Prompt the user to update a BlackBerry Dynamics app

Users should always upgrade to the latest available version of a BlackBerry Dynamics app to benefit from the latest security protections, features, and fixes. If a user has turned off automatic app updates on their device, the user runs the risk of remaining on an older version of an app that does not have the latest enhancements and protections. You can implement an app policy that will enable your BlackBerry Dynamics apps, on startup, to detect whether the user should upgrade to the latest available version. The BlackBerry Dynamics Runtime provides a notification using the ThreatStatus interface only if the user is running an older version of the app.

To implement this feature, you must use BlackBerry Dynamics SDK version 8.0 or later, and you must implement a BlackBerry Dynamics application policy in UEM. Note that the UEM administrator cannot view or change the policy configuration. The minimum required version and the app download URL are configured using hidden fields in the application policy.

The ThreatApplicationSecurity (Android/iOS) class in the ThreatStatus API (Android/iOS) provides a warning. The isAppVersionOutOfDate() method (Android/iOS) indicates if the current version of the app that is installed on the device is lower than the minimum required version. A string with the URL to download the latest version is returned using getAppUpdateURL() (Android/iOS).

  1. Create a BlackBerry Dynamics app policy definition file for your app. For implementation details and more information about the file format and elements, see the Application Policies Definition appendix in the API Reference.
  2. Add the following settings:
    • blackberry.security.appInfo.android.appMinVersion: This is the minimum required versionCode from the Android manifest file.
    • blackberry.security.appInfo.iOS.appMinVersion: This is the minimum required bundle version as defined in the Xcode info.plist file.
    • blackberry.security.appInfo.android.appUpdateURL: This is the URL that the user can use to download your Android app.
    • blackberry.security.appInfo.iOS.appUpdateURL: This is the URL that the user can use to download your iOS app.

    Example:

    <setting name="android_appMinVersion">
    <hidden>
        <key>blackberry.security.appInfo.android.appMinVersion</key>
        <value>16</value>
    </hidden>
</setting>
<setting name="iOS_appMinVersion">
    <hidden>
        <key>blackberry.security.appInfo.iOS.appMinVersion</key>
        <value>20</value>
    </hidden>
</setting>
<setting name="iOS_appUpdateURL">
    <hidden>
        <key>blackberry.security.appInfo.iOS.appUpdateURL</key>
        <value>https://apps.apple.com/us/app/blackberry-work/id890656632</value>
    </hidden>
</setting>
<setting name="android_appUpdateURL">
    <hidden>
        <key>blackberry.security.appInfo.android.appUpdateURL</key>
        <value>https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.good.gcs</value>
    </hidden>
</setting>
  3. Include the settings in the structural section of the file.

    Example:

    <pview>
    <!-- App Minimum Version Security Configuration -->
    <pe ref="android_appMinVersion"/>
    <pe ref="android_appUpdateURL"/>
    <pe ref="iOS_appMinVersion"/>
    <pe ref="iOS_appUpdateURL"/>
</pview>
  4. Coordinate with the UEM administrator to upload the app policy for your app in UEM. See Manage settings for a BlackBerry Dynamics apps (App configuration > Upload a template).