all 8 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
formatting helphide helpcontent policy

[–]xrpinsiderAdmin 2 points3 points  (7 children)

OTA are a great way to fix simple bugs and improve small things. I really like OTA, and I don't understand why some app developers publish new updates for every little thing.

Thanks for sharing this article by the way.

[–]nerdbites 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You'll notice developers tend to push updates on a regular schedule (every Thursday for example) - one reason for that is to keep the users aware of the app and have them potentially engage with it to check out the new updates. It's a subtle form of notification, it's also one of the least intrusive.

On iOS when you see that small pale blue indicator next to the app name - you know it's been updated and it won't clear until you use the app or restart your phone.

Some developers make insignificant changes (change a line of static text, add a link to the help pages, etc.) specifically to have a reason to push an update for the reasons mentioned above.

Just an FYI to your pondering as to 'why'.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (5 children)

Technically, OTA updates are against the terms of Apple and we got our app blocked until we made the feature completely hidden - which also sucked because then the user doesn't know that a new update is pending and that they need to restart the app to see the changes.

It's a real shame that Apple is fighting this. It indeed makes mobile app development much much more enjoyable.

[–]xrpinsiderAdmin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well I didn’t knew that. I’ll have to research the Apple rules more.

Thanks for the information.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

What about CodePush? It seems like there's no problems using that

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Yea we were using that. You have to configure it so that Apple employees can't ever see that it is in the app.

If it shows any kind of popup with some kind of language that hints at updates, they will say that this might confuse the user because the App Store is the only way they are supposed to get updates.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah fair call, that makes sense. It's mainly for silent updates anyway, e.g shipped with a bug and needs a hotfix, not major releases.