I want to clear the caches when my app updated in PlayStore in Android?

Question

I have a some data which am storing in preferences.If any updates found in PlayStore.I need to listen to the update action and have to clear the caches of myapp.

Answer 1

To know if your app has been updated :

Store the current version code in shared preferences, and then use the below function in the main activity.

public static AppStart checkAppStart(Context context, SharedPreferences sharedPreferences) {
    PackageInfo pInfo;
    AppStart appStart = AppStart.NORMAL;
    try {
        pInfo = context.getPackageManager().getPackageInfo(
                context.getPackageName(), PackageManager.COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_DEFAULT);
        int lastVersionCode = sharedPreferences.getInt(
                Constants.LAST_APP_VERSION, -1);

        int currentVersionCode = pInfo.versionCode;
        appStart = checkAppStart(currentVersionCode, lastVersionCode);

        // Update version in preferences
        sharedPreferences.edit()
                .putInt(Constants.LAST_APP_VERSION, currentVersionCode).commit(); // must use commit here or app may not update prefs in time and app will loop into walkthrough
    } catch (PackageManager.NameNotFoundException e) {
        Log.w(LOG_TAG,
                "Unable to determine current app version from package manager. Defensively assuming normal app start.");
    }
    return appStart;
}

private static AppStart checkAppStart(int currentVersionCode, int lastVersionCode) {
    if (lastVersionCode == -1) {
        return AppStart.FIRST_TIME;
    } else if (lastVersionCode < currentVersionCode) {
        return AppStart.FIRST_TIME_VERSION;
    } else if (lastVersionCode > currentVersionCode) {
        Log.w(LOG_TAG, "Current version code (" + currentVersionCode
                + ") is less then the one recognized on last startup ("
                + lastVersionCode
                + "). Defensively assuming normal app start.");
        return AppStart.NORMAL;
    } else {
        return AppStart.NORMAL;
    }
}

AppStart is just an enum here:

public enum AppStart {
    FIRST_TIME,
    FIRST_TIME_VERSION,
    NORMAL
}

After that, to clear the cache : https://stackoverflow.com/a/23908638/1594776

Answer 2

We have to handle it internally. Here is how I am handling it in a simple way.

For any version if it is required to clear data, I create a field with app versionCode to clear data for in gradle file:

defaultConfig {
        minSdkVersion 24
        targetSdkVersion 33
        buildConfigField("int", "CLEAR_DATA_VER", "123")
    }

In my first Activity, I check if data is cleared for the version or not:

    ...

    val dataClearedVersion = Constants.dataClearedVersion(context)

    if (dataClearedVersion == null || dataClearedVersion < BuildConfig.CLEAR_DATA_VER ){
       Constants.cleanSharedPreferences(context)
       Constants.setDataClearedVersion(context)
     }
...

 fun dataClearedVersion(context: Context): Int? {
        val sharedPref = context.applicationContext.getSharedPreferences(PREF_KEY, Context.MODE_PRIVATE)
        val version = sharedPref.getInt(APP_DATA_CLEARED_K, -1)

        return if (version == -1) null else version
    }


fun setDataClearedVersion(context: Context) {
    val sharedPref = context.applicationContext.getSharedPreferences(PREF_KEY, Context.MODE_PRIVATE).edit()
    sharedPref.putInt(APP_DATA_CLEARED_K, BuildConfig.CLEAR_DATA_VER).apply()
}