I would like to know if this is possible.
Our users download & install APK from Play market the first time,
and afterward while the application detected that a new version is available, it can auto download & install new APK (using the same signature as original one) from our custom server, even if the allow side-loading setting is unchecked in user's device?
Or we must upload the new update APK on Play market again, and let user manually download & install from market?
thanks.
Use the Google Play Store update mechanism. It's the one and only way to deploy updates.
Some time ago Facebook also tried to implement their own update mechanism for their app and the result was Google temporary removing the app from the Play Store because of that.
If the user has installed the app from Play Store then the updates must come from Play Store only. Otherwise there would be signature mismatch problem.
You need to change the "version code" and "version name" and upload new APKs to the Play Store again.
And user's do not need to manually download updates if they have "automatic updates" enabled.
UPDATE
I saw your last comment and just thought to help.
We want to ensure our user always running the latest version of
application.
Yes, I can understand this requirement. The users who have "automatic updates" enabled (most of the users have) will automatically get the latest version of your app.
And those who don't, will get a notification to choose if they want to update now or postpone it later (may be they don't have enough internet data or time to download app app updates now).
The Trick
I can give you a trick. You can use your custom server to check if the user is currently using the latest version of the app or not. So if any user who is using the outdated version opens your app, the app checks to see that from the server and then prompts the user to update the app immediately. You can also take the user directly to the Play Store to update the app. Simple, isn't it?
Hope it helps.
You have to upload the APK to the Play Store again. Depending no the user's settings he will auto-update the app or manually download the update from the store.
Related
My App is live on Play store and I have enabled force update on App open, but when user is redirected to Google Play store there is only Open option instead of Update option.
You should wait for some time(maybe a couple of hours) before enabling force update in your app as it takes time to reflect update on play store. Also, sometimes google play store app shows cached data so the user may see open app option instead of an update option.
If your user install app from anywhere except GooglePlay, when he open googlePlay just can see open and unistall option. So your user must first time install app from googlePlay to get update option when needed or you implement force update in your app and when you publish new version at googlePlay, just download published apk from googlePlay and put it into your force update link. So, even if your user dont install app from googlePlay, with force update he forced to install googlePlay version.
Please check version of your apk at googlePlay app page. Because sometime it takes 24 hours to publish new version at googlePlay.
I make an Android launcher app and I published this app in the store.
The problem is it seem the people don't receive the update of the app automatically...
They have to go to the store and click to the update button.
It's the same when Sync is enabled in settings & background Data is not restricted.
Maybe because it's a launcher and the Google Play Store doesn't update the app who are being used (to not reload it) ?
Google Play can take upto 24 hours to push application updates across all its servers.
Just wait for a while, and all your eligible users should receive the update. However, if your update adds feature requests that some devices don't support, they will not get the update. And one more thing you must make sure that the app u have installed in ur mobile is not apk built with debug keystore.. the play store will show always as "Open" button instead of "Update" if the play store app certificate doesn't match with installed app certificate. I realized this when i did trial and error with debug and signed apk's. Only signed apk worked. And use versionCode for comparing versions instead of version Name.
I have a native android app in google play and now I have made a new version of the app with ionic 2 framework.
How to update the app and is it possible to notify the users about the new version of the app?
I quess I have to remove the old one and upload the new one.
This is exactly what you need:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/7159011
Because you completely rewrote your app please read this too, the most important part is "Prepare your APK":
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/113476?hl=en
If you follow these guides existing users will be notified about new version automatically by Google Play Store.
The existing users can download the update from your app listing page on the play store or when they select My apps on the Play store. Also if they have enabled auto update for your app then the update will be downloaded and installed automatically.
More about this here.
and as #Abhishek recommended, if you don't have any code for checking updates in your previous version of app then users will not get notified automatically.
also you don't have to remove the old app to upload the new one, you can deactivate the old app if you want it to no longer served to the user, OR you can retain it if you still want it to be served to the users.
Google play usually updates applications automatically. You just need to add upload APK and click Release. You don't have to remove old APK.
In less than a day or something all users of your application will be notified by Google Play that new version is available and if user configures his phone to install apps automatically, then apk will be installed in background as soon as update will be ready.
Also you can notify your users about new version using PUSH notifications. Of course if your previous release does not contain code to enable PUSHes, then you cannot send such notification.
And one more thing: if you use your previous keys to sign APK then everything is fine and you don't need to do anything with APK at developer console, otherwise you need to rollback application and/or re-publish it.
I'm using android studio. I have developed an app and now I want to upload it to Google Play. I have a license and I have uploaded an app before, but I didn't really know what I was doing at that time.
What I want is to upload my app to Google Play, and then upade it without losing the reviews and rating. How do I do that?
And, what is the best way to force a user to download an update? I am going to upload the app to Google Play and to Amazon Appstore (for android), so a link to Google Play or something similar is maybe not the best solution. I was thinking - a toast message "please update the app". What do you think?
Updating an existing apk on Google Play Store:
1) Go to your Google Play Developer Console
2) Select All applications in that select "Your Application"
3) Select Upload APK.
4) Choose from the Production, Beta, or Alpha channels and select Upload your APK.
It take few hours to publish update. more information about upload, publish, etc.
Forcing users to update: There are three things
1) It is not possible in Google Play Store, unless user have set automatic update on.
2) You can use external library like UpdateChecker, AppUpdater, etc.
3) You can change your application structure in that way that whenever user starts you application internal contents get update. (This is not a feasible option, I guess)
What is KeyStore?
It is used to build singed apk.
Keep your keystore in a secure location. If you lose your keystore, you'll need to publish the app with a new package name and a new key. If you need to do this, you should also unpublish the original app and update its description
Please check out this library, actually it provides what you want with simple approach.
https://android-arsenal.com/details/1/3094
When you publish a new version of your app to the Play Store, you will not lose any of the prior ratings for that app.
You can't force users to update your app. It is fully under their control. Some people may have automatic updates turned on, but for those who do not, they have to choose to receive the update.
Google added this new feature you can add to your app to force in-app update based on if you want the update immediate or flexible
https://developer.android.com/guide/playcore/in-app-updates/kotlin-java
I have application that is installed in Android device. later on I update the apk and provide the new version for it in play store. my question how my application get know, new version for it now available in play store and update it.
Like others have said, Google Play will handle the updating. But that doesn't mean you can't put a check into your app that checks to see if a new version is released (by either parsing Google Play data or making a call to your website to get the latest version #) and alerting the user that there's an update available.
But, the user could ignore the update and could have auto-update disabled, and the old app will continue to run just fine.