Flutter: Force Upgrade your app users(How to)

Abdur Mohammed

4 min readJan 29, 2023

Flutter How To: Simple | To the Point| Short

Flutter Dev Level: Intermediate

1.0 Objective

To be able to Force all or selected version users to upgrade to the latest version of your app on iOS and Android.

2.0 Sample Project Github Link

https://github.com/AbdurM/flutter-force-upgrade

Step- 1 Create an app upgrade account

Go https://appupgrade.dev/ and create a new account

Step -2 Create new Project on App upgrade

Step-3 Copy the API key

Once the project is created, you’ll be redirected to projects page. Alternatively, you can click on projects on the top of the menu.
Now click on API key of the project card you just created

Copy the API key
Minimise the window and go to your Flutter project.

Step -4 Install the Flutter App Upgrade SDK

In the terminal, go to the root folder of your project and paste

flutter pub add app_upgrade_flutter_sdk

Alternatively, you can paste this from pubspec.yaml (Make sure you pick the latest version from pub.dev)

app_upgrade_flutter_sdk: ^1.0.4

Step-5 In your main.dart file, import

import 'package:app_upgrade_flutter_sdk/app_upgrade_flutter_sdk.dart';

Step -6 Create App Info object within main file (Sample Final file in Step 9)

    AppInfo appInfo = AppInfo(
        appName: 'flutter_force_update', // Your app name
        appVersion: '1.0.2', // Your app version
        platform: Platform.operatingSystem, // App Platform, android or ios
        environment:
            'development', // Environment in which app is running, production, staging or development etc.
        appLanguage: 'en' // App language ex: en, es etc. Optional.
        );

Important: appVersion is the current version of the app.

We will use this object in Step 8.

Step -7 Create Dialog config object (Optional)

 DialogConfig dialogConfig = DialogConfig(
        dialogStyle: DialogStyle.material,
        title: 'App update required!',
        updateButtonTitle: 'Update Now',
        laterButtonTitle: 'Later');

We will use this object in Step 8

Step -8: Wrap you root body widget inside AppUpgradeAlert

AppUpgradeAlert(
            xApiKey: 'NWY3MjkzZjgtOWRiMi00Y2ZjLThjN2EtNjkzZjk3MTc5ZjE5',
            appInfo: appInfo,
            dialogConfig: dialogConfig,
            child: const Center(child: Text('Flutter Demo Home Page'))),
      ),

Important: The xAPI key is the same key we copied in Step 3.

Step -9: Complete file just in case you want to get better understanding of past 3 steps

import 'dart:io';
import 'package:app_upgrade_flutter_sdk/app_upgrade_flutter_sdk.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(const MyApp());
}

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});

  // This widget is the root of your application.
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    AppInfo appInfo = AppInfo(
        appName: 'flutter_force_update', // Your app name
        appVersion: '1.0.2', // Your app version
        platform: Platform.operatingSystem, // App Platform, android or ios
        environment:
            'development', // Environment in which app is running, production, staging or development etc.
        appLanguage: 'en' // App language ex: en, es etc. Optional.
        );

    DialogConfig dialogConfig = DialogConfig(
        dialogStyle: DialogStyle.material,
        title: 'App update required!',
        updateButtonTitle: 'Update Now',
        laterButtonTitle: 'Later');

    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Flutter Demo',
      theme: ThemeData(
        primarySwatch: Colors.blue,
      ),
      home: Scaffold(
        body: AppUpgradeAlert(
            xApiKey: 'NWY3MjkzZjgtOWRiMi00Y2ZjLThjN2EtNjkzZjk3MTc5ZjE5',
            appInfo: appInfo,
            dialogConfig: dialogConfig,
            child: const Center(child: Text('Flutter Demo Home Page'))),
      ),
    );
  }
}