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Handle identical Bundle ID but different application

AW
Adam Williams Silver Contributor
Panasonic Manufacturing UK Ltd - CPE

Hi,

I have an unfortunate and annoying situation, so any helpful ideas would be welcome.

I have to deploy a third party application which has two "flavours" (trainer & production) but the same bundle ID, application name and version. Developer isn't able to alter the bundle ID.

The setup is as follows

Trainer Device -> Trainer Profile -> Trainer Package ->  Trainer apk

Production Device -> Production Profile -> Production Package ->  Production apk

Packages are just the apk but set to uninstall application on package removal.

Sometimes, Ill need to move trainers into production and vice versa, but not often.

I have found cases where the applications have not swapped when moved between groups

e.g. Moved Trainer -> Production but the device keeps Trainer version of the apk.

Though these are rare and I think tend to happen either when the server is busy / limited mobile data on the device. 

Obviously I cant tell which version of the application is actually installed. I also cant add an uninstall pre-install script as part of the package as I don't want to delete the app storage during a genuine package upgrade.

Currently I have to remember to revoke the Trainer Profile from the device and then move to the Production group.

If anyone can think of any neat, automatic way around this, I would be very happy :)

Thanks 
Adam

a year ago
SOTI MobiControl
ANSWERS
RS
Rafael Schäfer Platinum Contributor
a year ago

I wonder that the developer can't change the bundleID because when we had something like that here, our developers were fast providing a new apk with a different bundleID (several times because of testings).

Otherwise you could deploy it via a package and insert a preinstall script which uninstalls the app to hope that afterwards the apk will install fine again with the different contenct.

But i really recommend to do one of those things from development side:
- provide 2 apps with different bundle id's
- provide possibility of managed app config in which you can changing the mode (trainer or productive) by setting the configuration relevant data

AW
Adam Williams Silver Contributor
a year ago

Hi Rafael,

I agree, I have already requested a alternate bundle ID, but for some reason they declined. With this being declined, I imagine that a managed config would also be declined. However, I also love this idea :) thanks for taking the time to consider this question.

RS
Rafael Schäfer Platinum Contributor
a year ago

If you need help later then regarding this (if the configuration is available) feel free to reach out again ;)

MD
Matt Dermody Diamond Contributor
a year ago

This is laziness on the developer side with complete disregard to the actual deployment and support side of their application. The product management of your mobile application is not limited to the functionality of the app itself but also the version control and deployment lifecycle of that app as well. They're doing a bad job and I honestly wouldn't trust their other code quality if this is how they're distributing apps in 2024.


Based on your current circumstances I agree with the suggestion of using a pre-install uninstall app script with your Package in order to smooth out the transition. One thing to be aware of however is that you may be wiping the app cache, granted permissions, and possibly configuration of the application itself by fully uninstalling it every time. 

RK
Radim Kadlec
a year ago

How about adding pre-installation (java) scripts to both training and production packages?


In such pre-installation scripts you would test if the package is installed. If so, you would uninstall it. The subsequent installation of the package would always start from the beginning.


The disadvantage of this approach is that it removes all user data when the package is updated.

T
TLMOD@SOTI Bronze Contributor
a year ago

Hi Adam,

Thanks for posting on SOTI pulse. Thanks Rafael and Matt for responding to the post, your expertise and willingness to help are greatly appreciated!

Has your query been resolved? If not, or if you have any additional concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. We are dedicated to providing assistance and support.

Also, if this post has helped you in solving your query, I would request you to mark the particular comment as "is solution", so that others may benefit from this information.

Kind Regards,

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