Overview

You have an app that is published on the Apple Store and/or the Google Play Store and you would like to know when you need to republish your app. Apps that are inactive, were accidentally unpublished, have not been republished in the last 3-6 months, have missing features, have issues with push notifications, need a different device type, or a new iPad or Andriod device has been released that you want to ensure compatibility with are all cases to republish your app.

Information

After your app goes live in the Apple Store and/or the Google Play Store, certain changes require an app republishing/update to take effect. Also, you might encounter some issues that call for an app republishing to get resolved.  

The most common causes are:

• Your app has been inactive for a long time (typically over 2 years) and cannot be found and downloaded from Apple Store or Google Play Store
• You accidentally unpublished your app and you wish to reactivate it
• There is an issue with your app and an app feature is not working correctly or the whole app is not available. When we release new source codes, they include new features and updates to existing features. By republishing, you can take advantage of a new CMS release feature/update that possibly contains a fix to your issue. As a best practice, we recommend doing this every 3-6 months.

  Note: It is important to resist adding the new features to your app until it gets approved and released by Apple and/or Google. Otherwise, your existing live app (operating on the older source code) may not function properly because of the incompatible features.  

• You made a change on your app in the publishing stage and you noticed that this change is not automatically reflected on the app. All changes in the following sections in the Publish step require republishing:
  • App Image/Icon
  • Splash Loading Screens
  • Screenshots,
  • Basic App Information (App Name, App Icon Name, App Keywords, App Category, Audio Background Play option, and App Rating)
  • Pricing
  • App Store Rating 

Note: Any changes made within the Design or Build tab of the app builder will automatically reflect within your live app—just make sure to refresh the app to see those changes take effect.

If you simply removed content or links from the app without changing any of the above, you can reply directly to Apple telling them so and they will continue to review the current app submission.

• There is a problem with your Push Notifications. In most cases when Push Notifications do not work as designed, the issue lies within the fact the app source code is old or - in the case of the iOS apps - the push certificate needs to be re-built. Re-publishing the app resolves many issues including Push Notifications.

  For more on resolving issues with Push Notifications, review the Push Notification Failures - Troubleshooting KB article.

• You need to add an iPad version for your iOS app. If your app was uploaded as an iPhone-only, it would need to be republished to add an iPad version. The app must be reconfigured and resubmitted to include different device compatibility. When you republish your app, make sure to select both iPhone and iPad as your device options.
  
• Apple or an Andriod manufacturer has released a new device and you want to ensure compatibility with your app

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Related Articles

• Updating/Republishing your App
• Refreshing your App's Content
• Rebuilding An IOS/Apple Push Notification Certificate