App Upgrades

By App Store's design, many developers release app upgrades as distinct apps, because there is no paid upgrade mechanism for a single app. The proliferation of different editions of a single app line is causing problems because there is often no data migration mechanism. Purchasing new editions of a app line means moving data in old apps all over again. It should not be that complex. App upgrades should be allowed to automatically migrate data from old apps for convenience.

Lack of convenient data migration mechanism for app upgrades hurts both consumers and developers through reduced purchases. Although many apps employ cloud sync to bypass data migration issues, it has to be noted that not all apps have cloud mechanism, for some not even desirable. Likely, some app developers pulled their apps from the App Store because there is no sustainable upgrade routes.

Let's hope it will turn out better both for consumers and developers.

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