The Visual Anxiety Vector
The iOS Home Screen utilizes bright red notification badges on the corner of application icons to demand your attention. The App Store icon is particularly aggressive with this feature, displaying a red badge every time an update is available for any of your installed apps. If you prefer to manage your updates manually on a weekly or monthly basis, seeing a permanent red number sitting on your Home Screen creates unnecessary visual anxiety and clutters your interface.
How to Turn Off App Store Badges
You can instruct iOS to silence the App Store’s notification privileges, preventing it from ever displaying the red badge again.
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and tap on Notifications.
3. Scroll through the alphabetical list of all your installed applications until you locate the App Store, then tap on it.
4. Look at the Alerts section in the middle of the screen.
5. Locate the toggle switch labelled Badges.
6. Tap the toggle to switch it to the Off position (the switch will turn grey).
The red number will immediately vanish from the App Store icon on your Home Screen. Your applications will still receive updates normally in the background (if automatic updates are enabled), but the operating system will no longer harass you with a visual counter.