When your users keep your app up to date on their devices, they can try new features, as well as benefit from performance improvements and bug fixes. Although some users enable background updates when their device is connected to an unmetered connection, other users might need to be reminded to install updates. In-app updates is a Play Core library feature that prompts active users to update your app.
The in-app updates feature is supported on devices running Android 5.0 (API level 21) or higher, and requires your app to use Play Core library version 1.5.0 or higher. Additionally, in-app updates are only supported for Android mobile devices, Android tablets, and Chrome OS devices.
Update flows
Your app can use the Play Core library to support the following UX flows for in-app updates:
Flexible updates
Flexible updates provide background download and installation with graceful
state monitoring. This UX flow is appropriate when it's acceptable for the user
to use the app while downloading the update. For example, you might want to
encourage users to try a new feature that's not critical to the core functionality
of your app.
Figure 1. An example of a flexible update flow.
Immediate updates
Immediate updates are fullscreen UX flows that require the user to update and
restart the app in order to continue using it. This UX flow is best for cases
where an update is critical to the core functionality of your app. After a user
accepts an immediate update, Google Play handles the update installation and app
restart.
Figure 2. An example of an immediate update flow.
Support in-app updates in your app
Learn how to support in-app updates in your app, depending on your development environment: