You guessed it, the question is about the /e/ AppStore update frequency.
I have a Spark Amp (guitar stuff) and that requires a companion app to work. I requested this Spark app to be added to the /e/ AppStore, and it had been done quickly (months ago)… 
Now they’ve introduced last December some new stuff in their (bloated) app that makes it not working anymore with /e/ (I suspect they use some Google API somewhere that should be considered as optional which they don’t…).
I am then in contact with their support team, reported my issue and to my surprise they took my request seriously and apparently they delivered a new version (1.7.4.3010 by the time I’m writing this) that they ask me to test (I have currently the version 1.7.3.2858 which is the one in the /e/ AppStore).
The question is then, how often is the /e/ AppStore refreshed with the new versions from the Google Play Store ? I thought it was kind of automatic (and maybe it is) but it is definitely not immediate.
As especially in the case of a discussion with a support service, I should be able to quickly test (those kind of companies are faster to close tickets than actually to fix them…), it is important to know the delay.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
2 Likes
Ok no reply there…
So decided to move to Aurora store following this howto. Don’t know if it’s the best idea, but got so many answers, that I had to do something.
Fair question.
I’ve also notices this delay. An update for Signal for instance is available on Aurora Store where the update only arrives a couple of days later via AppStore. 
Yup, AFIU Aurora is a simple proxy to the PlayStore whereas /e/ AppStore is a cache/buffer store between us and PlayStore.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think there is a privacy report which is run about each application added to the /e/ AppStore. What I don’t know is what the process is when a new version of something already present in the /e/ AppStore, appears in the PlayStore:
- Is this privacy report re-run automaticaly ? Is this what slows down so much the availability of the new version in the /e/ AppStore?
- When does this occur (triggered by the appearance of a new version in the PlayStore, or is it a scheduled batch process) ?
- In case of batch what is the frequency ?
These are the questions I would like to have an answer to.
@LaurentB the 1.7.4 spark amp app from aurora store crashes on my e os smartphone.
Does it crash on your phone too?
Yep, and I actually just noticed on Aurora that the app is flagged as “GSF dependent”… So now it’s clear.
I had a chat with their support and they acknowledged the fact they do not support anything but what they called the “official android version”, ie the one with GSF. So don’t expect to have it running anytime soon although they said they will “run tests on the open-source version of android” but that “it could take some time to support it”. Do not hesitate to write to their support too to enforce your point. The more they will face the issue the more likely they could think about addressing it.
That was not the case for the earlier versions, I even argued the fact that prior buying the amp I checked the app (early 2020), and it was working fine, and that it was a strong requirement at that time to actually buy it.
I don’t know exactly when they introduced the dependency, because I didn’t upgrade the app for quite a while. Now it is clear, knowing this, I wouldn’t buy it. Luckily I have an old tablet running stock android, but sluggish and especially when dealing with such bloated app. so I remain able to change settings if I need, but it’s far from the ultimate user experience… And as my baby labrador had the very good idea to chew one of the corners of the amp, which doesn’t impact sound, it is not even possible for me to sell it anymore.
To come back to the initial subject which was the /e/ AppStore update frequency, what I can say, is that:
- I actually installed Aurora to be able to test the new version, and there the new release of the app was immediately available.
- Aurora provides the information about whether or not the app requires GSF, which is useful (maybe it is available somewhere in /e/ AppStore and I missed it…).
- I still have no idea of what the availability delay in the /e/ AppStore is.