I am developing both Android and iOS B2C app (will upload it to Store). Reading from here, it seems there are some restrictions for Direct Update.
- The update is for the app web resources only
- To update native resources, a new app version must be uploaded to the respective app store
- Android: no restrictions
- Windows Phone 8: no restrictions
- iOS:
B2C: according to the terms of service of your company; usually at least bug fixes are allowed
B2E: through the iOS Developer Enterprise Program
But the requirement is:
User want to update some .txt files in production without want to use Adapter.
Is this allowable and able to be done as in the doc saying for web resources only?
I don't know how do you intend to use this "txt file" in the application but I am pretty sure you can classify it as a web resource without worries.
Related
While uploading app on Google playstore, we are getting below error.
You need to use a different package name because [pkg_name] is used by
a pre-installed application. To upload a pre-installed application,
please contact Google Play Developer Support.
I am sure that mentioned pkg name is unique, however we have pre-installed this app in some of devices. Now how to upload it to Play console ?
I got this solved by using contact support team of Google, They then contacted carrier/preload team to allow package.
Sometimes if you preload app first and then publish app on Playstore, Google play will block the package and confirm your identity from pre-load team before allowing you to publish.
So it is advised to put package in store first & then pre-load to avoid such long process. (You can limit discovery via multiple ways).
Source - https://medium.com/#shashank.mishra_62841/complete-guide-in-app-update-for-android-apps-google-playstore-1b8f2946fa7a
Title pretty much explains it. Does it render JS from an external codebase so I can simply push new updates through git, or do I need to actually push the changes through App Store?
This is my previous answer, which is getting downvoted into oblivion because it didn't predict something cool like CodePush coming to React Native :)
React Native compiles to an iOS binary. Updates need to be sent to the
App Store, unless you're simply using React Native for its WebView
and rendering an existing webpage on the client.
Updated 6/2/16
It looks like Microsoft has a sweet plugin for CodePush found here that lets you push changes remotely to your React Native app without having to send the update through the App Store.
Here's a quote from the README docs:
NOTE: While Apple's developer agreement fully allows performing
over-the-air updates of JavaScript and assets (which is what enables
CodePush!), it is against their policy for an app to display an update
prompt. Because of this, we recommend that App Store-distributed apps
don't enable the updateDialog option when calling sync, whereas Google
Play and internally distributed apps (e.g. Enterprise, Fabric,
HockeyApp) can choose to enable/customize it.
I'm actually working on a project (with the React Native Playground team - https://rnplay.org/about) that will allow you do live update your apps JS on the fly without submitting an update to the App Store. It's called Reploy, http://reploy.io
We will be open-sourcing the first portion of it very soon (the updater module). There will also be a service that will help you to manage your updates and even deploy your app to TestFlight and the App Store when needed (App Store updates are still needed when adding a new native module or static assets).
Also, just so you know, Apple has allowed this type of auto-updating via item 3.3.2 in the "iOS Developer Program Requirements" document, it says:
3.3.2 An Application may not download or install executable code. Interpreted
code may only be used in an Application if all scripts, code and interpreters are
packaged in the Application and not downloaded. The only exception to the
foregoing is scripts and code downloaded and run by Apple's built-in WebKit
framework or JavascriptCore, provided that such scripts and code do not change
the primary purpose of the Application by providing features or functionality that are
inconsistent with the intended and advertised purpose of the Application as
submitted to the App Store.
https://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/information/iOS_Program_Information_4_3_15.pdf
You could push an update to a remote user if you had linked to an external bundle and had the IP / correct ports forwarded, however Apple do not allow this for released AppStore apps.
For beta testing remote apps you might want to try exponent http://exp.host/
Update---
For completeness, it should be noted that if you are part of the Apple Enterprise program you do not need to publish Apps to the AppStore at all, you can post them to end users via a download link.
I work on a project called AppHub that lets you update JavaScript and images without re-submitting to the App Store. The iOS SDK will be open source, but for now you can use the hosted service to manage new builds of your app.
I'm making tests with Direct Update because a requirement of making daily updates to an Android App with look & feel changes.
What I have seen is that all the web files are uploaded and not only the new ones or the updated ones.
Is it possible to make a direct update of specific files?
For example I have an application with images and the size of all those images is 20mg, I make a change to a .css file. The direct update will contain my updated .css but also the 20mg of images that already are in the app and are exactly the same. Is it possible to upload only the .css?
This is not possible in the current releases of Worklight.
