When I update some applications, I see some show "Manual update". I believe this will force uninstall of old version first and the installs fresh.
1. Is it true?
2. How do I FORCE uninstall of new version (with all preferences etc.), and install the new version fresh?
The manual update isn't going to uninstall your application, then reinstall, what is happening is because the dev has changed a security requirement of the app, the user needs to agree to it again.
So for example, if I developed a word search app with no security requirements, the user agrees to install it and uses it so decides to tick the auto update, or hits update all. My first update is simply adding puzzles - it would update fine.
I now add a feature to read a users SMS and their Contacts and use the internet to send me all the details.
The security privileges of my app have changed - now my app will not be included in the auto update or update all as the user needs to agree to these new security privileges and thus hopefully alerting the user to the outrages nature of the security requirements for this type of app.
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If what you are trying to achieve is wiping all users data, then you need to add this to your code as I don't think it is possible to do this as a market update option (I could be wrong as its not something I would normally recommend).
To do it in code, a simple look at the app version code, and if its below X then delete prefs & or DB would do the trick I would have thought.
Related
My question is concerning the Android app data backup feature configured by android:allowBackup in the manifest, as documented here. As I understand it, this backed-up app data is restored when the user uninstalls and later re-installs an app from the play store.
In this scenario, when exactly is the data restoration done? Is it:
During installation from Play Store, before user has ability to open app
After installation is complete, potentially allowing user to open app before the restore is done
Our users are on slow internet connections and a few have reported scenarios where data they entered shortly after a reinstall is replaced by old data from past backups. If the Google backups are to blame, this seems to suggest that the restore is done after install (#2 above), but I can't find concrete information to back this.
I'm slightly skeptical because this backup feature is enabled by default. If this overwriting can indeed happen on reinstalls, this would mean all android apps under android 6+ will have encountered issues where first-time setup data (auth tokens and such) is overwritten when a restore is applied. Does anyone have any links or anecdotal information on whether this theory is correct?
Auto backup in android
Check "Restore schedule" para which says that restore happens after the APK is installed, but before the app is available to be launched by the user. BTW if you want to handle Autobackup, you can follow the setup step on codelab Autobackup setup for Android Codelab
This is a repeated question as i have not got answer . Hope someone will look at this and answer .
I have an android application which has number of downloads . I want to update the app with some major fixes and updates . Because of this update, end user may get failed authentication and need to reenter his credentials which I dont like. At the same time i want keep same package name to keep downloads and app reputation on playstore.
So how can i achive these
1.update android app on playstore which will not push automatic updates even if end user turn-on autoupdate in settings .
Previous app downloads and userfeedback should be there
So this way old users still continue using old version and any new users who download app from playstore will enjoy new app .
Thank you
Ok, you mentioned keeping a package name and stuff... Changing that should never be an option. The user could have ten of the same app, all with different features because your updates are all packaged separately. There isn't really a way to stop Google Play from auto updating apps, the users may just have to deal with reentering credentials. Since there isn't a way around this, you could simply apologize to the user. Example:
When the user logs in, save a boolean called something like, "wasLoggedIn". Then, on your login/startup page check if that is true. If it is, display a dialog such as, "Sorry for the inconvenience, you have been logged out due to an error." This will make the user a little more comfortable logging in again.
Some of the applications I have installed on my phone update automatically, I don't even have to click anything. This is the behavior I expect from the application I'm developing myself. Do I have to configure something or will android market take care of this?
This is not a behaviour you can set on the application itself. Each user chooses how the applications he downloads are updated. This is a market setting.
In the latest versions of the market, the default is now set to auto-update, but the user is free to untick the box and decide for manual updates, per application. If you open settings, you can also decide whether it's done on Wi-Fi only or on mobile data as well.
This will be done on all updates except the ones where a permission change occurred. For them, the market will still require a manual update.
Auto update is possible. But you should click app to start it at least.
In the start process, you can send the current version status to server through web service, server will identify the version if there is new version. if yes, a new version apk file will be downloaded, and the most important is how to install a apk file sliently.
Generally, you can run the
pm install -r xxx.apk
the apk will be automatically installed, and your app will be updated.
I'm almost positive you can't force users to update their installed apps, but I think it is the default behaviour of the Android Market.
I have an app written in Adobe Air (actionscript3) then packaged as an APK for the moto xoom (android os, using flashdevlop).
We are looking to host both the install and update. There are no issues with selecting unknown sources. And installing from web works but i cant seem to find anyway to set it up to find updates thru my server or the correct way to push those updates. Thoughts or links, google has failed me?
UPDATE
I forgot to make clear i need it to work thru the built in update checking so it will auto update if the device is set to do this. By default either the app or device is checking for updates somewhere. I want to change where it checks for that update and what format/syntax its expecting.
The built-in update check is the Android Market app, pinging the Android Market server to check for updates. Since you're not distributing your app through Market, there's no way for you to take advantage of its update mechanism- You'll have to write your own (Amazon's market app, by way of example, does this).
Essentially you'll have to set up some sort of alert mechanism (check for updates on app startup, maybe), download the APK, and fire an intent to have the user explicitly state they want to install the app. Auto updating (downloading and installing the APK without the user doing anything at all) isn't possible outside of Android Market, for security reasons.
For more information on how to fire the "install" activity, check out this thread.
It sounds like a good case for cloud to device messaging....to notify the user of the update
is available...
http://code.google.com/android/c2dm/
I think they will still have to download/install it.....You can help them by making the download/install feature of the app it self.....
okey... i think you have a few web services right... create a update webservice that takes in the user version and sends it to you.. you can cross reference it and if the user needs to download a new version they get directed to a browser ... where you can poit to where you host the files... you can put in a menu item in the app to say allow the user to check for any upgrades... version number of the app can be got easily... check google or get back to me if you still are nunable to find any...
In one of our projects where we are implementing an application using Android/HTML5/JavaScript there is a requirement for having an Android Auto update kinda feature which is as described below:
Update Native version: The Native version of our application should be easy to update. New versions should be possible to “push”, or at least notify, the user of. Does this require that we publish it to the Android Market?
As of now Notification of the new version can be send to the device but we need an approach to automatically download the new version and install ie., either update the existing version or overwrite it. Hosting the new version in Android market is the last option according to the client
If someone/somebody has earlier come across or implemented such a feature, could you kindly reply back.
If you are using the Android market , the best solution is to just notify the user that an update is available. Depending on the update or Application you may decide not to allow the user the access the app if an update is available.
You will always need to push a new APK to the market , the user may setup the auto update feature but I believe there is no way for an app to force the setting.
Any method which will allow the app to auto update would either need more privileges from users or a routed device , which I guess is not a big enough percentage of users to try the feature.
The android market allow to auto-update applications. Is you want to do it without using the android market, your users will have to enable apk install from unknown sources and they will have to confirm each installation (unless their phones are rooted I think)
There is a nice service called http://push-link.com
This hosts you APK and manage updates. You can choose how the user is going to be notified and see the progress installation of all version.
Cheers...