Testing app version update

Prior to launching a new version of our app what is the recommended process for test that the new version will seamlessly allow end users to simply update the app from the store/auto update without requiring a delete and fresh install. We have versioned the API. We had a issue from our first to 2nd release that if a user only updated the app it would crash everytime (newbie mistake) so now that we are going from release 2 to release 3 is there a way to test that this will not occur again? our 2nd release is live and our third release is in Test Flight. how do test the r2 to r3 update process to ensure the public will have a successful seamless experience?

Testing app version update
 
 
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