However, starting Worklight 6.3, which will be publically available in December 2014, the Direct Update feature is extended to support "Differential Direct Update".
With this feature it will no longer be necessary for the client application to download the entire web resources on every update. Instead, only the resources that were changed will be downloaded and updated.
More on that as 6.3 goes public and documentation becomes publicly available.
I read about Worklight's Direct Update feature already. However, I still have some questions that would like to clarify:
Q1: Is it true that Apple allows Worklight Apps to be published to APP
Store even there is a direct update feature?
Q2: How will Apple review and monitor the Worklight Apps' content if
there is a huge change after the direct update? Or, Apple does not
worry about the cached web resource in the application, does it?
Q3: Is there any limitation or pre-condition about the direct update
for the web resource? For example, the major entries of html and js
script files must be existed... etc.
Q1: Is it true that Apple allows Worklight Apps to be published to APP Store even there is a direct update feature?
A1: There are existing Worklight customers that have submitted an application to the App Store and passed Apple's app submission process. For best results, make sure you use Worklight v5.0.6.1 or later.
Q2: How will Apple review and monitor the Worklight Apps' content if there is a huge change after the direct update? Or, Apple does not worry about the cached web resource in the application, does it?
A2: Apple only reviews app submissions to the App Store and whether or not they follow their guidelines. They do not review future updates to the application (as long as it was not re-submitted), for example in the form of a Direct Update unless there are some extra-ordinary circumstances (like inappropriate content that was discovered afterwards, for example...)
Q3: Is there any limitation or pre-condition about the direct update for the web resource? For example, the major entries of html and js script files must be existed... etc.
A3: I am not entirely sure I understand the question. There is no limitation in Direct Update - this feature replaces the existing web resources of an application with new ones. The only thing I can think of is that both the Worklight Studio (that the app was created on) and Worklight Server (that the app lives on) must be of the same version number.
An update.
Apple now allows code updates if you use a webview
3.3.2 An Application may not download or install executable code. Interpreted code may only be used in an Application if all scripts,
code and interpreters are packaged in the Application and not
downloaded. The only exception to the foregoing is scripts and code
downloaded and run by Apple's built- in WebKit framework, provided
that such scripts and code do not change the primary purpose of the
Application by providing features or functionality that are
inconsistent with the intended and advertised purpose of the
Application as submitted to the App Store.
With Direct Update, the mobile application can be automatically update with a new version of the web resources. In order to update the native resource, a new version of application must be uploaded to application store.
Consider the case that I have an update for my Worklight app with both native and web resources code update which has already been in application store.
Questions:
Is the following a correct way to update the app?
Step 1. Package the app in .ipa / .apk (with native + web code) and submit to application store
Step 2. Deploy an updated .wlapp file (with web code) to Worklight Server.
In application store, I can specify the application version when uploading the application. Will the application version be incremented automatically once I deploy the .wlapp to Worklight Server?
If the user does not update his application in application store and open the application, since there is a new web resource update in Worklight Server, it means that there will be a direct update alert box to prompt the user to download the latest application and in this case only web resource will be downloaded. There are some problems when the native code and web code are correlated?
Thanks a lot.
This would essentially be the correct order of steps, yes.
However, since you say you're updating both the native and web resources, I would make sure that the existing app can work with just the web resources update (without updating the native), because once deploying the .wlapp to the Worklight Server, existing users will receive a Direct Update.
If this scenario is not one you want to support, then in application-descriptor.xml you should also up the value of the version=" " attribute in the environment's element. When building the app after doing so, this will create a new .wlapp (for example: myProjectNameMyAppName-1.1.wlapp instead of ...-1.0.wlapp).
This means that the existing 1.0 users will not receive any Direct Updates, unless you deploy an updated ...-1.0.wlapp to the Worklight Server.
In relation to the above, no, the application version is not incremented automatically, it is something you need to control manually.
Also, I don't think the version value is something you control in the application store interface...
IFAIK the application version is changeable in Xcode prior to creating the .ipa for iOS and in AndroidManifest.xml prior to generating the .apk for Android (and in similar fashion for other environments).
EDIT: Actually... I think that changing the version value in application-descriptor.xml will also up the application's version number. Need to look at the end result (in AndroidManifest.xml or the Xcode project, in Xcode).
This would really depend on the behavior of your application and how resilient you've written it to be in the face of updates. I have slightly covered this in #1 above.
Other than talking about it theoretically I would suggest taking the jump actually upload an app to an application store, and test it privately, of course. This would be the most convenient to do using Google Play where publishing an app is near-instant.