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Why do some apps require WiFi for downloading?

There are a few apps which after you purchase them, won't let you download them over the cellular network - a message pops up stating that the app is too large: try again when you have a wifi connection. A couple of examples: Plants vs. Zombies and today's free Amazon app, Drift Mania.

Who sets this policy, and Is there a way to turn this setting off? I have 4G/unlimited data, so the size of the download doesn't matter as far as data usage or time to download.

Comments

Wildman

I believe this is more to minimize corruption of the large files required to download than the bandwidth limit. Mobile connection are not guaranteed to be a reliable connection where wifi is more stable.

SeaJohn

Thanks for the info; is it the app developer who makes the determination about whether to require wifi?

I've downloaded plenty of bigger apps which don't have this requirement and have downloaded successfully. A better policy would be to leave it up to the end user, perhaps providing a warning, but still allowing the use of the cellular data net.

AZSALUKI

i believe it is the developer that requires it. i "think" that some of them do this to ensure a solid download so as not to risk bad reviews that were no fault of the app. for example, if a download doesn't finish or gets corrupted during the slow 3g process, the end user may rate the app low or give it a bad review because it wont open or it constantly crashes, etc.

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