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Release management

The Release Management section of the Developers console allows you to manage your app releases. There are two kinds of releases:

  • Testing—the release channel for pre-release apps that needs to be tested by users prior to deployment.
  • Production—the release channel where you upload qualified and tested versions of your app to the App Store.

Testing channel​

The Testing channel provides a place for you to manage pre-release versions of your app for testing purposes. It is divided into sub-channels so that you can manage the different versions that need to be tested. You can create and manage up to 10 test channels.

For more information on managing your testing channels, see Managing a testing channel.

Production channel​

The Production channel is used to manage the versions of software that have passed the testing phase and are ready for deployment. This channel is a public facing channel and is the default for users to download your app from the App Store.

Each of the tables contains the Version details.

Version Details

The Version details table contains following columns:

  • Version—the app version associated with this version.
  • Uploaded—when was this version uploaded.
  • Rollout (Only in the active versions table)—the current rollout status of this version. Possible values include:
    • Rollout percentage—the current rollout percentage. Only exists on the "phased" version.
    • HALTED—this version's rollout is currently halted. Only exists on the Phased version.
    • Full rollout—this is the live version fully rolled out.
  • Download size—the size of the raw .opk file for this version.
  • Installs—how many (non-unique) installations of this version have ever occurred.
  • Active Installs—how many active installations exist for this version (the last 30 days).
  • Direct download—directly download the app.

When you open a line item from the Version details, you can edit the internal notes or add release notes.

New release pane​

The New Release pane is where you upload a new version of your app. Make sure you have a valid .opk file for the new version. For more information about creating a new .opk file, see how to create an .opk package.

New Release

Dragging an .opk file (or pressing Upload and selecting one), creates a new version release called draft.

Processing New Release

Once the .opk file has completed the upload, you will see a Release Review screen where you can make adjustments to the release of the app.

Review New Release

Version Review
  • Mandatory version reviews may not be needed once your app is deemed stable after several version reviews. If you don't have mandatory reviews, then you can skip directly to the Release rollout percentage to start your rollout.
  • Test Channels are always exempt from mandatory version reviews.
  • It is recommended to submit major versions for review, even if reviews are no longer mandatory.

Add internal release notes for this version by pressing Add internal notes. Internal release notes will only be viewable by your app's team, and the Overwolf team.

Once the release notes are added, the screen will change and start the review process for the new version.

Review New Release With Notes

Press Submit to send the app for review by the Overwolf team. If at any point, you wish to pull the review back, press Cancel Request.

Reviewing New Release

The release process begins once the version is approved.

Production​

New Release Approved

Use Add release notes to add public release notes to your approved production version. Then the rollout % can be specified in the relevant textbox. Press Start rollout to start the rollout.

New Release Confirmation

Press Confirm to release the version from draft mode. It then becomes a full release, and can be found in Public Releases.

Deleting draft version

At any point throughout the process you can decide to discard this version's draft. To delete the draft version, press Discard release.

New Release Discard

Press Confirm to finish deleting the draft version.

Public Releases pane​

The Public Releases pane is where you manage the current active versions.

note

You can only change the rollout percentage of the latest version of the app.

Public Releases Opened

Enter a new number to change the percentage for versions that have not been rolled out completely, then press Increase.

Release rollout percentage​

Phasing Version

This section only appears for a Phasing version and won't appear for any other version.

Release rollout percentage

Version Phasing Active

Use this section to edit a Phased version's rollout % as well as to Halt its rollout.

Release History pane​

The Release History pane is where you manage the previous released versions of your app.

Previous versions are split into pages using The Paging Footer.

Release History Opened

Release notes​

There are two kinds of version release notes:

  • Internal release notes—used for documenting all changes done to the app over time. They can only be viewed by your app's staff and the Overwolf team.
  • Public release notes—your app's public release notes for documenting public changes to the app. They can be viewed by anyone, even outside of the developer's console. It is recommended to use them to manage your app's public changelog for new versions.

To edit release notes, press on a release in the table, then press the edit buttons. Release notes are edited in the text editor using CommonMark. You can also use the Editing tools in the editor's top toolbar.

