Install Android APK when previous version not in use?

MD
Matt Dermody Diamond Contributor
Zebra (OVS) - Manhattan Associates

Is there any method for limiting the installation of an Android APK Package on an Android+ device based on a detection of whether a particular application is in the foreground? It would be nice to be able to trigger the installation of a new version of an application based on the current version not being in use so that we can avoid interrupting end users. MobiControl already can detect which app is actively in the foreground as it is one of the options for Collected Data, it would be ideal to leverage that with some sort of Filter Criteria whereby you could specify something along the lines of: If com.x.y ! in foreground, then install package. 

7 years ago
Android
ANSWERS
MD
Matt Dermody Diamond Contributor
7 years ago

Other options that might be equally helpful for Profile application are:

- While not in use, as tracked by accelerometer or maybe network activity

- On startup. Being able to install Profiles immediately after startup would help ensure that the device is not actively being used and would give end users the ability to manually reboot their devices in order to activate the installation of a Profile at their convenience. 

- While charging. We have Battery Level, but as far as I'm aware no option to specify to apply a profile only when a device is being actively charged which could imply that it's not in use depending on the environment. 

TB
TJ Bukoski Bronze Contributor
7 years ago

Hi Matt,

This would be a good feature request and it would have to be separate from our profile system and be incorporated into our Package Deployment Logic as an advanced option. (Our profile "Filter Criteria" logic would uninstall the package if the device was not charging in your third example)

Please email the support team at support@soti.net and request that they file a feature request on your behalf.

MD
Matt Dermody Diamond Contributor
7 years ago

I get that, I was thinking of more of one of these Profile Options, than Filter Criteria. In my experience these profiles are not unassigned whenever the battery level drops below a particular percentage. I envision the Installation Method being something like "Automatic-On Startup", "Automatic-While Charging", etc. And maybe a new field whereby you could specify which app you don't want currently in use during the activation (ie. com.x.y)

S
Scott Silver Contributor
7 years ago

I second, third and fourth these suggestions!  I'm getting hit up by developers daily that want to be able to defer updates until the app exits.

Some mechanism that the end user could trigger would also be useful.  Our apps could tell the user they are out of date but we have no easy mechanism to then immediately inform MobiControl to install now.

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