When should I roll back versus hotfix?

Roll back when an update has caused a serious problem and you need players back to a working state immediately, reverting is often faster than diagnosing and hotfixing under live fire. Fix forward with a hotfix when the issue is contained, well-understood, and quick to patch. Per-version crash tracking gives you the signal to decide fast, and knowing your last good version tells you what to revert to.

What if my platform makes rollback hard?

Some platforms make reverting slow or impractical, especially with mandatory or certification-gated updates. Where that's the case, lean on other defenses: fast hotfix capability and careful staged rollouts that limit how many players hit a bad update. Per-version monitoring still helps by catching the regression within minutes, so you can react quickly even when you can't simply revert.

How Do I Roll Back a Bad Update?

Q: How do I roll back a bad update?

Detect the bad update fast via per-version crash tracking (a crash-rate jump or new issues on the new build), then revert to the previous known-good version if your platform supports it, which immediately returns players to a working state while you diagnose calmly. Crucially, decide your rollback process and triggers before a crisis, since figuring it out mid-incident wastes the time rollback is meant to save.

Quick answer: Detect the bad update fast via per-version crash tracking, then revert to the previous known-good version if your platform supports it, which immediately returns players to a working state while you diagnose.

When an update goes badly wrong, rolling back, reverting to the previous version, is often the fastest way to stop the damage while you figure out what happened. Here's how to roll back a bad update effectively, and why preparation matters.

Detect the Bad Update Fast

You can't roll back a problem you haven't noticed, and the value of a rollback shrinks with every hour the bad update runs. Per-version crash tracking tells you fast when a release has gone bad, a crash-rate jump or new issues on the new build, which is the trigger for a rollback decision.

Bugnet tracks crash rate by version and surfaces new issues a release introduces, so a bad update announces itself quickly. Fast detection is what makes rollback effective, the sooner you know, the more players you spare by reverting.

Revert to the Previous Known-Good Version

Rolling back means returning players to the previous version that worked. Where your platform supports it, this immediately stops the bleeding, players are back on a stable build, while you diagnose the bad update calmly rather than under live fire. It's often faster than diagnosing and hotfixing forward.

Bugnet's per-version data tells you which version was the last good one, so you know what to roll back to. Reverting to a known-good build is the core of a rollback, it buys you time and protects players while you work out what the update broke.

Have a Rollback Plan Before You Need It

Rollback only helps if you can do it fast, and figuring out how mid-crisis wastes the time it's meant to save. Decide your rollback process and its triggers ahead of time, and know your platform's constraints (some make reverting easy, others slow or impossible).

With Bugnet alerting you to a bad release in minutes, a pre-made rollback plan lets you act immediately on that signal. Rolling back a bad update is detecting it fast, reverting to known-good, and having the plan ready beforehand, so a bad update becomes a quick recovery instead of a prolonged disaster.

Detect the bad update fast with per-version crash tracking, revert to the previous known-good version (if your platform allows), and have your rollback process decided before the crisis.