3

I'm testing a kiosk app that runs continuously. I have setup auto-updates in the Play Store and am trying to see when it updates. I left two tablets running for over 3 days, and only after they died and I restarted them did the updates occur. The app was not running on boot.

I tried to restart the devices during the 3 days to no avail and even the apps that weren't running didn't auto update so I know it's not because the app is running (my first assumption when doing research).

Looking online, I'm seeing a lot of people say that auto updates happen at random and only on wifi etc. I've had the tablet on wifi the entire time and let it charge over the first day to see if the power state changed anything.

Is there a way to test auto updating reliably? When does the Play Store do updates?

CdnXxRRODxX
  • 341
  • 5
  • 14
  • I believe the app only gets checked for updates when the application is initialized, which will only happen when you explicitly start the app, whether it be from closing the app and restarting it or starting the app after it has been destroyed by the OS. – zgc7009 Oct 31 '16 at 19:30
  • I'm testing with a random app at the moment and intentionally downloading and installing an old version of the APK. Without even touching the app icon after install the Google Play store says that it can be updated. – CdnXxRRODxX Oct 31 '16 at 19:34
  • Have you tried doing the same with yours? – zgc7009 Oct 31 '16 at 19:40
  • No the development team isn't ready yet, I'm in charge of testing the infrastructure/procedure that the app will run on when it's ready. However, as I said, none of the updates were running automatically that includes things that weren't running like Google Books and the like. I've never opened Google Books and those other default apps and they updated upon reboot after the battery got too low, as stated above. – CdnXxRRODxX Oct 31 '16 at 19:47
  • So your question is, how can you know if/when an app will be auto-updated, regardless of the application? I am pretty sure the OS is built to prioritize default/provider applications differently. From my understanding it _should_ be run a number of times a day, just checking what needs updating, but I have definitely seen certain apps take a little while from when they say they can be updated to being auto-updated. – zgc7009 Oct 31 '16 at 19:56
  • In this case the auto updates seemed to all go at once, so the auto updates weren't firing at all for several days. If there is a difference between apps in terms of update priority then all the updates got put into the same priority for some reason. My issue is basically that I've restarted my test at this point, but can't be waiting around for 4+ days for the auto updates to fire. I will of course continue testing with my app once development has finished their part. Is there no way to accelerate this or know when it's going to happen? – CdnXxRRODxX Oct 31 '16 at 19:59
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/127065/discussion-between-cdnxxrrodxx-and-zgc7009). – CdnXxRRODxX Oct 31 '16 at 20:01
  • I _do_ know that the user has some control over this from their settings. I do not think it is extensive enough to say, for example, update these apps every x hours, but I do think there is some control. Past that, I honestly haven't had much luck in regards to consistency. Heck, I go days sometimes without seeing updates and then, just as you say, will have 11 pop up at once. – zgc7009 Oct 31 '16 at 20:02
  • Which settings would that be in? In Google Play I'm only seeing enable auto-updates and whether it should update on just wifi, data, etc. – CdnXxRRODxX Oct 31 '16 at 20:09
  • Those may be the settings, they are limited, I can't remember exactly what they are... haven't looked in a while. – zgc7009 Oct 31 '16 at 20:10
  • Okay thanks, I'll go on that heading for continuing research for the moment. – CdnXxRRODxX Oct 31 '16 at 20:13

0 Answers0