Handling app updates

1

Hi All,

The documentation on publishing an android cordova ionic app is truly spot on.

But what goes on with version updates? Let’s say you publish a new APK, how do you get your users to automagically update the app? Any plugins I should be aware of? Looking forward to hearing what works or doesn’t work!

Thanks

2

If the OS is Android, the Play Store will notify your users. You can also use a push notifications plugin if you want to disturb your users with your update :wink: You can create a newsletter subscription in your app and then spam your users and there are a few more things you could probably think out…

3

How long does it normally take for Android to push the update out?

4

Few hours from uploading to have it available on my device. Sometimes faster.

5

Both IOS and Android have automatic app updates. They can also be disabled by users, and people might have updates disabled to save on bandwidth for example.

If your server requires users to have the latest app version due to a breaking change, an option to handle this is by making your app ask the server if there is an update. If the server response is true, then alert your user and prompt/link to the app store to update.

6

Thanks, good tips.

I’ve just implemented interceptor to always pass along the versionid for all the requests, and the server will send back a specific http code if the version is too old.