US Patent 9058251 Detecting external software update failure of local application

A system for detecting external software update failure of an application may receive a request at the application to determine the status of an update mechanism and infrastructure (“updater”) associated with the application. The system may determine one or more values written by the updater at a location accessible by the application. The one or more values may include one or more of a first value indicating when a last successful check for updates for the application was completed by the updater and a second value indicating when a last successful update for the application was completed. The system may determine, at the application and based on the one or more values, if an update failure has occurred at the updater. The update failure may include the updater having problems detecting or applying updates. The system may generate a notification when it determines that an update failure has occurred.