Can I force an iPhone user to upgrade an application?

Question

Is it possible to force the user to upgrade once there is a new version of my application available in the iTunes Store?

I am presently working on an application. However, I want to force the upgrade whenever I upload a newer version, because the upgrade will have more features and I want to discard the previous version. Is this possible by default with iPhone or do I have to write my own implementation to check the current version and compare it to the store?

Answer 1

I have done this feature by getting version from itunes webservice and comparing with the current version.. Following is my code

        NSString *version = @"";         NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=<Your app ID>"];         versionRequest = [ASIFormDataRequest requestWithURL:url];         [versionRequest setRequestMethod:@"GET"];         [versionRequest setDelegate:self];         [versionRequest setTimeOutSeconds:150];         [versionRequest addRequestHeader:@"Content-Type" value:@"application/json"];          [versionRequest startSynchronous];          //Response string of our REST call         NSString* jsonResponseString = [versionRequest responseString];          NSDictionary *loginAuthenticationResponse = [jsonResponseString objectFromJSONString];          NSArray *configData = [loginAuthenticationResponse valueForKey:@"results"];          for (id config in configData)          {             version = [config valueForKey:@"version"];         }    //Check your version with the version in app store         if (![version isEqualToString:[itsUserDefaults objectForKey:@"version"]])          {             ProAlertView *createUserResponseAlert = [[ProAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"New Version!!" message: @"A new version of app is available to download" delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Cancel" otherButtonTitles: @"Download", nil];         [createUserResponseAlert show];          [createUserResponseAlert release];         } 

And put the app id in the itunes link see the code below..

- (void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)actionSheet clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex {     // the user clicked one of the OK/Cancel buttons     if (buttonIndex == 1)     {         NSString *iTunesLink = @"itms-apps://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftwareUpdate?id=<appid>&mt=8";         [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:iTunesLink]];     } } 

Note : You need JSONKit frame work and ASIHttp frame work to make the webservice calls..