TL;DR
- Google will allow app developers to easily halt the release of their apps on the Play Store.
- Developers currently have no easy way to stop the release of their apps in the event of a major bug or other significant problem.
- This would also make life easier for users, as they wouldn’t have to unwittingly download a problematic app update.
The Google Play Store allows users to seamlessly update their apps, but developers sometimes issue updates with significant bugs. Unfortunately, there’s no official way for them to stop this rollout, which means unaware users will continue to download the questionable update.
Thankfully, Google has confirmed on the Android Developers Blog that app developers will soon be able to stop app and update releases via the Play Console and publishing API. Google says this will allow developers to “stop the distribution of problematic versions to new users.”
This would be a welcome change as developers who opted for a “100%” release of their app would have no way to halt the rollout if they discovered a major bug or other significant issue. One apparent workaround was to set the release percentage to a lower figure (e.g. 99.9%), which would still allow you to stop the update.
This functionality would be very convenient for users as they might not be aware that the update for their favorite app has bugs or other problems. The feature could also be particularly useful for people who set their phones to automatically download the latest app updates from the Play Store.