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updatesmobile-applicationapi-design

When is it OK to retire your old API

I don't know whether this question belongs to SO or UX (or Programmers.SE) but here it goes.

We have built a mobile app a couple of months back, which we intend to alter in some major ways (like authentication and security) in next release. We published it to AppStore/PlayStore and it has a download count between 5k-10k range.

Now the question is;

whether if we retire our current API rightaway and show current version users a popup which forces them to update the app (via stores)

or

create a new API under a different URL and maintain both APIs at the same time (in this case should we maintain it forever or should we set up an expiration date) ?

EDIT: It'll be our first and possibly last update, since our app is a cordova based hybrid app, we intend to use silent cloud deployments without relying on app stores.

Solution

  • I would say - for a mobile application, forcing your users to upgrade straight away isn't a unreasonable expectation. The exception to that is if you have users on an older operating system (e.g. old iOS) that cannot upgrade. Then you might want to maintain a legacy API.

    Can you give a legitimate reason why a reasonable user wouldn't be prepared to update your app?