I built an app for a client, but it must be private so I can't publish it in the store.
This application is installed in 30 devices, so every time I release some updates another guy has to install the new app in every device. I was wondering if I could update the app from a link or something.
My idea is to insert in a table the current version with the link of the app that expo provides me after the build.
Once I press the button "check for updates" I check the version installed and if it's old, I will download the app from the link and install it automatically.
Is it possible at least for Android? For ios I don't care so much since it is installed only in one device.
I read about updates from expo wiki but I think it works only for published apps
thanks
Put the .apk on a server in the internet.
Everytime your app starts it starts a thread that checks if the .apk on the internet is different/newer from the one that is running.
If so then the new one is downloaded automatically.
When all done your app starts an install intent at a suitable moment.
Google Play can distribute private app to devices registered in your organization.
You can read this for more info: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6145139?hl=en
Related
I want to know what happens to users already installed applications, if i made any change in backend application and deploy module to app engine???
i.e i installed an application in play store yesterday with google storage backend in java. Now i wanted to add new feature to my existing app. but i am afraid if i did something wrong in backend application and deploy it to app engine, whether it will effect my installed application and users????
Your already published app will be the same as when you published. If you had any communication with backend app will expect that backend will be working.
You can change anything in your backend as long as old endpoints will be working. If you need to make bigger update and remove some of elements in backend your app you should check version of backend API in your app and notify user about needed update of app.
Best way to check if everything is working is simply run existing app and verify if everything is ok. If anything broke up prepare fixed version of app and publish to play market as soon as possible. Users will get notification about update of your app. In that case they will have not working app until update.
I am currently investigating ways of remotely updating an Android app installed on a number of devices. The app in question is to be used on phones which we will provide to a number of demonstrators as part of product presentations. For this reason we don't want to publish the app on Google Play to be available for the public at large.
I've read that you can restrict access to the device on Google Play, but only according to criteria such as location, device type, android version, etc. Another way is to set up a version for beta testing, for which you can select testers, however this is only available to those who are part of a Google group or a Google+ community (according to here).
I've come across another post which details how to install an apk programmatically, however it appears to install the apk automatically, ie it doesn't appear to check whether or not the update is actually a new version.
One idea I have in mind is to upload new version on a repository and broadcast to devices which have the app installed, of which we have stored device ids. Is this possible?
What we do is sync periodically to a remote server during data entry on the app. During this sync, we check to see whether the device has the latest version of the software. If it doesn't, the new apk is downloaded and the user is prompted to install the software.
This is accomplished using a separate installer app we created. We have a service that keeps the app alive in the background, so it looks like the user never actually leaves the app during the install.
Would be happy to post code on the installer.
You can see the self installer here: https://github.com/techartist/SelfInstall-Jelly-Bean/
You should try Beta by Crashlytics, it's email-based.
You should try beta or alfa testing in gplay.
Also you can hardcode the date of ending and not to open application after this date.
From what I read on SO, it seems that I want the impossible (?)
I have a kiosk-like app that is supposed to run 24/24, 7/7, 365/365. This makes it hard/impossible to update the app. As far as I know, Google Play will not start the update (even if Autoupdate is set for my app) while my app is running.
I read across SO and several forums an found a lot of NO's and CON's. My current answer is that is not possible without rooting the device or without some system certificates and so on.
But still, I have the following scenario:
I created a google account myGoogleAccount#gmail.com
On my device I add this account and install my application from Google Play store.
On my desktop machine I log into GPlay with the same account and I go to my application and I see that my app is Installed. If I click on the Installed button I can see my device.
I publish a new version of the app, when the app becomes available, from my application's page open on desktop I can send a command to update the app.
I get the prompt to accept the terms bla-bla, and once I accept it, the app is automatically updated even if it is currently running.
Basically this is the behavior I am interested in. My question is: can I run this scenario from my device [invoking some GPlay api's] given the fact that I can provide the google account credentials to the app, so that no user intervention is required to update the app and to accept whatever unchanged permissions?
I have an app written in Adobe Air (actionscript3) then packaged as an APK for the moto xoom (android os, using flashdevlop).
We are looking to host both the install and update. There are no issues with selecting unknown sources. And installing from web works but i cant seem to find anyway to set it up to find updates thru my server or the correct way to push those updates. Thoughts or links, google has failed me?
UPDATE
I forgot to make clear i need it to work thru the built in update checking so it will auto update if the device is set to do this. By default either the app or device is checking for updates somewhere. I want to change where it checks for that update and what format/syntax its expecting.
The built-in update check is the Android Market app, pinging the Android Market server to check for updates. Since you're not distributing your app through Market, there's no way for you to take advantage of its update mechanism- You'll have to write your own (Amazon's market app, by way of example, does this).
Essentially you'll have to set up some sort of alert mechanism (check for updates on app startup, maybe), download the APK, and fire an intent to have the user explicitly state they want to install the app. Auto updating (downloading and installing the APK without the user doing anything at all) isn't possible outside of Android Market, for security reasons.
For more information on how to fire the "install" activity, check out this thread.
It sounds like a good case for cloud to device messaging....to notify the user of the update
is available...
http://code.google.com/android/c2dm/
I think they will still have to download/install it.....You can help them by making the download/install feature of the app it self.....
okey... i think you have a few web services right... create a update webservice that takes in the user version and sends it to you.. you can cross reference it and if the user needs to download a new version they get directed to a browser ... where you can poit to where you host the files... you can put in a menu item in the app to say allow the user to check for any upgrades... version number of the app can be got easily... check google or get back to me if you still are nunable to find any...
My customer wants the android app to update itself automatically whenever a change is made. They do not want to publish the app in the android market. For the first time, the app will be installed using the Android SDK or the numerous other ways to install.
How do I ensure that the app is automatically upgraded whenever bug fixes or features are added. If not automatically, a button from the app is also ok
Thanks.
Create an "updater" application. This application will monitor a remote server for updates and if it finds one, it will install the apk programmatically. Read this question for directions on how you can install an apk programmatically. You will easily find more information regarding this topic on the net.
You could try to use Pushlink. http://www.push-link.com
It can be done in following ways :
1. a push notification mechanism
2. server pooling on each start / time interval
3. Push SMS
to update the client application.
If your client is using Google Apps you can create a private Google play channel for your organization. There you can publish the apps only for your users to see. I know that you explicitly said that this is not an option, but it's, by far, the best option (although it's not free).
http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2494992
Maybe you can update your app programmatically:
download new version of your app (*.apk) to a local storage of
Android device
run new Intent for update app
Intent intentInstall = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW)
.setDataAndType(Uri.parse("file:///path/to/new_app.apk"),
"application/vnd.android.package-archive");
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(intentInstall);
remove downloaded *.apk
See also Android App Version Update service without releasing it to marketplace