I have an application on appstore and also in google play.
I want the current users to be able to update the application, but want to prevent further downloads to it.
Can this be achieved?
Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks for advance.
No that is not possible (on the AppStore) and I don't think it's on Google Play either.
If you want to freeze a version of your app and make a new "branch". A solution could be to create a new App with a new Bundle ID. Then the old app can still live in the App Store.
I don't know what you want to achieve from this and if Apple will approve it, but if you want to do this, Apple surely wants to see additional features or changes in the new version in order for it to be approved and not just an exact copy with a new Bundle ID.
Hope this helps.
Remove the app from sale in all countries where the app was never previously downloaded.
Set the price to $799, and say "Don't buy me! No refunds!" in the app store descriptions. Remove anything in the description that might tempt somebody to buy it. Remove all keywords (in the next update, if needed) to make it hard to find. Rename the app in the app store to something obscure if possible (but leave the name under the icon the same). None of the above should affect the ability of current users to download a new update if you get one approved and in the store.
As far as I know this is normally not possible using the Play Store.
Here are some very dirty solutions for Android (I would prefer method 1):
1. Using Google Play: Let all current users enter a private Google group (Or Google+ group) and publish your app only as Alpha or Beta. This way only users in the private group can update or download your app. New users won't see the app in the Play Store and won't be able to download it.
2. Using Shared Preferences: Let all users update the app and set a boolean in a Shared Preferences file. Then publish the new app which should not be downloadable by new users, and check if the boolean is set. If the boolean is not set close or kill the app and notify the user.
Related
Is it possible to 'block/prevent' users from using an old Android app?
I mean - I've already unpublished app from Play. This means that app is not available anymore for downloading.
But I'd like to restrict users to carry on using current installed app (which has been unpublished from Play).
Is it somehow possible?
Regards,
There isn't a way to check if the app is currently published to the Play Store, however you can check if there is a new version available.
From the link above:
String response = SendNetworkUpdateAppRequest(); // Your code to do the network request
// should send the current version
// to server
if(response.equals("YES")) // Start Intent to download the app user has to manually install it by clicking on the notification
startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("URL TO LATEST APK")));
Treating your users like this is not something you should do. Users have an expectation that once they have acquired an app they can keep using it, and you should respect that expectation.
But let's suppose there was a seriously good reason for doing it. Suppose your signing key and developer account had been compromised by an ex-employee, and you wanted to make sure users moved from the compromised app to a new app with a new package name.
You could then issue an update to the app which when loaded did nothing except display a message saying something like "This app is out of date and will no longer be updated. Please move to this app" and have a link to the new app in the Play store. Existing users would get the update, and while the old app is available to them, most users would not be able to get it.
As I said, this is very disrespectful behavior to your users in most situations, and I'd only recommend doing it if critical for user security.
I have a client for whom I have made three apps for different regions (App 1, App2, App3).
Now the client changed his strategy and instead of having a different brand for every region he wants just one global brand which also means one app. He obviously doesn't want to lose the users of the three old apps in the process so my question is: can I somehow merge all these apps into one on Google Play and Apple Store?
I couldn't find sufficient information anywhere. All I could think of was to update all three with a new package but that would mean that three apps (now with the same name and same everything) remain in the stores, which would probably result in deletion.
Is there any way to do this?
you should tell all the users of 3 applications by notification that they need to download new application and their data will be transferred into the new application.
While Prashant Jaiswal has already answered it, let me elaborate it a bit.
Step-1
Provide an update to each of your 3 apps that shows an overlay with a message saying that We have a brand new version the app and current version of the app is going to be obsolete. Please install the new app from playstore
Step-2
If there are any local databases associated with your app, then make a provision to update all the user data to server as a backup which they can retrieve again from the new app.
