Windows Phone Thoughts: What Happens When An App Is Updated For Mango Compatibility

"As we get closer, some people are asking us: what happens to their existing applications once they submit an update for Windows Phone ‘Mango?' How will my update appear across the full scope of all Windows Phone users?"

Image courtesy of 1800pocketpc.com

Mango is almost here and if you are a developer, some of your concerns surrounding the release will no doubt be about compatibility of the updated app between phones running WP7 and WP7.5.

The Windows Phone Developer Blog has a great post that should quell all of your concerns regarding the handling of app updates post Mango release. The post also gives great tips to developers who plan on releasing app updates. The most important points are:

-The WP 7.0 version of your application will remain available to all users on WP 7.0 devices.

-The WP ‘Mango' version of your application will be available to all users on WP ‘Mango' devices.

-WP ‘Mango' users who previously installed your application will receive an update notification. This will occur even if they installed your application prior to updating to WP ‘Mango'

-WP 7.0 users who have installed your application, but not updated to WP ‘Mango,' will not receive an update notification.

-The WP7.0 rankings & reviews that your application received will attach to your new updated WP ‘Mango' version too.

-The application metadata and screenshots for Windows Phone Marketplace submitted with the WP ‘Mango' version of your application will be shared across both the WP 7.0 and WP ‘Mango' versions of the application; i.e., a single set of metadata and screenshots will appear to both WP 7.0 and WP ‘Mango' users.

-Once you have released the WP ‘Mango' version of your application, you will no longer be able to modify the previously released WP 7.0 version of your app. We realize that some of you may worry about this limitation, and so we're actively working on ways to mitigate it. To improve the experience for users, it's our preference not to have "duplicate versions" of your apps in the marketplace. We are also going to work hard to encourage our pre-existing users to enjoy the free upgrade to Mango as quickly as possible.

If you are a developer, you should definitely take a look at the blog post.