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I want to notify all the app users to update the app (through a popup in the app itself) whenever there is a new version deployed in the stores. Can someone suggest the best way to do that?

Kunal Chawla
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2 Answers2

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Let's say you want to notify the users about a new version of the app every time they open the application, then you should just trigger a simple GET call to retrieve the latest version info or use a third party lib to act accordingly.

0 cost simple solutions

One option would be to ask the API (if there is any) if a new version is available - basically delegate the problem to someone else. If there is no backend the app could do the check itself. There are different options from having a simple txt file hosted somewhere with the latest app version to scraping App Store and Play Store for the current published version of the app.

Existing solutions

https://appgrades.io/
https://github.com/ArtSabintsev/Siren
Use Push Notifications to notify your users
You will find more if you google it

Platform specific solutions

For iStuff (Apple) you could use iTunes Search API as mentioned here
Other platforms may have their own APIs

Depends on the specific case you can decide what will work better for you.

P.S.: Be sure to handle the versioning correctly by bumping the app version on each release.

EvZ
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  • Thanks for an update. In your mentioned solutions "0 cost solution", Instead of Keeping it on txt file, do we have any xamarin code to get the app version of our app on App Store? – Kunal Chawla May 02 '18 at 10:02
  • Unfortunately not, since the problem is not related to the framework itself. However you could easily get the current / installed app version (not remote). – EvZ May 02 '18 at 10:20
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Luckily, we do have solution for iOS app store 

string url = "http://itunes.apple.com/lookup?bundleId=com.xxx.xxxxx";

HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient();

Task<string> jsonString = httpClient.GetStringAsync(string.Format(

var lookup = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(jsonString.Result);

But Now I need to get the current version of App from Google Play Store?

user1206552
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  • Worth mentioning that it is "iTunes Search API" and there should be some limitations to keep in mind right? – EvZ May 02 '18 at 11:20
  • EvZ Yes it is iTunes search API and in my case i need only version, which I am getting from this API call. Do you know any of such API to get version from android play store? – user1206552 May 02 '18 at 13:09
  • I am not aware of a free official public API, however there are few third party services like apptweak.io, 42matters.com and etc. – EvZ May 02 '18 at 15:02