Update apps

An app can receive updates if it's installed on a user's device and is available according to the Device's policy. If an app is removed from the Device's policy, this device will no longer receive updates for that app.

Control app updates

To facilitate a controlled app update, managed Google Play has different app update modes available for the users to choose from. The app update mode can be set individually for each app and includes the following modes:

• Default update mode.
• High priority mode.
• Postpone mode.

Default update mode

In this mode, the apps are updated automatically by default, when the following constraints are met:

• The device is connected to a Wi-Fi network.
• The device is charging.
• The device is not actively used.
• The app to be updated is not running in the foreground.

Google Play typically checks for app updates once a day, so it can take up to 24 hours before an app update is added to the update queue. After an app is added to the queue, it will be automatically updated the next time the constraints are met.

You can set a specific app to the Default update mode by referring to this Device's AutoUpdateMode policy:

"applications":[
  {
    "packageName":string,
    "autoUpdateMode": "AUTO_UPDATE_DEFAULT"
  },
],

High priority mode

If you always want an app to be updated as soon as possible, after the developer publishes a new version, you can select the High priority mode for that app.

When using the High priority mode, the app is updated as soon as a new version is published by the developer and has been reviewed by Google Play. If the device is offline at that time, the app will be updated the next time the device is connected to the internet.

You can set a specific app to the High priority mode by referring to the following Device's AutoUpdateMode policy:

"applications":[
  {
    "packageName":string,
    "autoUpdateMode": "AUTO_UPDATE_HIGH_PRIORITY"
  },
],

Note: If the app is in use when the update is ready to install, the app will be closed during the update, which could affect your users.

Postpone mode

If you want to pause updates for an app, you can select the Postpone mode for that app.

When using the Postpone mode, the app is not automatically updated for an initial 90 days after it first became out of date. After this 90 day period, the latest available version of the app is automatically installed using the default update mode. After the app is updated to the latest available version, a new 90 day postponement period will begin from the next time that the developer publishes a new version of the app.

You can set a specific app to the Postpone mode by referring to the following Device's AutoUpdateMode policy:

"applications":[
  {
    "packageName":string,
    "autoUpdateMode": "AUTO_UPDATE_POSTPONED"
  },
],

Note: The Postpone mode does not prevent your users from manually updating the app. During the 90 day postponement period, your users can manually update the app by visiting the Google Play Store on their devices.

Here is an illustrative example of the expected update behaviour when using the Postpone mode:

Date	Status of App
May 01	The app is up-to-date on the device. Installed version: 1.0 Latest available version 1.0
May 02	The developer publishes a new version (2.0). The 90 day period starts and will finish on July 31. Installed version: 1.0 Latest available version: 2.0
Jun 06	The developer publishes a new version (3.0). The 90 day period starts and will finish on July 31. Installed version: 1.0 Latest available version: 3.0
Jun 11	The developer publishes a new version (4.0). The 90 day period starts and will finish on July 31. Installed version: 1.0 Latest available version: 4.0
Jul 31	The 90 day period ends. The app is added to the update queue and will be automatically updated according to the default update behavior, once the constraints are met. The 90 day period starts and will finish on July 31. Installed version: 1.0 Latest available version: 4.0
Aug 01	The constraints are met and therefore the app is updated to the latest available version (4.0). Installed version: 4.0 Latest available version: 4.0
Aug 15	The developer publishes a new version (5.0). A new 90 day period starts and will finish on November 13. Installed version: 4.0 Latest available version: 5.0

Unset update mode

You can leave the update mode of a specific app unset as referred in the following Device's AutoUpdateMode policy:

"applications":[
  {
    "packageName":string,
    "autoUpdateMode": "AUTO_UPDATE_MODE_UNSPECIFIED"
  },
],

Important caveats

While a specific app is in the High priority mode or in the postponement period of the Postpone mode, the following are ignored for the selected app:

• Network constraints - the corresponding policy field for this is AppAutoUpdatePolicy.
• Maintenance window - the corresponding policy field for this is SystemUpdate.