Developing features on a deployed app

[E_Stinson]

Does anyone have suggestions for working on a live app without affecting the user's experience? I have an app that is deployed and used by the team to collect data. I want to continue to improve and add features but don't want to interrupt their work. Is this possible or do I need to just work on it when users are not active?

[Marc_Dillon]

If you're on an Enterprise plan you have access to Stable vs Latest versioning. If you're not, you're best bet is not do work when users aren't using it.

You can make changes while users are active, but you may run into issues that require recovery (that's not something that you want to do). Learning which changes you can or can't make during those times is a complex subject. Definitely don't change your data structure at all if you're spreadsheet-based.

You can also make a copy of the app, and work on the copy.

[Joseph_Seddik]

You should never work on your app without coordinating first with your customer. You should establish an agreed-upon Change Management Process with your customer. This process would consists of :

1. Clear guidelines to manage the transition from before to after the change.
2. Deadline to sync their data.
3. A change window during which they should not use the app. 
4. Notification before and after the change window. 
5. and preferably a regular schedule for app updates that are included in a well-communicated roadmap.