I published my first app in Google Play today, woot! Once I saw my app listed in Google Play, I realized I needed to make a change and post an update.
I made my code changes and incremented versionCode and versionName in the manifest file. I then built my apk, signed with the same key as the original apk submitted to Google Play.
I uploaded a new apk, deactivated the original apk, then activated the new one and clicked Save.
I waited a couple of hours, looked in Google Play and could see that yes, the new value I put in versionName had updated.
On my Android Phone, I had originally installed the first version, but when I go to Google Play on that phone, I see the new version of my app, but the only options are "Open" and "Uninstall".
What do I need to do to my app in the Dev Console, or wherever, so the Update option appears when me or any other user goes to my app in Google Play?
Doing some research in Android Developer, I read this:
android:versionCode
An internal version number. This number is used only to determine whether one version is more recent than another, with higher numbers indicating more recent versions. This is not the version number shown to users; that number is set by the versionName attribute.
The value must be set as an integer, such as "100". You can define it however you want, as long as each successive version has a higher number. For example, it could be a build number. Or you could translate a version number in "x.y" format to an integer by encoding the "x" and "y" separately in the lower and upper 16 bits. Or you could simply increase the number by one each time a new version is released.
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html
Then I found this:
Google Play can manage updates to preloaded applications, provided the following conditions are met:
Package Name with the same Version Code of pre-loaded app must to be uploaded to the Developer Console
http://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=113476&topic=2365760&ctx=topic
So I'm confused, do I increment the Version Code or not. I'm pretty sure I should increment it, but then again the Update option is not showing up.
Congratulations on your first app! It's a very exciting moment!
Yes, you increment your Version Code when you make an update to your app.
When you were testing your updated version, did you install the apk file onto your device? You might have updated it unknowingly. Google play will therefore detect that you have matching version codes with the app on your device and the app you uploaded and will not offer to update it.
You must always increment the version code when updating an app on Google Play. Your update will not be accepted unless you do.
As for your update not showing up, Google Play takes time to refresh it's servers. My updates have sometimes taken more than 24 hours to be pushed to the device, while new installers get the latest version withing 2 hours usually.
Related
I have been using the default Alpha closed test track to get feedback from a helpful set of my users. Everything has worked fine. The latest apk on there is versionCode 10.
Now I've realised I want to have a subset test extra features, so I created a new test track, turned off the list on Alpha, and turned it on on the new track. I uploaded a new apk versionCode 16, and would expect those people to see an update available. I have included my own email account in that, but nothing appears. I've even uninstalled the app and reinstalled, but it offers me the Alpha track option.
Any ideas?
Sorted it!
The users have to LEAVE being a tester, then rejoin. When they rejoin it will put them on the correct apk/track.
Today I had updated one application on play store. This app was present previously on play store, but before some months we had removed this application. Now after some code changes we had release this app again for 20% user. Now the problem is on play store it is showing old application(which we had removed some months before). Does we miss something or it will take 2-3 hr to reflect the same.
The developer doesn't actually have to change the 'Version' number that shows in the Play Store, they only need to increment a build version (which is not visible anywhere in the Play Store) so the version that is shown may not change. This allows for quick fixes to be pushed out without incrementing the actual version number.
Refer this link:
https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/155018/app-updation-google-play-store-wants-to-update-an-older-version-of-app-when-lat
In my case my current app version is versionCode 28,but some of my users are installing versionCode 17 or 21.Once they install the old one,we are usinf FirebaseRemoteConfig inside all of our apps so we are prompting to update to latest 28th version.But still i couldn't find the reason for Old app's availablity in Playstore.Its annoying
im very new to the google play and mobile app world.
I would like to know the process of updating my app on the google play store as im not sure how. It is Android app.
I am using xamarin for the app. I have increased the version name to by .1 and if I do this, do I have to also increase the version number to 2 ? because it cannot take decimal points.
I have a simple understanding of It so im not sure if I have to create a new apk or update the existing one, and if so, how ?
and then on google play, do I just go and select the new apk, or updated apk ?
Thanks in advance
The version number (or version code) it's an integer value used to determine whether one version is more recent than another. This is not shown to the end users. Every new version you make should have a higher number than the previous. You can simply increase the number by one each time a new version is released.
The version name is a string, and it's only meant to be shown to users. It can be whatever you want, like "1.0" or "Beta 1.2.3".
To update an app you just upload a new apk to Google Play, and the system uses its version number to find out what's the newest apk ank make it visible by default.
There is a very good, detailed, step-by-step process at http://developer.xamarin.com/guides/android/deployment,_testing,_and_metrics/publishing_an_application/ (which also explains the difference between version # and version name, among other things). Definitely worth a read!
Say I have an application that users have installed from the Play Store, if one of my users reports a bug and I want to send them a patched version of the app to test, they can install it to their phone just fine. But if I then update the app on the Play Store, will the user get the update? My testing seems to indicate this is the case, but is there any gotchas?
The way my build process works is that each time I build, it gets a higher version code, so the patched version will have a higher version code that the one currently in the Play Store and then the version I upload to the Play Store after sending my user the patch will have a higher version code again.
I'm taking a decently wild guess here, but it should work, provided the following are met:
The version code of the apk on Google Play is higher than that of the hotfix
The user originally installed the app from Google Play to begin with, and only updated it via side loading.
The hotfix and the Google Play update are both signed with the same key.
I'm decently sure this will work, as I recall a long discussion about this on one of the android google groups that ended with success. I unfortunately cannot find it right now.
If you do try it out, please post back with the results.
I don't see any issue with this workflow. As long as you increment the version number at each build.
So I'm having trouble uploading a new APK to the play store with billing enabled.
Currently I have a published app that is paid and I want to change it to a subscription app such that the users get a yearly subscription and hence latest data to the app.
Now my issue is that the developer console will not let me upload a draft APK with the permissions for billing enabled. I log into the dev console, go to APK, change from simple to advanced mode, save my new APK as a draft and once uploaded I get the following error:
This configuration cannot be published for the following reason(s):
All devices that might receive version 1 would receive version 2.
Some devices are eligible to run multiple APKs. In such a scenario, the device will receive the APK with the higher version code.
I updated the Version code and the version number to be one higher than the current as well as different combinations of upping only one of the two values with still no success.
The app is being signed with the same keystore.
Thanks,
DMan
Figured out what this actually means now. Basically it was just telling me that I need to archive the current apk in order to actually publish the new apk. The new apk was successfully added as a draft. This message was just worded a little awkwardly and actually means that in order to publish version 2 version 1 must be archived NOT that there was anything wrong with the saved draft I performed.
Thanks,
Dman
Yes, all you have to do is to disable the old aplication, after that a the Publish botton will be available to push on the top left area so your new APK will be published
Did you disable your first version? By default, after uploading in advanced mode, both your first and 2nd version are activated. Looks to me like it's just saying that you've got 2 APKs active, that will reach the same devices thus one of the 2 is useless.