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feat(android-distribution): Run checkForUpdate on background thread (EME-413) #4811

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8ba2f76
feat(android-distribution): Run checkForUpdate on background thread (…
runningcode Oct 15, 2025
23a841c
refactor(android-distribution): Use Future instead of callback for as…
runningcode Oct 16, 2025
d60461b
refactor(sentry): Use custom CompletedFuture for API 21+ compatibilit…
runningcode Oct 16, 2025
939947e
refactor(android-distribution): Import Future type for cleaner code (…
runningcode Oct 16, 2025
af0fa28
fix(samples): Update MainActivity to use Future-based checkForUpdate …
runningcode Oct 16, 2025
367bb10
refactor(samples): Add Future import and async library comment (EME-413)
runningcode Oct 17, 2025
9aaadc6
style(samples): Reflow comment for proper line length (EME-413)
runningcode Oct 17, 2025
becae51
release: 8.24.0-alpha.2
getsentry-bot Oct 17, 2025
7997cac
Merge branch 'release/8.24.0-alpha.2' into no/eme-413-async-update-check
Oct 17, 2025
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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion CHANGELOG.md
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@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Changelog

## Unreleased
## 8.24.0-alpha.2

### Features

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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion gradle.properties
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Expand Up @@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ org.jetbrains.dokka.experimental.gradle.pluginMode=V2Enabled
android.useAndroidX=true

# Release information
versionName=8.23.0
versionName=8.24.0-alpha.2

# Override the SDK name on native crashes on Android
sentryAndroidSdkName=sentry.native.android
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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion sentry-android-distribution/api/sentry-android-distribution.api
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@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
public final class io/sentry/android/distribution/DistributionIntegration : io/sentry/IDistributionApi, io/sentry/Integration {
public fun <init> (Landroid/content/Context;)V
public fun checkForUpdate (Lio/sentry/IDistributionApi$UpdateCallback;)V
public fun checkForUpdate ()Ljava/util/concurrent/Future;
public fun checkForUpdateBlocking ()Lio/sentry/UpdateStatus;
public fun downloadUpdate (Lio/sentry/UpdateInfo;)V
public fun register (Lio/sentry/IScopes;Lio/sentry/SentryOptions;)V
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11 changes: 5 additions & 6 deletions ...roid-distribution/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/distribution/DistributionIntegration.kt
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Expand Up @@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import io.sentry.UpdateInfo
import io.sentry.UpdateStatus
import java.net.SocketTimeoutException
import java.net.UnknownHostException
import java.util.concurrent.Future
import org.jetbrains.annotations.ApiStatus

/**
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -84,14 +85,12 @@ public class DistributionIntegration(context: Context) : Integration, IDistribut
}

/**
* Check for available updates asynchronously using a callback.
* Check for available updates asynchronously.
*
* @param onResult Callback that will be called with the UpdateStatus result
* @return Future that will resolve to an UpdateStatus result
*/
public override fun checkForUpdate(onResult: IDistributionApi.UpdateCallback) {
// TODO implement this in a async way
val result = checkForUpdateBlocking()
onResult.onResult(result)
public override fun checkForUpdate(): Future<UpdateStatus> {
return sentryOptions.executorService.submit<UpdateStatus> { checkForUpdateBlocking() }
}

