Question

Quick question about android market application updates. If I have an app on the market and release an update, is there a way to ensure that the users download the new update?

I.e. Does the app tells the user there is an update, or does it stop working until they download an update?

Or should I be writing code in my apps to stop working after a fixed period thus forcing the user to download the new version?

Answer 1

Normally the Market Application will let the user that updates are available for one or more of their installed applications via a Status Bar notification, but users aren’t forced to install the update.

I think stopping the application working after a time period, forcing to the user to install a new update is not a good thing to do because:

• A user might not want to update your application if it’s working. Updating a lot of applications via the Market can be chore due to the interminable prompts so I sometimes don’t get round to updating applications as soon as updates are available.
• It forces you to release possibly needless updates when the previous version is about to time out.
• It’s not very nice to the users.

Why do you want to force updates on users? If you explain the problem you are trying to solve by doing this someone might be able to give you a better solution.

The only thing you can do to make it more likely that users will upgrading update the description of your application in the Market to include the benefits of upgrading, as users can read the update description before deciding whether to upgrade.