We need to be able to easily install our in-house apps on our devices and quickly update them no matter where they are.
I’m looking into different ways of distributing our in-house app to our staff. So far I’ve found iTunes, iPhone Configuration Utility, install via a web link, etc…
Our devices will more than likely not be in proximity to our office and mostly rely on 3G, so it seems that the web link is my best free option.
I made a web-app that I can add to the home screen to install / update the application. What I want to do is make the web-app more intelligent: Display an “Install” button or an “Update” button. Ideally I want the web-app to know what version of the app is already installed.
The only way I can think of doing this: When the user clicks the install link store the version number in localStorage. When they return later compare that to what’s available and display the right button.
The biggest issue with this “solution” is, what if the user clears Safari’s cache? Do home screen apps have their own protected cache?
Another option is have the app itself relay its version number to the server and store that in a database. But this is more complicated, so I would like to avoid that. If I could use a url scheme to get the version number without launching the app, that would be acceptable. But I don’t think it’s possible.
So given that we need to readily update the app quickly on the device no matter where our staff travel, what is the easiest, best, and preferably free solution?
It’s really simple… the app can update itself by opening a weblink… you don’t have to open it in safari. So on app start just check the version from the web server and when it’s not up to date it can update itself.
You could also send a remote notification if it’s urgent.