/**
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75 changes: 46 additions & 29 deletions ...-samples/sentry-samples-android/src/main/java/io/sentry/samples/android/MainActivity.java
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Expand Up @@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
import java.util.concurrent.Future;
import timber.log.Timber;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -315,35 +316,51 @@ public void run() {
binding.checkForUpdate.setOnClickListener(
view -> {
Toast.makeText(this, "Checking for updates...", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
Sentry.distribution()
.checkForUpdate(
result -> {
runOnUiThread(
() -> {
String message;
if (result instanceof UpdateStatus.NewRelease) {
UpdateStatus.NewRelease newRelease = (UpdateStatus.NewRelease) result;
message =
"Update available: "
+ newRelease.getInfo().getBuildVersion()
+ " (Build "
+ newRelease.getInfo().getBuildNumber()
+ ")\nDownload URL: "
+ newRelease.getInfo().getDownloadUrl();
} else if (result instanceof UpdateStatus.UpToDate) {
message = "App is up to date!";
} else if (result instanceof UpdateStatus.NoNetwork) {
UpdateStatus.NoNetwork noNetwork = (UpdateStatus.NoNetwork) result;
message = "No network connection: " + noNetwork.getMessage();
} else if (result instanceof UpdateStatus.UpdateError) {
UpdateStatus.UpdateError error = (UpdateStatus.UpdateError) result;
message = "Error checking for updates: " + error.getMessage();
} else {
message = "Unknown status";
}
Toast.makeText(this, message, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
});
});
Future<UpdateStatus> future = Sentry.distribution().checkForUpdate();
// In production, convert this to use your preferred async library (RxJava, Coroutines,
// etc.)
// This sample uses raw threads and Future.get() for simplicity
// Process result on background thread, then update UI
new Thread(
() -> {
try {
UpdateStatus result = future.get();
runOnUiThread(
() -> {
String message;
if (result instanceof UpdateStatus.NewRelease) {
UpdateStatus.NewRelease newRelease = (UpdateStatus.NewRelease) result;
message =
"Update available: "
+ newRelease.getInfo().getBuildVersion()
+ " (Build "
+ newRelease.getInfo().getBuildNumber()
+ ")\nDownload URL: "
+ newRelease.getInfo().getDownloadUrl();
} else if (result instanceof UpdateStatus.UpToDate) {
message = "App is up to date!";
} else if (result instanceof UpdateStatus.NoNetwork) {
UpdateStatus.NoNetwork noNetwork = (UpdateStatus.NoNetwork) result;
message = "No network connection: " + noNetwork.getMessage();
} else if (result instanceof UpdateStatus.UpdateError) {
UpdateStatus.UpdateError error = (UpdateStatus.UpdateError) result;
message = "Error checking for updates: " + error.getMessage();
} else {
message = "Unknown status";
}
Toast.makeText(this, message, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
});
} catch (Exception e) {
runOnUiThread(
() ->
Toast.makeText(
this,
"Error checking for updates: " + e.getMessage(),
Toast.LENGTH_LONG)
.show());
}
})
.start();
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Bug: Unnecessary Thread Creation in Update Check

The checkForUpdate sample unnecessarily creates a new Thread to block on the Future result. This goes against the goal of using a shared thread pool and avoiding unbounded thread creation, as checkForUpdate already runs on a background thread. It leads to inefficient resource use.

Fix in Cursor Fix in Web

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Yes and no, we can’t call future.get() on the main thread since it will be blocking so we spawn a thread to wait for the result. Does that seem right?
I feel like this sample is overly complicated.

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The Java async quagmire always makes me so sad.

This is much better now it's only in the sample but still ideally we would not encourage users to create a thread for each call.

I think most users will already have some kind of background worker setup which they could use convert the Future into something usable (kotlinx-coroutines-guava, androidx.concurrent, their own worker pool, etc). Assuming we don't already have such a library in the sample I would suggest something like:

class FuturePoller<T> {
    private static final Handler MAIN_THREAD_HANDLER = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());

    public static <T> void futureToRunnable(
            @NonNull final Future<T> future,
            @NonNull final Runnable onCompleteRunnable) {
        MAIN_THREAD_HANDLER.post(() -> {
            pollAndExecute(future, onCompleteRunnable, 50, 1000);
        });
    }

    private static <T> void pollAndExecute(
            @NonNull final Future<T> future,
            @NonNull final Runnable onCompleteRunnable,
            final long currentDelayMs,
            final long maxDelayMs) {
        if (future.isDone()) {
            T result = future.get(); 
            onCompleteRunnable.run(); 
        } else {
            long nextDelay = Math.min(currentDelayMs * 2, maxDelayMs);
            MAIN_THREAD_HANDLER.postDelayed(() -> {
                pollAndExecute(future, onCompleteRunnable, nextDelay, maxDelayMs);
            }, currentDelayMs);
        }
    }
}

e.g. Something that continually reposts the task to a handler with an increasing backoff until the future is resolvable and once it's resolvable calls the callback.

Alternatively we can do what we have now (or even just make a blocking call / do .get() on the UI thread) - and leave a big comment about the user needs to convert this to be async with their favorite library.

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feel free to pull any dependencies we need for the sample btw

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@runningcode runningcode Oct 17, 2025 •
edited
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@romtsn I think adding dependencies is the way to go. This module is java only but I don’t think any Android developers are java only so I think we should add some kotlin and coroutines here.
But that would be a much bigger change since this entire file would have to be switched to kotlin in order to use coroutines.
@chromy I appreciate the sample code you wrote but I don’t think it would help anyone to have that since it will not be relevant to all users who have their own async libs so it will just cause extra confusion. I will just add a comment as you suggest to use your own asynchronous code.

