Does anyone know why updates for a new version of an existing Android app would not be sent to existing users from the Market?
I recently pushed a few updates to my app hosted in the Android Market but I have received word that users might be having to uninstall and completely re-install my app to get the update as opposed to the normal update process.
I recently turned of Google's copy protection feature because it is getting deprecated soon. Could it be related to that?
I am signing it with the same key. The package name has stayed the same. I just uploaded a new .apk file and activated it.
Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciate.
[Edit:] I have updated my versionCode for each new release.
Turns out that it does just take time for the updates to get pushed out. Thanks for everyone's comments!
As a side note, I was able to confirm with Google that even if you unpublish then republish your app ALL users should still get the updates. (http://matthew-moses.com/main/2012/01/31/pushing-updates-to-previously-unpublished-applications-in-the-android-market-place/)
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I have an Android app published on Google Play. The issue is that only 5% of its users have updated it to the latest version. I'm guessing they are either not using the app and/or have turned auto updates off.
Is there a way to communicate to them using, let's say, notifications that a new version is out and they need to update the app?
I have implemented the In-app-update API into the newest version but the thing is that the users will first have to update to this version, before they get in-app pop ups about app update.
Any help would be a great help!
Thanks
Unfortunately I think you're out of luck. Unless another avenue was implemented in the older version of the app to allow for some sort of notification, there is no way to contact users who have not updated. The best you can hope for is that the users notice they have a pending update in the Play Store, and decide to update.
The only things that I can think of (based upon the assumption that old app has no code to deal with a newer version):
If oldApp supports Push notifications, you may have a chance firing one to let your users know (not super reliable for they may have them disabled)
You can try pulling the app from the Google Store (so they can no longer download it), this will cause your users to get the new one if/when they reinstall or try to find it again.
If there's a backend service your App talks to, and you can tell which version of the client is calling you (I'd hope this is something you did... as it's pretty basic), then you could start returning 500 errors and let your users "see the app no longer works" and deal with the support tickets and reviews and what not... but at least you can tell them: "download the latest version, I no longer support that".
I cannot think of anything else that you can remotely do.
I had published an app on Google Play. According to me I need to change the versioncode in the gradle file everytime I upload the new APK and from there, Google Play does the job of notifying the users about an available update. I am in touch with many real world users who say they never got a notification about app update despite the several updates I had published to the original app. I know that there are certain device level play-store settings such as "Update app only on wi-fi" etc. and I've verified all such combinations of scenarios. I still believe that all the users are not notified about the new version available. So my questions are
1) Am I missing anything in the first place?
2) What are my options to make sure the user gets notified about the available update?
When you publish you app it takes some time(may be hours) to update world wide. So User's will not get immediately notified as soon as you publish.
It will also depend on the settings of playstore in user's phone and also the network user is using(i.e. wifi or data).
I have also faced this issue. When I checked for updated version, I did't get it but when I cleared data of playstore from my application settings and force stopped app and then reopened it and I was able to see the updated version.
So from your side you are not doing anything wrong. It's job of playstore plateform.
Only the thing which sometimes happens with the developers is that we continuously use our device to run app by using USB debugging and then we publish our app to playstore. And then we wait for update notification but we will not get notified as the versions in our device and on playstore are same.
I have created an Android application, published an initial version on Google Play Store and installed the APK on a test device.
How can i update new version without prompting?
I have seen sometimes Play store send notification for update
available and user can update after click on that notification but
some application is updating automatically.
hows it possible.?
I want that user get update automatically.
Your help would be highly appreciated.
No, it's not possible (unless the user clicked on the checkbox update automatically).
The only thing you could do is build yourself a shell of an application that would update itself from the internet when it gets run (but that would be quite an undertaking on your part and probably not worth your time).
No. Google Play cannot update applications automatically without user permission.
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...
We want to update an existing Application but unfortunately we have a problem. Our keystore to sign up the app is not the same as the one we used in the previous version of the application. Therefore we can´t upgrade our existing app in the market. Is there any way to get the old key (certificate) from our previous version which is currently in the market place?
Is there any solution to upgrade our existing version with the new one we would like to publish in the store?
What happens to the users who have installed the current version if we delete this version in the marketplace and upload a the new version (with the same name)?
Do they get an update notification or do they have to install the new app?
thanks in advance
You must use the previously used certificate to sign your app if you want to upload an updated version to the market. If you use a new certificate to sign your app and try to upload it as a new version, it will fail. If you upload it as a new application, the existing users will not be informed of the update.
Edit - if you have your Keystore but forgot the alias, you can try to recover it.
http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/bin/request.py?contact_type=contact_policy&policy=apps
I would email the Android Market guys, they have provided fixes for people before, they have moved whole apps over to a new account for people, so they may be able to help you with your issue. If not the post above is the best explanation, either new app and they will have to download or try to find the old keystore.. sorry man.. hopefully they can help
As far as what I know Its not possible to recover the same keystore anyhow , so you cant upgrade the existing Application. The only solution is you have to launch a complete new app.