I want to create a news app but I don’t want to update the app every time I write new content . Is it possible for me to add new news content as much as I want without updating the entire app and then submitting it to the play store ?
Doing this for a general app…
Not the way you want to.
It would require you having a server to host your data on, then you would need to update that data on the server, finally you’d have to modify your app to check the server for updates and download them.
It is completely non-trivial. Much easier to simply update the binary on the store.
Also, updating your app on the store shows folks you still love the app and are maintaining it.
Doing this for an app that takes data from feeds (like a news app)…
Sure, maybe, but how are you reading data from the feed(s)? i.e. Where is your news coming from and how do you read it?
If you’re manually copying ‘news stories’ into some format and packing them yourself, you’re back to the general case.
Final update: The easiest way to to do this for a general app (and for data and image files ONLY) is to:
-
Set up an AWS S3 folder. Free to start and free for low usage.
-
Write your app to read an index file from the folder.
-
In the index, keep links to ‘news stories’ files, sub-folders, or zip files (up to you).
-
Add new stories in any of the format you choose from #3.
-
After adding new stories/data update the index.
Your app will download the index on each restart, relaunch, and/or manually/timed update check. It can then compare that index to the local one and download any new content.
Again, not a trivial process but totally doable and it gets rid of all or most of the cost and difficultly of maintaining a server of your own.
Or just use HTML and a webView?
Doing this for a general app…
Not the way you want to.
It would require you having a server to host your data on, then you would need to update that data on the server, finally you’d have to modify your app to check the server for updates and download them.
It is completely non-trivial. Much easier to simply update the binary on the store.
Also, updating your app on the store shows folks you still love the app and are maintaining it.
Doing this for an app that takes data from feeds (like a news app)…
Sure, maybe, but how are you reading data from the feed(s)? i.e. Where is your news coming from and how do you read it?
If you’re manually copying ‘news stories’ into some format and packing them yourself, you’re back to the general case.
Final update: The easiest way to to do this for a general app (and for data and image files ONLY) is to:
-
Set up an AWS S3 folder. Free to start and free for low usage.
-
Write your app to read an index file from the folder.
-
In the index, keep links to ‘news stories’ files, sub-folders, or zip files (up to you).
-
Add new stories in any of the format you choose from #3.
-
After adding new stories/data update the index.
Your app will download the index on each restart, relaunch, and/or manually/timed update check. It can then compare that index to the local one and download any new content.
Again, not a trivial process but totally doable and it gets rid of all or most of the cost and difficultly of maintaining a server of your own.
Or just use HTML and a webView?