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to make it easier we could have a separate screen which polls for updates (or maybe even a foreground service?) which could be in kotlin from the get go

});

binding.openCameraActivity.setOnClickListener(
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8 changes: 2 additions & 6 deletions sentry/api/sentry.api
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Expand Up @@ -776,15 +776,11 @@ public abstract interface class io/sentry/IContinuousProfiler {
}

public abstract interface class io/sentry/IDistributionApi {
public abstract fun checkForUpdate (Lio/sentry/IDistributionApi$UpdateCallback;)V
public abstract fun checkForUpdate ()Ljava/util/concurrent/Future;
public abstract fun checkForUpdateBlocking ()Lio/sentry/UpdateStatus;
public abstract fun downloadUpdate (Lio/sentry/UpdateInfo;)V
}

public abstract interface class io/sentry/IDistributionApi$UpdateCallback {
public abstract fun onResult (Lio/sentry/UpdateStatus;)V
}

public abstract interface class io/sentry/IEnvelopeReader {
public abstract fun read (Ljava/io/InputStream;)Lio/sentry/SentryEnvelope;
}
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1493,7 +1489,7 @@ public final class io/sentry/NoOpContinuousProfiler : io/sentry/IContinuousProfi
}

public final class io/sentry/NoOpDistributionApi : io/sentry/IDistributionApi {
public fun checkForUpdate (Lio/sentry/IDistributionApi$UpdateCallback;)V
public fun checkForUpdate ()Ljava/util/concurrent/Future;
public fun checkForUpdateBlocking ()Lio/sentry/UpdateStatus;
public fun downloadUpdate (Lio/sentry/UpdateInfo;)V
public static fun getInstance ()Lio/sentry/NoOpDistributionApi;
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17 changes: 7 additions & 10 deletions sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/IDistributionApi.java
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@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
package io.sentry;

import java.util.concurrent.Future;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.ApiStatus;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;

Expand All @@ -14,20 +15,21 @@ public interface IDistributionApi {

/**
* Check for available updates synchronously (blocking call). This method will block the calling
* thread while making the network request. Consider using checkForUpdate with callback for
* non-blocking behavior.
* thread while making the network request. Consider using checkForUpdate for non-blocking
* behavior.
*
* @return UpdateStatus indicating if an update is available, up to date, or error
*/
@NotNull
UpdateStatus checkForUpdateBlocking();

/**
* Check for available updates asynchronously using a callback.
* Check for available updates asynchronously.
*
* @param onResult Callback that will be called with the UpdateStatus result
* @return Future that will resolve to an UpdateStatus result
*/
void checkForUpdate(@NotNull UpdateCallback onResult);
@NotNull
Future<UpdateStatus> checkForUpdate();

/**
* Download and install the provided update by opening the download URL in the default browser or
Expand All @@ -36,9 +38,4 @@ public interface IDistributionApi {
* @param info Information about the update to download
*/
void downloadUpdate(@NotNull UpdateInfo info);

/** Callback interface for receiving async update check results. */
interface UpdateCallback {
void onResult(@NotNull UpdateStatus status);
}
}
46 changes: 44 additions & 2 deletions sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/NoOpDistributionApi.java
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@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
package io.sentry;

import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.Future;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.ApiStatus;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;

Expand All @@ -21,12 +25,50 @@ public static NoOpDistributionApi getInstance() {
}

@Override
public void checkForUpdate(@NotNull UpdateCallback onResult) {
// No-op implementation - do nothing
public @NotNull Future<UpdateStatus> checkForUpdate() {
return new CompletedFuture<>(UpdateStatus.UpToDate.getInstance());
}

@Override
public void downloadUpdate(@NotNull UpdateInfo info) {
// No-op implementation - do nothing
}

/**
* A Future implementation that is already completed with a result. This is used instead of
* CompletableFuture.completedFuture() to maintain compatibility with Android API 21+.
*/
private static final class CompletedFuture<T> implements Future<T> {
private final T result;

CompletedFuture(T result) {
this.result = result;
}

@Override
public boolean cancel(final boolean mayInterruptIfRunning) {
return false;
}

@Override
public boolean isCancelled() {
return false;
}

@Override
public boolean isDone() {
return true;
}

@Override
public T get() throws ExecutionException {
return result;
}

@Override
public T get(final long timeout, final @NotNull TimeUnit unit)
throws ExecutionException, TimeoutException {
return result;
}
}
}
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