Update a Published App

If you update your app with new features, you can update your existing, published app in the Amazon Appstore rather than creating a new one. By updating your existing app (rather than creating a new one), you retain your app's customer ratings and download statistics across versions. You also enable your customers to receive app updates.

Note: Apps cannot be updated while they are in the Amazon review process.

Update an existing app
How and when app updates happen for customers on Fire TV

Watch the video tutorial to get started. For more details about updating a published app, read the sections that follow.

Note: The video shows an older workflow experience and some of the tabs now differ. The next section describes what has changed.

Update an existing app

Review how the following terms are used in this document

app: Your listing in the Amazon Appstore, which includes the title, description, categorization, and other details, as well as all the APKs associated with the app.

APK: A single Android APK file. Thus, there's a difference between updating your app and updating your APK. A single app can have multiple APKs.

binary file: The app file you upload to the Appstore Developer Console as a part of app submission. Can refer to either your Android App Bundle (AAB) or your APK file.

When you update an existing app, your updates will need to be approved before your updated app goes live. If you're making updates to descriptions or assets only, the submission process turnaround time is shorter than updates that involve binary files. To update your app:

If uploading an Android binary file (AAB or APK), first build your new binary, giving it a new versionCode in the app's Gradle build file.

Important: In order for your app to update properly for existing users, the value of android:versionCode must be greater than that of the currently live version of your app. Additionally, your package name must remain the same as your previous binary file.
Sign in to the Developer Console.
From the Dashboard (the default homepage), under the Amazon Appstore section, click App List.
Click the app you want to update.
Near the top of the page, in the area below the name of your app, click Add Upcoming Version. A confirmation message appears — click OK to proceed. (You use the Upcoming Version feature both for updating existing binary files and for adding new binary files.)

The Developer Console creates a new set of tabs for you. The App Information, Availability & Pricing, Description, Images & Multimedia, Content Rating, and Other Information tabs are shown with green checkmarks to indicate that the required fields have been pre-filled with the information associated with the live version your app. This information is copied from your live app.

App Submission Workflow Update

Changes have been made to the app submission workflow. The General Information tab is now the App Information tab. On the App Information tab, you can update your app information and upload your app's binary files. For details on the App Information tab, see Add App Information.

The last tab is now the Other Information tab. This replaces the APK Files or App Files tab. On the Other Information tab, you can update the supported languages and testing instructions for your app. For more details, see Add Other Information.
The first tab presented is App Information. On this tab, you upload your AAB or APK binary files. You have two options for updating your existing binary:
- Replace your previous binary file: To replace your existing binary with a new file that supports the same devices, click Replace APK or Replace Bundle in the App Bundles or APK Files section. Replacing your binary file allows you to retain all your previous Device Support settings as before. For example, if you already selected which devices your binary file supports, and your new binary supports all the same devices, choose this replace option rather than reconfiguring your device support selections.
- Delete your previous binary file: To delete your binary file and all previous device support selections, click the expand arrow next to Replace APK or Replace Bundle and select Delete. Then upload a new binary and configure the Device Support selections from scratch. To change the devices your app supports, click Edit next to "Supported Devices" in the App Bundles or APK Files section and update the supported devices.
  
  Warning: If you choose to delete your binary file, remember that you have to reconfigure which devices your new binary supports. Otherwise, you might be pushing out a new app that is inadvertently supported on devices that you either don't support or don't want to support.
For apps with multiple binary files: Suppose you have multiple binary files for your app. If you want different binaries to support different devices, you must first clear any devices from the first binary that you want the second binary to support. After you clear the devices from the first binary, these devices become selectable options in the second binary. More detail is provided in Add multiple binaries for the same app. See also Multiple APKs for the Same Application Listing. Note that when you add binary files for new devices, customers using the app on previously supported devices will not receive an app update.

Web apps: For web apps, update your web app files as desired.

When you're finished making updates on every tab, as long as the information is complete, green checkmarks appear on the tabs. When all tabs for your app have green checkmarks, the Submit App button is enabled. You can change the information on any tab until you submit your app.
On the App Information tab, a Release notes field appears where you can describe the changes you've made in this release. Click Edit and add your release notes. A set of release notes is required for each translation defined for your app.
As desired, edit the information on the remaining tabs. For details with the Availability & Pricing, Description, Images & Multimedia, or Content Rating tabs, see the documentation for Submitting Apps to the Amazon Appstore.
Click Submit App.

Note: If you start to create a new version of your app but decide not to publish the update, you can delete the unpublished version. Use the Delete Upcoming Version button (at the bottom of the page) to roll back to the currently published version of the app.

How and when app updates happen for customers on Fire TV

For updates that do not have permission changes, Fire TV applies the update in the background. For apps that do have permission changes, the customer has to manually review the permission changes and apply the update. With apps that have permissions changes, the update process differs between Fire OS 6 and Fire OS 5 devices:

Updates for Fire OS 6 devices:

On Fire OS 6 devices, permission approvals are applied at runtime (rather than at installation time), so customers don't have to manually approve the permission changes before the update is applied. Instead, the update gets applied in the background; when customers launch the app, they're prompted to approve the new permissions. In short, with Fire OS 6, any update can be installed, but access to the feature is deferred to runtime. (This assumes the app supports Marshmallow or later APIs, as this is when runtime permissions were introduced on Android.)
Updates for Fire OS 5 devices:

Apps with API levels lower than Marshmallow (less than Level 23) require customers to manually approve the updates before the updates can be applied. For these updates, Fire TV sends an actionable heads-up notification every 24 hours letting customers know about pending approvals for updates. These notifications also stay in the Notification Center and take customers to a screen that shows all the pending updates.

When customers launch an app that has a manual update pending, Fire TV shows a message that asks if customers want to update the app first before launching it. If customers decline, Fire TV does not prompt customers to update the app on subsequent launches for another seven days.

If customers go to the app details page, an update button appears for apps that have a pending update.

Note: To redirect customers from within your app to a pending app update, use the intent=app_update parameter in your deep link to ensure that any pending app update is shown to the customer. Use this parameter for Fire TV or non-Amazon Android devices; it's not required for Fire tablets. For details, see Link to Amazon from within Your App.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2023