iosiphone
When apps get updated, little blue dots appear next to the app name in iOS 8.1 (and some earlier versions as well). This is just a pet peeve, but those blue dots annoy me. For example, if I update 10 apps, I have to open each of those ten apps to make the blue dots go away, which is a pain.
Is there any way to disable the blue dots so they don't appear for new/updated apps?
The blue dot is the replacement to the banner that iOS 6 had for a new app.
There are two conditions for a banner being shown:
an app has been downloaded from the App Store but has not been opened yet
(a restore from iTunes/iCloud will also cause an app to be classed as 'New')
an app has been updated but has not been opened since it has been updated
(this counts for manually updated apps or apps that have been automatically updated by iOS 7's new background app updater).
As soon as the app is opened, the dot is removed.
This isn't a particularly helpful answer but it seems from both internet chatter and anecdotal evidence (such as my own iPhone) that the whole update mechanism is a little inconsistent at present.
I have apps that have been updated and never opened that do have the dot, I have apps that have been updated and not opened since that do not have the blue dot. Sometimes the number of apps shown needing an update is not in line with what the App Store says when you visit it. Sometimes it says that all apps are up to date when you can easily find an update when you search manually on a title (for example Facebook and Twitter both showed as current even though I knew they have been updated to iOS7, hunting down the apps directly in the store and selecting Open kicked off an update instead).
I think that the best I can say is that there are issues, but they are hard to track down, are not the same for everyone, and are not even consistently the same across a specific unique device. It's worth asking the question though, perhaps someone with more knowledge may be able to track down some formal bug report or similar that indicates that this is a wider issue that has been reported or is being looked at. For now, it's a case of wait what is included in the next OS update.
(PS, whilst this does not answer your question, I feel it's worth putting up a little something to show it's had some attention to prevent me-too answers and duplicate questions - we can all revisit this one if further news becomes available)
Best Answer
There currently is no way for you to disable this as of <=iOS8 and within the boundaries of factory OS. This is a visual aide for those people that have automatic updates enabled. You can look into jailbreaking your device if it is worth that much to you