Were you recently scrolling through the app screens on your iPhone, only to have a small blue dot catch your eye? It’s probably something that you haven’t seen before, and it’s only next to some of your apps.
This little dot identifies an app that has recently been installed or updated, but which you have not yet opened. In the image below, for example, the little blue dot is next to the Dropbox app.
I have automatic updates enabled on my iPhone, which means that the iPhone will automatically download and install new updates as they become available in the App Store. Since I would not otherwise know that an app update has been installed unless I checked the Updates section of the App Store, this is a helpful little benefit.
Now that you know more about the little blue dot next to an app on your iPhone, you can recognize this indicator in the future and know which of your apps have recently had an update installed.
The little blue dot will go away once you have opened the app.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.