Turn on the update check

The desktop app can tell you when a newer version of Sternway is out. The check is off until you turn it on. It never downloads or installs anything: it shows the new version with a link to its download page, which opens in your browser.

The phone app has no update check; install a newer APK from sternway.dev/download over the old one.

Turn it on

1. Open Settings › Updates.
2. Turn on Allow update checks.
3. Leave Update feed URL at Sternway’s feed, https://downloads.sternway.dev/feed/stable.json.
4. Choose Check for updates to check now.

With checks allowed, the app also checks a minute after it starts and then once a day while it is unlocked, and shows a notification when a newer version exists.

The result says You’re up to date, or Version … is available with Open download page.

Versions before 0.1.0-alpha.56

The feed is signed, and the app checks the signature with a public key built into it. Sternway’s key is built in from version 0.1.0-alpha.56. Version 0.1.0-alpha.55 and older have no key: there the check says “This build has no update signing key” and never trusts a feed. Update those by hand once, from the download page.

What is sent

A plain download of the feed file: no version, platform or id of yours is sent. The app compares versions itself.

What the app checks

A feed is used only when all of these hold:

• its address is https://;
• it is signed with Ed25519, and the signature verifies against the key built into the app (users cannot change that key);
• the download address inside it is https://;
• it has not expired;
• it was not issued before the newest feed the app already accepted, so an old signed feed cannot be served again to hide a newer release.