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Mobile and web SDK: FME changes roll out slowly to user devices

Issue​

When making a change to a feature flag through the web UI, mobile (iOS and Android) and JavaScript Browser SDKs do not reflect that change at the same time. A small population of devices are synched in the first day, then more user devices get synched in subsequent days until all SDKs are updated.

Why do FME changes propagate slowly to user devices?

Root Cause​

This scenario has two potential root causes:

  • The code in mobile app or web page does not listen to SDK_READY event, and thus will use the stored cache from the last user session, which is not synched to latest changes. When the user hits the page the next day, the existing cache will be synched from the previous day, so the change is detected now and reflected in the impression.
  • The code in mobile app or web page listens to SDK_READY_FROM_CACHE event only and triggers getTreatment calls after that event fires. This event will fire if the SDK detected the cache exists in App/Browser filesystem, which is not synched yet with latest changes. This is why the treatments will always reflect the cache from the previous user session.

Solution​

Always calculate treatments after SDK_READY event fires. This event fires once the synchronization with Harness FME servers is complete and will guarantee the latest changes are reflected in the cache.

While SDK_READY_FROM_CACHE is very useful to allow calculating treatments quickly, it is recommended to check the treatment again after SDK_READY and reflect the treatment in case there is a change.