Mandatory updates
Updated: Sep 30, 2024
As a developer, you might need to block users from using your app until they install a specific update. Mandatory updates ensure version compatibility, but they also delay app access while users install the update. This delay is sometimes necessary, especially for updates containing critical fixes that prevent users with outdated versions from accessing the app. The mandatory updates feature allows you to manage this process.
For apps with optional updates, a challenge arises from the diversity of app versions among users, complicating testing and maintenance. Updates that include critical, security, or privacy fixes should be installed immediately. The mandatory updates feature ensures that apps on headsets connected to the internet update to the required version, updating all users to the latest version before they can launch the app.
For apps whose updates are already blocking by default, the mandatory updates feature can be used to mark the update as non-blocking, thereby reducing user friction, which should result in more users being able to use the app immediately.
Additional considerations
By marking updates mandatory, you can get critical security or privacy fixes, hotfixes to key features out quickly to your entire app user base. In addition, it can also reduce the long tail of versions that need to be supported. With that said, marking any update as mandatory will add user friction. This is due to the fact that headset users won’t be able to use your app until updated. We recommend that you use this feature sparingly, carefully weighing if an update is critical enough to add the user friction.