I want to publish my app game version 2.0 in google play. And there is already a version 1.0 here. My game is a online game, so i have a game server myself of version 1.0 the app connected to.
My question is. When a publish my app version 2.0, it cost about a day until it is available in google play. Can't I specified a time my app v2.0 available in google play so i can update my game server at the same time, because my client and server version must be same.
Any one has any solution?
One way is to serve the update yourself via your own server. If you have this setup on your existing app in the play store, awesome. Otherwise you have to have to push an update to the old app ASAP (through the play store) that is compatible with your current game server, that will contain this check on your apk server.
You will have to check the server version, and if it's been updated, fetch the updated app. Also add some code that checks if the apk server is providing a binary or redirecting you to another url. If it's the latter, you can have your app open a browser to open that link (as to why you want to do this, read on.)
Let it settle down a bit (2 days should be enough), then update both your game server and play store app at the same time.
Now you can modify the apk server so that it redirects everyone to the play store link of your app.
Users that were updated through the apk server may be prompted with a new version in the play store again, though the update doesn't really add anything (AFAIK there's no way to query if an update is available in the play store through the play store itself). Also I don't know how Play Store checks for an update -- if it's just the version code and version name from the manifest, they may not be served with the update anymore (which is good).
Users that were not updated through the apk server but were able to get the patch for the server checking mechanism will now run the app and find that they'll be redirected to the playstore, of which they will now download the update.
The only limitation with this solution is that users that were not able to get the server check mechanism patch may have to figure this out for themselves that they need to update via play store. You can help them by sending a notification email regarding the update.
There is no way to do this short of requesting it of Google themselves. A release/update isn't instantaneous worldwide either; the speed will differ by region. I assume this is as there are multiple data centres delivering the data.
If you have the resources, you could run both versions concurrently for 24-48 hrs while the update gets validated by Google and propagates.
Otherwise I think you will have to be offline to some users for a period. You should announce the downtime through whatever form of communication you have with your users in advance.
Yes, you can pick a specific time to publish your app now.
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We have the same application for several clients. This application, for security reasons, cannot be published to Google Play, so we distribute it manually to customers.
The problem is that every time there is a new version of the application we have to contact all customers and update all their applications.
Isn't there a way to have private applications on google play and give access to different clients so that they can download the updates for those applications?
I've seen this, but I'm not sure if it behaves like I expect: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/3131213?hl=en#runtest
Of course you can, there is an internal test app version available in the Play Store where you can upload your app version. Once uploaded you will have a private link available and only the people with access to that link will be able to download the app.
I guess you can publish as a "beta" version of the application https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/7003180. You can define your clients as beta-testers and app would be visible on market only for them.
I have an approach, Assume you have an .apk file in your website. every customer will download it from here. Now you have to make an API call whenever user will use your application to make sure that they are using the latest version of application by sending the version details to server. If the user is using an older version (This you will get from server/api response) block the screen and redirect them to server to download the new .apk.
You can store the response to a local/DB so they can not use your application in offline mode also.
We are planning a major upgrade to our App. So the new web services will not support old APK and old web services will not support new APK.
In addition, we want to new APK available to public at the same time as we publish web services.
Can I first submit the production APK for review and keep it ready? So that I can publish both APK and web services at the same time?
Can i first submit the prodction APK for review and keep it ready ? So that i can publish both APK and web services at the same time ?
Yes but I wouldn't do that... You'll always have users that don't update their app, or users not connected when you update. Those will don't understand why your app is not working anymore.
Personally, I would use a different address for your new webservice (v2.yourservice.com ?) for a transition period. Look at requests to your old webservice, when those are really low, redirect that address to your new webservice.
That will ensure a minimal pain for your users to switch.
Yes. You should publish your new APK (e.g. v1.0.9) on Play Store immediately after you publish your new web services.
Before doing it, I hope you have done following things:
I assume here currently live version of APK is v1.0.7
Create another version of APK (e.g. v1.0.8) which will check if new web services are published or not. If the new web services are published then prompt user to download the updated version of this app. Tell user in a message about the reason for this update. Also, tell that app won't work if you don't update.
Upload this APK v1.0.8 on Play Store. Wait for few days to roll out this APK to maximum users. Till then you will have to work on development of new APK and new web services.
Once the new APK v1.0.9 and new web services are ready for production, publish both of them at the same time.
We have done this with one of our apps and it worked perfectly well.
This can be better solution for you. I hope it helps.
Google Play has released scheduled deploy. You can now control the time of the update.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6334282?hl=en
If you are talking about PlayStore the answer is Yes. Take a look at delayed publishing mode. Also you can just publish it as closed beta, wait for it to pass validation and then in any time move it to release
It is a very risky approach that you are taking.
Never turn OFF switch immedately, there are n things that can go wrong and in production they go wrong always. How you will roll back if new web service has major issues and you need to revert back go old one immediately.
Best solution is provided by Amrut Bidri above, I would go with that approach + roll out per user login rather than blanket server migration which is much safer approach.
I am developing an Android app. During development, I want to push the app several iterations to 50 selected user so that they can test the app for bugs etc. These update should happen automatically. I know I could send emails with the .apk file to the selected users, but this is not an option. The update should happen automatically, same like if the app was downloaded through the Google Play Store.
Basically something similiar as Testflight.de or Fabrics.io for iOS...
Play store provides Beta testing for exactly the same reason. The specified beta testers will be able to receive updates as your app is updated.
You can check the details here
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/3131213?hl=en
I have an app that i used to host on a private server and send the link to the new version by using GCM.
I now host the app on the Play Store. When i have an updated version, i increment the version code and publish it to production.
Can anyone tell me why the phones are not receiving a notification of the update?
I have checked the notification checkbox in the app itself and i have checked auto-update from within the play store app settings.
I've had a look around SO and certain individuals seem to think that in order to receive a notification, the app must implement GCM? Others think that the Play Store app regularly checks the version number of the installed app against the new one hosted on the Play Store, then notifies.
Can anyone explain what the users ought to see from an updated app on play store and what i have to do for them to receive a notification.
thanks in advance,
Matt
Dear unchecked auto update from your Google play for the app.
because if that is checked when your app will be updated you will not be asked for permission. it will automatically install update.
have patience, some times it take more time to send update to users.
There is no need of gsm into this process. uploading new app is enough.
They should receive a notification, if the following are true:
They installed the app through the Play Store. If it was downloaded from your web server, they'll get no updates from the Play Store.
They have automatic updates enabled.
Even if the above conditions are true, it may take a day or two for the update notification to be displayed.
I just want to understand how android apps update notification works. What are requirements for update notification to work (Google play store ,google services ??). Any useful link will be helpful.
I feel android has information of what are apps purchased by user, so when user connect to internet some service should look for updates available. If this assumption is correct then I want to know information about user owned apps is passed from device or kept server side ?? I wanted to know updates will work for a side loaded app or not.
This is handled by the Play Store client. App history is associated with your Google account, that is why you can (automatically) install the same apps when you get a new device. It is kept on the server and cached on the device. Android keeps track of who installed a particular package (Play Store, side-load, etc.), but generally you can update an app as long as the updated is signed with the same certificate. Whether or not you will get notifications about side-loaded apps is entirely app to the Play Store app. Last I checked, it did show notifications, but you cannot rely on this. If you are dealing with side-loaded app, you'd better have your own update check mechanism.