Generating Notifications when iOS App Version Number Changes

[xadb]

We have a significant number of iOS Devices across our offices in the US, and currently, use MDM for App distribution / management. When a new version of any (3) of the primary Apps we deploy becomes available, we install the update on a Test Device to ensure there are no stability issues prior to rolling the patched version out to our fleet.

Question: Given that the JSS displays the current build of any iOS App made available for distribution, I'm wondering if there's a way to monitor the version number of these apps via a script, so that when it changes, our Apps Support Team can be alerted and begin testing the newest version.

I'm primarily curious about where these App names / version numbers reside in the Framework (i.e. are these attributes accessible via the MySQL db, or does the framework merely point to Apple for this info)

Anyone out there built / seen / used something similar?

[thejenbot]

Curious to hear if anyone has ideas as this is something that could be quite handy :)

[d_berry_bac]

Hi

you can use the JSS API to find the value that is in the JSS for the version using the following URL

https://myjss.com:8443/JSSResource/mobiledeviceapplications (replacing myjss.com with your servers name)

this lists all the apps with their version numbers and JSS ID's
you can curl down the results and filter it with your language of choice

if you only want the result to be for one app once you have the ID you can use

https://myjss.com:8443/JSSResource/mobiledeviceapplications/ID/{id} (replacing {id} with the JSS app ID)

here is a good guide to get you started with using the JSS API

https://bryson3gps.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/the-jss-rest-api-for-everyone/

and if you need the current app version from itunes, apple have an itunes search API that gives you what you need

https://affiliate.itunes.apple.com/resources/documentation/itunes-store-web-service-search-api/

this is probably the url you want just replace the itunes id with the app you are interested in (which you can get from the itunes url when looking in the store or can see it in the app URL field when in the JSS app record)

https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=284910350

Hope this helps

[iPad_Sheriff]

I used a script from Bryson Tyrrell to update the app version field in JSS. This script updates only the app version number that Self Service looks for when a user tries to install/update their apps from Self Service. The script does not update app versions on devices where they are installed.

https://github.com/brysontyrrell/Update-App-Info