The Hidden Costs of Not Embracing LCNC Platforms
Before diving into the solution, let’s examine the risks organizations face when they don’t fully leverage LCNC platforms:
- Delayed Time-to-Market
Traditional development cycles are lengthy and labor-intensive. Without LCNC, building and updating apps involves heavy coding, extended QA timelines, and increased costs. The result? Delayed responses to market demands lead to missed opportunities. - Innovation Bottlenecks
LCNC tools democratize development by enabling “citizen developers”—non-technical users—to build or tweak apps. Without this democratization, organizations may miss out on frontline insights that could drive game-changing solutions. - Overburdened IT Teams
Conventional development increases dependency on core IT, leading to potential backlogs and resource strain. LCNC eases this by distributing development efforts across teams. - Scalability Setbacks
Scaling custom apps across departments or geographies becomes tedious without modular LCNC frameworks, increasing rework and budget creep.
Purpose
This blog is designed to help PowerApps developers and platform administrators enforce the latest published version of an app across web browsers, Android, and iOS devices. Whether you’re dealing with stubborn caching in Chrome or app staleness on iPhones, this guide outlines a methodical way to ensure that all users always run the most up-to-date version.
Business Challenge
Despite the flexibility and speed that PowerApps offers, persistent caching behavior in browsers like Edge, Chrome, and Firefox—and even on mobile platforms—can cause serious issues.
Even after publishing a new version of a PowerApp, users may continue seeing an older version. This results in:
- Feature inconsistencies
- Inaccurate bug reports
- User confusion
- Frequent support requests like: “Please refresh your browser again…”
These problems are not just minor annoyances—they can result in productivity losses, compliance issues, and broken business workflows.
Solution Approach
To mitigate this, we propose a version check and auto-refresh mechanism using PowerAppsforMakers connector. Here's how it works:
- On app startup, the logic fetches the latest published version from PowerApps version history.
- It compares the current version running on the device to the latest.
- If there is a mismatch, the app auto-navigates to a custom “Version Mismatch” screen.
- After a brief countdown, it automatically relaunches the app with a force-refresh parameter.
For web browsers: Use Launch(“https://apps.powerapps.com/play/e/default-<<EnvironmentID>>/a/"& AppID&"?tenantId="& TenantID&"&restartApp=true”) to the app URL.For Android/iOS: Use Launch(“ms-apps:///providers/Microsoft.PowerApps/apps/"&AppID&"?tenantId="&TenantID&"&restartApp=true”)
This approach eliminates the guesswork and manual refresh burden, creating a seamless experience for end users.
Implementation
Step 1: Add PowerAppsforMakers Connection
Set up the connection in the app to access version history using the GetAppVersions action provided by the connector. This action retrieves a list of all versions for a specified Power App.
Step 2: Configure App OnStart Logic
Set the App ID and Tenant ID values and compare the running version against the latest published version.
Determine device type:
Define platform-specific relaunch URLs:
Step 3: Timer-Based Verification (Figure 1)
Place a hidden Timer control named Timer_VersionVerifier on the landing screen. This timer will periodically verify the app version.
Properties:
- Duration: 30000 (30 seconds)
- Repeat: True
- AutoStart: True
- Reset: varTimerVerificationStart
- OnTimerEnd:
Figure 1: Timer control silently tracks whether the user is on the latest version.
Step 4: Add a “VersionMismatch” Screen (Figure 2)
This screen educates the user and prepares them for a forced app refresh.
Controls to Add:
- A Label (with version details and message)
- A Countdown Timer (Timer_VersionUpgrade) that triggers app relaunch
- A Reload App Button for manual refresh
Timer_VersionUpgrade OnTimerEnd:
Figure 2: Shows the VersionMismatch screen design that reassures users with helpful info and a countdown.
Limitations & Considerations
- There is no predefined interval at which updates reflect across all devices. The 30–60 second timer is a best-effort workaround.
- Users may occasionally need to click the Reload App button.
- Missing version labels on screens can indicate failed updates—prompt relaunch in those cases.
Conclusion
Settipalle Sridhar is a Microsoft Power Platform Architect and SharePoint expert with over 12 years of experience in enterprise automation. At Coforge, he has led mission-critical projects across banking, healthcare, telecom, and airlines, delivering impactful solutions using PowerApps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Azure services. Sridhar specializes in Microsoft Graph API, RPA, and AI-driven workflow optimization. He earned the “Award of Excellence” in 2024 and over 15 recognitions in FY 2024–25 for his contributions. An M.Tech graduate from BITS Pilani, Sridhar is PL-600 and AZ-900 certified. He’s passionate about automation, cloud transformation, and sharing his expertise through industry insights.
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About Coforge.
We are a global digital services and solutions provider, who leverage emerging technologies and deep domain expertise to deliver real-world business impact for our clients. A focus on very select industries, a detailed understanding of the underlying processes of those industries, and partnerships with leading platforms provide us with a distinct perspective. We lead with our product engineering approach and leverage Cloud, Data, Integration, and Automation technologies to transform client businesses into intelligent, high-growth enterprises. Our proprietary platforms power critical business processes across our core verticals. We are located in 23 countries with 30 delivery centers across nine countries.