Nudging users to get the latest release of the app

[monsieurtanuki]

Problem

This morning in the Sentry weekly report I received again tons of unexpected: unknown product for errors (second most "popular" error). This error disappeared many releases ago, but obviously a significant number of users did not upgrade the app. That makes the Sentry reports confusing and a bit irrelevant. And all the efforts we put in the code seem a bit useless.

Proposed solution

I know that there are tools in pub.dev in order to nudge users within the app. Can't remember the name of the package though. For instance, a screenshot about a different app on my old smartphone (Android 21) (not a flutter app btw):

[M123-dev]

In parts related to https://github.com/openfoodfacts/smooth-app/issues/2979

[Sudhanva-Nadiger]

Can I work on this ? @M123-dev

[M123-dev]

Sure @Sudhanva-Nadiger 😄

What is your plan for implementing it

[Sudhanva-Nadiger]

Hi ! There is packages for this

1. Upgrader
2. In App Update

[Sudhanva-Nadiger]

Hi @M123-dev

• the upgrader package shows only dialogue every time the app opens until user updates it. Problem with this is some users may not like it as it appears each time they open the app.

• In app update gives many options such as :

  • Future<AppUpdateInfo> checkForUpdate(): Checks if there's an update available
  • Future performImmediateUpdate(): Performs an immediate update (full-screen)
  • Future startFlexibleUpdate(): Starts a flexible update (background download)
  • Future completeFlexibleUpdate(): Actually installs an available flexible update

  so user will get to choose the type of update s(he) wants to make.

What you will suggest ?

[M123-dev]

Mhh good question @Sudhanva-Nadiger

I agree this pop-up every time is going to be annoying, I have a somewhat different idea

1. We have some kind of JSON file in the repository with data:

• minimal recommended version
• a list of versions we know are buggy and not recommended

2. We fetch this list every now and then and if we recommend a higher version or a blacklisted version is used we show a SmoothAlertDialog explaining the situation with a button to call performImmediateUpdate()

What do you think

[Sudhanva-Nadiger]

That's great ! I will look into it !!

[Sudhanva-Nadiger]

@M123-dev can i get the list of buggy or not recommended versions? I will start working on it

[g123k]

FYi, the Google Play will soon allow to do this without any code:

Finally, we are building new tools to help you steer users away from broken app versions with prompts to update. First, automatic update prompts for crashing apps are triggered if your app crashes in the foreground and a more stable version is available. And second, you can prompt users on specific app versions to update. No prior integration is required and it will be available to all apps built with app bundles in the coming months.

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2023/05/io-2023-whats-new-in-google-play.html

[teolemon]

Bugs that solve themselves automatically if we wait long enough:⁠-⁠)

[monsieurtanuki]

Bugs that solve themselves automatically if we wait long enough:⁠-⁠)

Exactly: that's one of the reasons why we should work on high priority issues first. By the time we fix the high priority issues, the lesser priority issues are not relevant anymore, are automagically fixed or we don't understand anymore what we wrote back then!

[monsieurtanuki]

Just for the record, in a java Android app of mine, I didn't notice before the "size for updates" section. Maybe it's a bit different from the current issue, where we want the user to install the latest version, regardless of the method (full app refresh or just update). I know, I write very small :)