Check if my app has a new version on AppStore

Question

I would like to manually check if there are new updates for my app while the user is in it, and prompt him to download the new version. Can I do this by checking the version of my app in the app store - programatically?

Answer 1

Here is a simple code snippet that lets you know if the current version is different

-(BOOL) needsUpdate{
    NSDictionary* infoDictionary = [[NSBundle mainBundle] infoDictionary];
    NSString* appID = infoDictionary[@"CFBundleIdentifier"];
    NSURL* url = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://itunes.apple.com/lookup?bundleId=%@", appID]];
    NSData* data = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url];
    NSDictionary* lookup = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:0 error:nil];

    if ([lookup[@"resultCount"] integerValue] == 1){
        NSString* appStoreVersion = lookup[@"results"][0][@"version"];
        NSString* currentVersion = infoDictionary[@"CFBundleShortVersionString"];
        if (![appStoreVersion isEqualToString:currentVersion]){
            NSLog(@"Need to update [%@ != %@]", appStoreVersion, currentVersion);
            return YES;
        }
    }
    return NO;
}

Note: Make sure that when you enter the new version in iTunes, this matches the version in the app you are releasing. If not then the above code will always return YES regardless if the user updates.