Date: 201409
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: MSY.Airport, LA
Flight conditions: VMC
Light: Dusk
Aircraft: B737-700
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Parked
Aircraft component: Electronic Flt Bag (EFB)
Component problem: Design; Improperly Operated
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Human-Machine Interface; Communication Breakdown; Confusion
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: Aircraft In Service At Gate
Result: Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Contributing factors: Human Factors; Chart Or Publication
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: The FO and I flew one leg yesterday; using the EFB normally. Today; at the gate for the first leg;  he discovered that while the data in the Jeppesen app (Jepp FD-Pro) had been up-to-date yesterday; it was showing as out-of-date now. He was surprised that it was showing so badly out-of-date; as he had updated it before reporting to fly yesterday.He commented that the app looked different than it had before. I asked him if he had updated the app to the latest version; and he said that he had.We didn't have the ability to update the data in his Jepp FD-Pro before pushing back from the gate; so we ended up flying both legs tonight with him using paper charts while I used my iPad normally. As best I can tell; this meets the requirements in the EFB Manual; given the situation that we found ourselves in at the gate.In retrospect (and after reading comments on the (Union) Forum from other Pilots who had similar experiences tonight); what is fairly clear is that my FO did not; in fact; update his Jepp FD-Pro to the latest version; and sometime after midnight today; Flight Ops 'pushed' the latest version of the app out to all EFB's that didn't have it. Since the deadline to update the app was yesterday; doing this today makes sense.The problem is that the new version of the app is useless until it gets the initial data update; which is a very large download of chart data. For someone who doesn't begin a trip until tomorrow; this isn't as much of an issue; as they can (hopefully!) check for updates in the Pilot Lounge and download the necessary data into Jepp FD-Pro before going to the aircraft. But for someone on a trip; unaware of the new version of the app on his EFB; this is extremely problematic: get to the airplane and find out that you essentially have no electronic charts!My FO should have paid more attention to the bulletin and other notices that the update to Jepp FD-Pro was required. (He said that he checks the bulletins using the viewer within Company Internet; I have no idea if he is also 'Complying with them or not. Either way; the message didn't get through.)  In the future; there should be a better way to push a new version of an EFB app; so that a working (albeit going out-of-date) version of the app isn't replaced by an up-to-date but non-functional (due to lack of updated data) version in the middle of a trip. In a paperless world; if this scenario happened to both Pilots on a pairing; they'd be without any Jepp charts at all.Perhaps there could be some sort of notification to the Pilots who don't have the correct version of the app; something to the effect that 'the deadline was yesterday; you're in your grace day; update the app and then the data today; or else it will be dead-in-the-water tomorrow!' With paper in all the airplanes; all sorts of things can go wrong with Jepp FD-Pro and the other apps; with slight risk of serious consequences. But with a paperless cockpit on the horizon; the process for pushing a new version of Jepp FD-Pro has got to be better than this.




Synopsis: When a B737-700 First Officer updated his (personal tablet based) EFB navdata while not first properly updating the operating software to a newer version he had good data displayed for the first day of the trip but when the company force updated all un-updated tablets the day after the data revision was active he no longer had access because the new data had to be loaded after the revised software was installed.