Updating Players and Keeping Versions in Step

easyCMS is updated a few times a year. Players are separate software from the CMS, and the two need to stay roughly in step.

The version rule

Run players from the same major version as your CMS. A version 4 player with a version 4.x CMS is supported; mixing major versions is not. Within a major version, the newest player supports every feature the CMS offers, so the newest matching player is always the right target.

What goes wrong when versions drift:

New widget types render as blank regions on old players.
Features you configure in the CMS quietly do nothing on the device.
In the worst case the player rejects the schedule entirely and falls back to its default layout.

If a feature works on one screen and not another, compare their player versions before anything else. The Displays page shows the version each player reports.

How updates reach a player

Android: the update is uploaded to easyCMS once, then assigned to a display settings profile. Players on that profile download and install it at their next check-in. This is how you update a whole network without visiting a single site.

Windows: the installer runs on the machine. There is no central push for Windows players, so plan for remote access or a site visit.

LG webOS and other smart TVs: the player application is updated through the screen’s own signage tooling, then reconnected to easyCMS.

Rolling out safely

Update the CMS first, then the players. Never the other way round.
Pilot on one display. Pick a screen you can physically reach, ideally not customer-facing.
Wait a day. Most version problems appear in the first 24 hours of real scheduling, not in the first ten minutes.
Roll out by group, not all at once. Assign the new player version to one display settings profile covering a subset of screens.
Check the Displays page afterwards. Every player should report the new version and be checking in normally. A version shown in red is a mismatch that needs fixing manually.

When an update goes wrong

The player will not start. Reinstall the previous version on the device, confirm it works, then investigate before retrying.

The player is online but nothing plays. Almost always an invalid-layout problem introduced by a changed widget. Open the status window and read the invalid list, see Reading the Player Status Window and Logs.

A whole group went dark at once. Roll that group’s display settings profile back to the previous player version. This is exactly why you roll out by group.

Before you update anything

Note the current player version and CMS version. You cannot roll back to a version you did not write down.
Check that any custom embedded HTML or webpage widgets still render, these break most often across versions.
Avoid updating in the week before a big campaign. There is no urgency that beats a screen that already works.

We announce updates by email in advance, and updates are free for the life of your licence.