It's Time to Forget Mobile App Rollbacks

Written by: Erez Rusovsky

The app development process can be a bit of a roller coaster ride. You release a version of your app, users love it and everyone is happy. You add new features and intro a bug. The app starts acting wonky and you’re inundated with complaints. You know what’s wrong and you know how to fix it, but going through the release cycle all over again can takes weeks. You don’t want to wait that long only to have users lose interest and never download the new version. But what are your options?

Rollbacks: A Common Question for Developers and Users

Tech-savvy consumers and developers alike may ask themselves the same question when an app isn’t working properly: “Can I rollback an iOS app?” Even the idea of an app rollback is a bit frightening – it implies there is a major problem. To make matters worse, the short answer to the rollback question is no. Consumers no longer have access to older versions of their apps and developers can’t simply upload old versions to the App Store. Unfortunately, rollbacks are not an option. The only thing you can do is remove the app from the app store to prevent more users from downloading the non-working version. Even after you fix the problem, it could take up to two weeks for the corrected version to gain Apple certification. I know what you’re thinking, and it feels like the roller coaster just crashed mid loop.

In the mobile app development world, perfection is a rare thing. Clearly everyone is working to eliminate issues throughout the development process, after all there are no redos in these situations. However, even the largest development teams with the biggest budgets can’t always keep flaws from slipping through – 65% of users report having experienced a full crash in the last year. Apps issues are a definite problem for users – more than eight out of ten

have deleted apps because of performance problems. So, what’s an app developer to do? If something does slip through, you can circumvent the need for rollbacks and the entire release process by revising bugs in live code.

Speed Resolution with Production Level Fixes

The CloudBees Feature Management.io SDK allows you to insert hot bug patches in production, to correct issues before they can impact your entire user base. And, it lets you do some damage control in the process. You can use in-app alert messages to let users know that you are aware of the issue and working to correct it right away. That kind of direct communication will go a long way to build trust and loyalty. Although bug fixes will probably always be part of the app development process, we’re here to ensure that they get to your users as quickly as possible. Interested? Download the CloudBees Feature Management SDK today.

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