thankfully I don't think I have a problem with my app, but the chance of this issue made me want to ask the question on SO.
Scenario: Assuming many folk have automatic updating set against my app (as I do), what would happen if I launched an update that percolated through the market, only to find that I had cocked-up something major and needed time to fix. My first action would be to deactivate the newest version, and activate the next older version.
Question: What would happen on the phone if they have the newer version? Would it automatically update to the older 'live' version?
And yes, I know I should test, test, test so that I never get in this position...;-)
Thanks
No, downgrade won't work, yet, by unpublishing faulty app you prevent those who did not upgrade yet from facing problems, but those who already upgraded can simply uninstall the app and install it again, thus revering to last stable version. Market will not downgrade installed apps. It only works for updates (comparing versionCodes)
Related
This sparked a little argument in my office. I noticed that some of my colleagues see WhatsApps recently introduced "end-to-end encryption" message in their chats while some don't. Why is it that others can see that message and others can't? Is it because my whatapp version is more recent than theirs? What really happens when a mobile app gets updated to a recent version by it's developers, shouldn't everyone anywhere regardless of android get the same update at the same time? Or is this somewhat related to the android version which in turn is managed by and dependent on the hardware manufacturer?
I've got a development partner who says that in order to fix bugs that cause an application on iOS & Android to crash on load that end users need to delete the original app and re-download the new updated version. Are they for real? Shouldn't it just be incorporated into a standard app update and work like any other update?
The answer depends on how your app was distributed. If you just sent out a link like http://www.mysite.com/mytestApp.apk, it's easiest to uninstall. If they're updating via the Google Play Store, you have to set your version number higher than the installed version. Users can then get the newer version more seamlessly. I haven't done an ad hoc distribution with iOS yet, but updates via the app store seem to work similarly to the Play store. Users get a notification and can then update if their device meets the required specs.
Usually an update should resolve these issues. However, I have seen rare instances where users running older apps will need to uninstall/reinstall to get the new version of the application working. Like I said, these are rare instances where some major configuration has to take place. It's not something most updates need to do.
I have recently updated my Android app from Google Developer Console. I have updated my app from 1.1 version to 1.2 version. But how i would know that an update notification has gone to all active install user of my app.
Whether i need to write some code or is there any option available in Google Developer Console...
Please help me out , i need this essentially.
At the moment, the only way to tell is by day to day statistics from the google console to know how many have updated to your new version.
Go to statistics windows, then underneath the first graph there should be an option to display Active Installs by App Version.
Even if all your users update the app, there may be backup copies. Normally, such copies are never used, but on really rare occasions something happens and... it will be really very frustrating if the backup copies get broken in the course of time.
I am not happy with the current version of my app in the Play Store. I would like to disable it (for now).
Q: If I disable it, are the users who already upgraded to the new version eventually downgraded to the older (re-activated) version?
No, they stay on the last published version as far as I'm aware. People who have installed the version you are not happy with will keep having it even after you deactivate.
There is no downgrade or "revert to previous" process.
If you're unhappy, best thing to do if possible it to post an update/fixed version before you deactivate.
Edit: Can't find any official info but found someone else who agrees (https://stackoverflow.com/a/13493065/833647).
I speak from experience of doing exactly what you describe :)
I am not exactly sure when I need to be changing the versionCode/versionName values in the manifest file before creating a new .apk and putting it on my own device.
Is it ok not to change them at all if I am just going to be testing on my own phone?
Thanks!
No, you can keep it the same if you are just testing on your phone.
Actually, the version codes and the version names come in handy when you are actually publishing your application on the market, enabling the users to know which version they have and what is presently available on the market.
But, since for the time being, you are just testing on your own, you can keep that the same. Won't be the cause of any problems.
Short answer: No, you don't need to change them
More Detail: For testing on your own phone, you'll be fine not changing them. It won't crash anything. Depending on your use of the Emulator you may be testing on your device quite frequently, and that would be a major pain! For me I never change them during testing, and I use my phone for testing pretty much exclusively (I can't stand the emulators).
It would however be wise to change them when you publish apps to the Google Play store in order to accurately represent the updated versions to your customers. They appreciate details like that.
Most of the times you would like to increment the version to keep track of bugs and on which version the bug was fixed. So mostly for tracking.
Other than that, the version number won't affect.
The only time when you may have trouble is when running a developer build(Installed directly from Eclipse) and running a standalone apk. Only in this case you may require to uninstall the previous app, but even then, the version number won't affect, since it is related to the signature and not the version number.
There is not need to change it if you are testing.
If you are putting it in the market and updating it,
Version Code is an integer that should be incremented,
Version Name is the name that will be show on descriptions.