Harpy

Notify users when a new version of your app is available, and prompt them with the App Store link.

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About

Harpy checks a user's currently installed version of your iOS app against the version that is currently available in the App Store. If a new version is available, an alert can be presented to the user informing them of the newer version, and giving them the option to update the application.

This library is built to work with the Semantic Versioning system.

Swift Support

Harpy has been ported to Swift by myself and Aaron Brager. We've called the new project Siren and it can be found here.

Changelog

3.3.10

• Added Latvian and Estonian localization (thanks to Tanel Suurhans and Jaroslav_)

Features

• CocoaPods Support
• Support for UIAlertController (iOS 8+) and UIAlertView (iOS 7)
• Three types of alerts (see Screenshots & Alert Types)
• Optional delegate methods (see Optional Delegate section)
• Localized for 20+ languages
• Check for Supported Devices
  • Removed in 2.7.1. See Supported Devices Compatibility section.

Screenshots

• The left picture forces the user to update the app.
• The center picture gives the user the option to update the app.
• The right picture gives the user the option to skip the current update.
• These options are controlled by the HarpyAlertType typede that is found in Harpy.h.

Installation Instructions

CocoaPods Installation

pod 'Harpy'

Manual Installation

Copy the 'Harpy' folder into your Xcode project. It contains the Harpy.h and Harpy.m files.

Setup Instructions

1. Import Harpy.h into your AppDelegate or Pre-Compiler Header (.pch)
2. In your AppDelegate, set the appID, and optionally, you can set the alertType.
3. In your AppDelegate, call only one of the checkVersion methods, as all three perform a check on your application's first launch. Use either:
   • checkVersion in application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:
   • checkVersionDaily in applicationDidBecomeActive:.
   • checkVersionWeekly in applicationDidBecomeActive:.

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{

	// Present Window before calling Harpy
	[self.window makeKeyAndVisible];

	// Set the App ID for your app
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] setAppID:@"<#app_id#>"];

	// Set the UIViewController that will present an instance of UIAlertController
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] setPresentingViewController:_window.rootViewController];

	// (Optional) The tintColor for the alertController
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] setAlertControllerTintColor:@"<#alert_controller_tint_color#>"];

	// (Optional) Set the App Name for your app
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] setAppName:@"<#app_name#>"];

	/* (Optional) Set the Alert Type for your app
	 By default, Harpy is configured to use HarpyAlertTypeOption */
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] setAlertType:<#alert_type#>];

	/* (Optional) If your application is not availabe in the U.S. App Store, you must specify the two-letter
	 country code for the region in which your applicaiton is available. */
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] setCountryCode:@"<#country_code#>"];

	/* (Optional) Overides system language to predefined language.
	 Please use the HarpyLanguage constants defined in Harpy.h. */
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] setForceLanguageLocalization<#HarpyLanguageConstant#>];

	// Perform check for new version of your app
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] checkVersion];
}

- (void)applicationDidBecomeActive:(UIApplication *)application
{

	/*
	 Perform daily check for new version of your app
	 Useful if user returns to you app from background after extended period of time
 	 Place in applicationDidBecomeActive:

 	 Also, performs version check on first launch.
 	*/
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] checkVersionDaily];

	/*
	 Perform weekly check for new version of your app
	 Useful if you user returns to your app from background after extended period of time
	 Place in applicationDidBecomeActive:

	 Also, performs version check on first launch.
	 */
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] checkVersionWeekly];

}

- (void)applicationWillEnterForeground:(UIApplication *)application
{
	/*
	 Perform check for new version of your app
	 Useful if user returns to you app from background after being sent tot he App Store,
	 but doesn't update their app before coming back to your app.

 	 ONLY USE THIS IF YOU ARE USING *HarpyAlertTypeForce*

 	 Also, performs version check on first launch.
 	*/
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] checkVersion];
}

And you're all set!

Differentiated Alerts for Patch, Minor, and Major Updates

If you would like to set a different type of alert for patch, minor, and/or major updates, simply add one or all of the following optional lines to your setup before calling any of the checkVersion methods:

	/* By default, Harpy is configured to use HarpyAlertTypeOption for all version updates */
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] setPatchUpdateAlertType:<#alert_type#>];
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] setMinorUpdateAlertType:<#alert_type#>];
	[[Harpy sharedInstance] setMajorUpdateAlertType:<#alert_type#>];

Optional Delegate and Delegate Methods

If you'd like to handle or track the end-user's behavior, four delegate methods have been made available to you:

	// User presented with update dialog
	- (void)harpyDidShowUpdateDialog;

	// User did click on button that launched App Store.app
	- (void)harpyUserDidLaunchAppStore;

	// User did click on button that skips version update
	- (void)harpyUserDidSkipVersion;

	// User did click on button that cancels update dialog
	- (void)harpyUserDidCancel;

Force Localization

Harpy has localizations for Arabic, Basque, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Slovenian, Swedish, Spanish, Thai, and Turkish.

You may want the update dialog to always appear in a certain language, ignoring iOS's language setting (e.g. apps released in a specific country).

You can enable it like this:

[[Harpy sharedInstance] setForceLanguageLocalization<#HarpyLanguageConstant#>];

Testing Harpy

Temporarily change the version string in Xcode (within the .xcodeproj) to an older version than the one that's currently available in the App Store. Afterwards, build and run your app, and you should see the alert.

If you currently don't have an app in the store, use the AppID for the iTunes Connect App (376771144), or any other app, and temporarily change the version string in .xcodeproj to an older version than the one that's currently available in the App Store.

For your convenience, you may turn on NSLog() debugging statements by setting debugEnabled = true before calling any of the checkVersion() methods.

Supported Devices Compatibility

As of v2.7.1, this feature was removed, as Apple stopped updating the supportedDevices key in the iTunes Lookup API route.

Every new release of iOS deprecates support for one or more older device models. Harpy checks to make sure that a user's current device supports the new version of your app. If it it does, the UIAlertView pops up as usual. If it does not, no alert is shown. This extra check was added into Harpy after a lengthy discussion. A new helper utility, UIDevice+SupportedDevices, came out of this discussion and is included with Harpy.

Important Note on App Store Submissions

The App Store reviewer will not see the alert.

Created and maintained by

Arthur Ariel Sabintsev