The Update Day

How to complete The Update Day

Postponed updates accumulate as unpatched security holes and a swarm of red badges nagging you from every screen. Clearing all of it in one deliberate sitting takes about an hour and most of that is waiting for downloads.

1. Pick an hour when you can live without your devices, then plug everything in and get it on Wi-Fi.
2. Kick off the OS updates on all devices at the same time, since the downloads are the slow part.
3. While those run, update apps: phone app store, computer app store, and self-updating apps like your browser.
4. Catch the forgotten devices: tablet, smartwatch, TV, game console, and especially your router's firmware.
5. Restart everything and sweep each device for remaining badges or pending-update notices.

Tips

• Before a major OS version jump, confirm your backup is current.
• Router firmware is the most skipped update and the most important, since it guards your whole network.
• If an app update scares you (breaking changes to a tool you rely on), skim its changelog instead of skipping it.

What counts as done

Every device you own reports up to date in settings and no red update badge exists anywhere.