by visiondude » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:02 AM UTC

My hypothesis is that headspace registered many user notifications and since user notifications trigger an app launch and perhaps you have optimize storage by offloading apps enabled? ios has a quirky app state where some local data exists but the app itself (ipa package) is offloaded

Re: Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

#97

Post by derefr » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:02 AM UTC

Do you have an Apple Watch paired to this iPhone?

(I know that installing apps on iOS forces installation of the equivalent watchOS apps; not sure if having a watchOS app installed/running/activating itself forces installation of a "companion" iOS app that it might rely on.)

Re: Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

#98

Post by saidnooneever » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:08 AM UTC

i dont know whats up, id assume bug but i wanna say iphone is uniquely annoying to find out what is happening on it and why things happen. they make it especially tedious and that makes it much easier to think this kind of stuff is nefarious even if ut might not be

Re: Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

#99

Post by nottorp » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:13 AM UTC

forsalebypwner wrote: post #95

nottorp wrote: post #89

Meanwhile, I can't install an iOS game i bought in 2021 (Azure Saga if it matters) because it's delisted from the app store. Damned if you pay them, damned if you don't.

Took me a minute but I found it https://archive.org/download/iklassika_archive/AzureSagaPath...

Probably requires a jailbroken ipad?

I'll take it as a lesson to not even look at games on iOS [1]. I added it to my wish list on Steam, i might get it on a sale.

[1] Not that iOS has many games. I can't afford the free ones.

Re: Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

#100

Post by nathanwh » Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 7:16 AM UTC

snailmailman wrote: post #76

csomar wrote: post #66

> Does anyone understand how or why this is happening? They are drowning in tech debt. Here are two main issues I have with my iPhone/iOS: I can't search for the telegram app. It doesn't show up. It shows fine on the iPad. Also just a few minutes ago, app search decided not to work. I usually use it to pull my Wallet to pull my card. It was an awkward moment as I had no idea where the wallet app actually is. I have l…

Regarding the telegram app I’d check iOS settings->apps->telegram->search and make sure “show app in search” is checked You can intentionally hide apps from search. If you did this, it’s not very obvious that its hidden from search unless you dig for the setting. Similarly, “hidden” apps refuse to show up in search results anywhere, even in settings.

Thank you for this, I have wondered for more than a year why Google Maps would not show up when I searched for it.