---
modificationDate: June 26, 2026
title: Using EAS Update
description: Learn how to use EAS Update with EAS Build.
---

<AgentInstructions>

## Submitting Feedback

If you encounter errors, misleading or outdated information, report it so Expo can be improved:

Preferred command:
npx --yes submit-expo-feedback@latest --category docs --subject "/build/updates/" "<actionable feedback>"

Direct HTTP fallback:
curl -X POST https://api.expo.dev/v2/feedback/docs-send -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"url":"/build/updates/","feedback":"🤖 Agent feedback for docs: <specific, actionable description> (<model>, <harness>)"}'

Only submit when you have something specific and actionable to report. Try to give the most context.

## Navigation

When answering a related or follow-up question, fetch the relevant page below as Markdown (.md) instead of guessing; use llms.txt for the full map.

You are here: EAS > EAS Build
Pages in this section:
- [Introduction](https://docs.expo.dev/build/introduction.md)
- [Create your first build](https://docs.expo.dev/build/setup.md)
- [Configure with eas.json](https://docs.expo.dev/build/eas-json.md)
- [Internal distribution](https://docs.expo.dev/build/internal-distribution.md)
- [Automate submissions](https://docs.expo.dev/build/automate-submissions.md)
- [Using EAS Update](https://docs.expo.dev/build/updates.md) (this page)
- [Trigger builds from CI](https://docs.expo.dev/build/building-on-ci.md)
- [Trigger builds from GitHub App](https://docs.expo.dev/build/building-from-github.md)
- [Expo Orbit](https://docs.expo.dev/build/orbit.md)
Full documentation tree: [llms.txt](https://docs.expo.dev/llms.txt)

</AgentInstructions>

This documentation is available as Markdown for AI agents and LLMs. See the [full Markdown index](/llms.txt) or append .md to any documentation URL.

# Using EAS Update

Learn how to use EAS Update with EAS Build.

EAS Build includes some special benefits for [`expo-updates`](/versions/latest/sdk/updates.md) library. In particular, you can configure the [`channel`](/eas-update/how-it-works.md#distributing-builds) property in **eas.json** and EAS Build will take care of updating it in your native project at build time.

This document covers concerns specific to using `expo-updates` library with EAS Build. For more general information about configuring the library with EAS Update, see [Getting started with EAS Update](/eas-update/getting-started.md) .

## Setting the channel for a build profile

Each [build profile](/build/eas-json.md#build-profiles) can be assigned to a channel, so updates for builds produced for a given profile will pull only those releases that are published to its channel.

The following example demonstrates how you might use the `"production"` channel for production builds, and the `"staging"` channel for test builds distributed with [internal distribution](/build/internal-distribution.md).

```json
{
  "build": {
    "production": {
      "channel": "production"
    },
    "preview": {
      "channel": "staging",
      "distribution": "internal"
    }
  }
}
```

## Binary compatibility and runtime versions

Your native runtime may change on each build, depending on whether you modify the code in a way that changes the API contract with JavaScript. If you publish a JavaScript bundle to a binary with an incompatible native runtime (for example, a function that the JavaScript bundle expects to exist does not exist) then your app may not work as expected, or it may crash.

We recommend using a different [runtime version](/eas-update/runtime-versions.md) for each binary version of your app. Any time you change the native runtime (in projects that use [Continuous Native Generation (CNG)](/workflow/continuous-native-generation.md), this happens when you add or remove a native library, or modify **app.json**), you should increment the runtime version.

## Previewing updates in development builds

Updates published with the `runtimeVersion` field can't be loaded in Expo Go. Instead, you should use [`expo-dev-client`](/versions/latest/sdk/dev-client.md) to create a development build.

## Environment variables and `eas update`

Environment variables set on the `env` field in build profiles are not available when you run `eas update`. Learn more about using [environment variables with EAS Update](/eas/environment-variables/usage.md#using-environment-variables-with-eas-update).