Use the Cancel and Save buttons in the editor to discard or save your changes (similar to The Footer Toolbar).

Public release notes also contain toggles:

  • Publish—enable the toggle to publish the release notes so that any changes made will be available for everyone to read. Disable the toggle to create a draft for your new version. For release notes you wish to keep internal, use the Internal release notes instead.
  • Important—label this version as important. Typically used to mark major versions or time-critical updates.
Release Notes Delay

Changes made to the public release notes of an app will take approximately 5 minutes to update. Use the release notes endpoint to verify that they have been updated.

Release notes endpoint​

The developer's console exposes a compiled HTML of pubic release notes for every app through the following API endpoint:

`https://console-api.overwolf.com/v1/apps/${app-id}/versions/${version}/release-notes/${page}`

Replace:

  • app-id—with your app's unique id.
  • version— with the most recent version you wish to display.
  • page—with the changelogs page number. Every page contains up to three changelogs.

The endpoint returns the following json:

{
  "versions": [
    {
      "important": boolean,
      "version": string,
      "html": string,
      "timestamp": number
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "perPage": number
  }
}

Any version without a published public changelog will be skipped.

The versions array contains up to three versions.

what does this mean? If it runs out of versions to display before then, it will only be filled by the remaining versions. In the next page after that, it will then be completely empty.

Page Numbering

Changelog page numbers start from 1. If you check for page 0, it will just be treated as page 1.

Example Values

For example:

  • app-id—npijmgiaiiemcnijaljcfddgeihcbifdbhpffihe
  • version—6.0.71

The link looks like:

`https://console-api.overwolf.com/v1/apps/npijmgiaiiemcnijaljcfddgeihcbifdbhpffihe/versions/6.0.71/release-notes/${page}`

This example includes three versions with release notes.

The result for page 1 would be:

{
   "versions":[
      {
         "important":true,
         "version":"6.0.69",
         "html":"<p>test</p>",
         "timestamp":1662018568162
      },
      {
         "important":true,
         "version":"3.1.5",
         "html":"<figure><img src='http://content.overwolf.com/outplayed/release-notes/069/release-notes-hero.webp'></figure>\n<p><strong>All versions great and small.</strong> This version might be small, but still bright and beautiful.</p>\n<h2 class='new'>New</h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>5 new games are now supported</strong> - Rayman Origins, Post Scriptum, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, and Firewatch. Want us to add your favorite game? Let us know on our <a href=\"https://ideas.outplayed.tv/\">Ideas portal</a>.</li>\n<li><strong>Capture mode notification</strong> - An option to turn capture OFF was added. If this option is selected, Outplayed will be disabled for this game, choose wisely (you can always enable it back from the settings).</li>\n</ul>\n<h2 class='improved'>Better</h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Missing backgrounds</strong> - Remnant: From the Ashes and Project Zomboid artwork was added.</li>\n<li><strong>Settings in-game</strong> - Did you know that changing settings while in-game will only take effect after restarting the game? A big yellow alert was added to make sure you know.</li>\n</ul>\n<h2 class='bugs'>Fixed</h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Capture mode notification</strong> - Allow using numeric keypad in the notification hotkeys. We like hotkeys, especially in the winter.</li>\n<li><strong>Video editor</strong> - Videos with aspect ratios different than project settings were stretched to fit. Although stretching is good for your health, we fixed it.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Have a great idea for Outplayed? Let us know on our <a href=\"https://ideas.outplayed.tv/\">Ideas portal</a>, or talk to us directly on our <a href=\"https://discord.gg/MatrVYK\">Discord server</a>.</p>\n<p><strong>See you in the next version,<br>\nThe Outplayed team</strong></p>",
         "timestamp":1643024580643
      },
      {
         "important":false,
         "version":"3.0.33",
         "html":"<p>3.0.33 release notessssssss</p>",
         "timestamp":1643036589211
      }
   ],
   "meta":{
      "perPage":3
   }
}

Which is the same as the result for page 0.

App Channels sample app​

For an example of how to utilize app channels, download the App Channels sample app.