Question

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Force users to have latest android app version

Is it possible to check on startup of an Android app whether the user has the latest version of it and force him to update if he has not? Or at least checkt whether there is a new version and tell him, that the app only will work again when he downloads and installs the update?

Background is that I have an app that needs to communicate with a server. When I change something in the interface between server and client I want to assure that the client has the latest version.

Is there any native way to do this? Or do I have to check this on my own?

Is this only accessible if you have a mysql database? is it possible to do this with just plain text on a webpage and have it checked with the current app version?

Checking latest version on your server, in a text file:

HttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient();
HttpGet request = new HttpGet(url);
HttpResponse response = client.execute(request);

String latestVersion = "";
InputStream in = response.getEntity().getContent();
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(in));
StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder();
String line = null;
while((line = reader.readLine()) != null)
{
    str.append(line);
}
in.close();
latestVersion = str.toString();

and then compare it to the installed version:

private String getSoftwareVersion() {
    try {
            PackageInfo packageInfo = getPackageManager().getPackageInfo(getPackageName(), 0);
            return packageInfo.versionName;
    } catch (PackageManager.NameNotFoundException e) {
            Log.e(TAG, "Package name not found", e);
    };
 }

that’s what someone told me but i don’t exactly know what to do with the two codes. Can anyone specify?

Answer 1

The market will tell the users when you publish a new version, it’s up to them whether or not to upgrade, you can add notes to tell them why, beyond that there is no internal mechanism

If you just shut down the current application by checking the current version against your web site you are really going to irritate people and they will not be fans for long, if that was done to me most likely I would just uninstall the application

As far as interfaces go you should support the older version as well as the newer version, if you do not users will again count this against you

Of course it’s up to you but in general you should be making it as pleasant an experience as possible for your end users even if it causes you some extra work