In 2017 it was an endless crash loop caused by any app with local time-based notifications.... Which for almost everyone at the Apple store I visited was meditation apps with daily meditation reminders (in Australia we were among the first to wake up on that affected date. The fix went out before most of the remaining world woke up)

I wonder if the daily reminder is triggering a reinstall? Perhaps try disabling the reminders before uninstalling.

I had previously downloaded the app but and removed it because I never used it. A few days ago I noticed the app when browsing through my app list and thought maybe I didnt delete it properly, so I made sure to delete it. Then this morning my iPhone updated software versions and I found he Headpsace app again on my home, except this time it was grayed out and waiting for me to go on wifi to download.

I just deleted it again but am equally dumbfounded

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 anything. Could give you a clue, if so.

Now imagine you’re roaming during a 10-day vacation…and you think you’re in control :) …

Damned if you pay them, damned if you don't.

This might be a stretch as I am taking a guess at the implementation, but apps can sync with iCloud Drive and I keep getting app folders showing up after telling it not sync but the prefs reset after certain states(not quite sure when/how)-- it then creates a new sync folder when interacting with the app again. (after having turned off sync and deleting the folder -- once it resets)

I am wondering if that app had that feature (icloud drive syncing) and something of the reverse is happening. Where you have a document still on icloud drive from when you installed the app. Maybe there is some action or state change going on after interacting with drive on a mac or something similar. And now it's created the right circumstances for icloud drive to try and sync the file but there is no app on any device so it downloads the app instead since it's missing and there is some dangling file looking for its home.

An app store search also turned up "Headspace Care" (Ginger)

Ginger is now Headspace Care

It would be beyond malware for an app to install itself, since there's that app store hurdle to leap. (IMO)

I'm currently with a 13 mini (26.4.2), never had this app installed, and am not encountering this issue.

https://appgoblin.info/apps/493145008/sdks

I see normal development and tracking SDKs. If anyone sees something interesting let me know.

I’m on the 26.5 beta and not seeing it at all.

If it still appears then it was never removed in the first place, which is a very different bug to it installing itself.

What if it’s the U2 Bono of the apps?

Apple struck a partnership with them, they will roll it out as part of their OS, everyone will get some version of it for free? Some dev at Apple is testing the auto rollout feature, they didn’t realize it was for production?

(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.)

> Automatic downloads are turned off

Isn't it funny that we're so used to the misuse of language (ie lies) that this isn't even a point? I'm talking about software flags to represent your choices, that are merely an 'aspirational intention' and don't actually correlate with reality.

In my world, it shouldn't be possible to override 'turned off automatic downloads'. 'Off' shouldn't be a pacifier for the user, while Apple, Google or whoever can continue installing whatever they like. This isn't what words mean. There isn't actually a choice, but it misleads you into thinking there is. I'm sure there are legal words around this in the "ownership" contract, but "off" can't really mean "on".

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 lost count of the minor polish issues. The experience has degraded so much that you no longer care.

Maybe that helps?