Dip your toe in the water
Two days ago, I released v3.2.1 to the App Store, but not to everybody.
The App Store has a fantastic feature for gradually releasing an update.
Phased Release only applies to existing users. iOS normally updates apps in the background automatically.
When phased release is active, iOS carefully manages the number of devices updated:
- 1% are updated within the first 24 hours of the release
- 2% within the first 48 hours
- 5% within the first 72 hours
- etc.
Phased Release won’t stop a user from downloading the app from the App Store or forcing the update.
I use Phased Release for all releases because it gives me a chance to monitor issues before releasing the app to the wider world. The only exception is a major bug fix release that must be released quickly.
Adoption for v3.2.1 is at 879 users, which is 1.97% of the installed user base.
And, two days after being released into the wild, I’m pleased no users have reported issues in v3.2, and no crashes have been reported in the analytics dashboard for v3.2.1:
I have now released v3.2.1 to the full user base.
If you get a chance, please try Shopping UK and let me know what you think at @wheelies