Step-3
If your app has social media login associated with your app, then it will no longer be continued, since changing the package name will result in creation of new app, so you have to make necessary changes in your server to handle the social media login.
step-4
Make the provision to accommodate the changes of step-1 to step-3 in your existing apps so that the migration can be taken place, and once user clicks on the install new version, begin your migration process before redirecting user to the play store.
step-5
Then use this link for Android Implicit intent to uninstall application? to uninstall your existing apps once the new app is downloaded and follow something similar for iOS part.
final step
All the above steps I mentioned by considering the general app design, there might be few more things that you have to consider based on the complexity of your app and its interaction with the servers
Just so that you know, you can not merge the three apps directly at
playstore. The only way to merge the apps is create a merged app and
redirect the users.
I would like to publish some update of my app on the Play Store, however since I will just change the default setting given at the beginning when a user install the app for the first time, I would like that these updates are not seen by current users (that would have to update the app for nothing). Is there a way to do it?
Thanks in advance.
No, there is no way to do that.
In future consider using some service which will provide a configuration for your app remotely (such as Firebase).
Introduction
I've deployed the first version of my app to the Play Store and now I'm going to change the version code and publish the next version. So, in general case, the Google Play will notify users about the update. But I want my app itself to check for the updates and take user to the Play Store.
Studies till now
I have read about the workaround , here , where the app checks for the latest version with your server but I don't want that.
Requirement
I just want my app itself to directly compare its version with version available on the Play Store, and if it is different, then prompt user to update the app. On confirmation, it will take the user to the Play Store.
Is there any way to achieve this?
Is there any way to achieve this?
Probably, but I would not try to implement this if I were you and here is why.
Users configure update settings themselves through google play app settings.
If they want app updates right way they can say so. If they want to confirm first they can say so. If they don't want to be notified of updates at all, they can say so.
In most cases users are already notified of an update of your app through google play notifications. There is no need to add a 2nd notification. Even worse - users that don't want to be notified of updates will be annoyed when you notify them yourself. You want to avoid that.
You will need a service call to
https://androidquery.appspot.com/api/market?app=YourPackageNameOnPlaystore
for example:
https://androidquery.appspot.com/api/market?app=com.google.android.youtube
the respnse which will be returned by playstore will contain version information which is present on playstore.
compare it with local app version and take further steps
Hope this helps!
Good luck!
Short answer: No. There is no such official API yet. But you can go for an unofficial one.
But still as you have mentioned you can go for your own API implementation and prompt the user to update the app. But take into consideration that users have their own preferences about updating the app and they may find such prompts annoying. #Tim Castelijns's answer explains it in detail.
On Android I think that you can 'unpublish' an application so that no new users can download the application but that the user who already have the application will recieve new versions that are uploaded to google play (or so it seems to say here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/113476?hl=en&ref_topic=3450986 )
However I can't find any information on iOS. Can I remove the app but still update existing customers with a new version?
Just for context the update I want to issue for both OS is basically an app which displays a 'app is now closed' message.
Any help would be gratefully received.
Can I remove the app but still update existing customers with a new version?
As far as I am concerned, you can't do this in the App Store.
No, this isn't possible. Once you remove the app, nobody will see it in the app store. Existing users of the app won't see any updates that you may have published before removing it that they never installed. It's just gone if you remove it from the app store.
You could publish an app update that includes some kind of notification system within the app, and keep that in the store long enough for most users to upgrade. Then after you pull the app from the store, you could update this message (presumably it would retrieve this message from your server) to state that the app is no longer available, and maybe direct them to whatever you have that you're replacing it with (assuming you're replacing it). Otherwise, I don't see why you necessarily need to inform existing users that you've removed the app. If there are server-side components that it accesses, and you're shutting those down, I guess the app will simply cease to function for existing users.
I also don't think there is a way to offer updates without new customers being able to buy the app.
Why not increase the price of the app to the highest price allowed in the app store, so that no one will buy it? That way you can offer an update for your existing customers, but effectively stop new sales. If the new price is $1999.00 US, I doubt if you will get any takers...