Get started with EAS Update

Install the latest EAS CLI

EAS CLI is the command line app you will use to interact with EAS services from your terminal. To install it, run the command:

You can also use the above command to check if a new version of EAS CLI is available. We encourage you to always stay up to date with the latest version.

We recommend using npm instead of yarn for global package installations. You may alternatively use npx eas-cli@latest. Remember to use that instead of eas whenever it's called for in the documentation.

Log in to your Expo account

If you are already signed in to an Expo account using Expo CLI, you can skip the steps described in this section. If you are not, run the following command to log in:

You can check whether you are logged in by running eas whoami.

Configure your project

Navigate to your project directory in your terminal and run the following command:

<meta-data android:name="expo.modules.updates.EXPO_UPDATE_URL" android:value="https://u.expo.dev/your-project-id"/>
<meta-data android:name="expo.modules.updates.EXPO_RUNTIME_VERSION" android:value="@string/expo_runtime_version"/>

<key>EXUpdatesRuntimeVersion</key>
<string>1.0.0</string>
<key>EXUpdatesURL</key>
<string>https://u.expo.dev/your-project-id</string>

Configure the update channel

The channel property on a build allows you to point updates at specific types of builds. For example, it allows you to publish updates to a preview build without impacting your production deployment.

If you are using EAS Build, eas update:configure will set the update channel property on the preview and production profiles in eas.json. Set them manually if you use different profile names.

{
  "build": {
    "preview": {
      "channel": "preview"
      // ...
    },
    "production": {
      "channel": "production"
      // ...
    }
  }
}

If you are not using EAS Build, then you will need to configure the channel in app.json or in your native projects, depending on whether you use CNG. When you create a build for a different environment, you will need to modify the channel to ensure your build pulls updates from the correct channel. Learn more using EAS Update as a standalone service.

{
  "expo": {
    %%placeholder-start%%... %%placeholder-end%%
    "updates": {
      %%placeholder-start%%... %%placeholder-end%%
      "requestHeaders": {
        "expo-channel-name": "your-channel-name"
      }
      %%placeholder-start%%... %%placeholder-end%%
    }
    %%placeholder-start%%... %%placeholder-end%%
  }
}

<meta-data android:name="expo.modules.updates.UPDATES_CONFIGURATION_REQUEST_HEADERS_KEY" android:value="{&quot;expo-channel-name&quot;:&quot;your-channel-name&quot;}"/>

<key>EXUpdatesRequestHeaders</key>
<dict>
  <key>expo-channel-name</key>
  <string>your-channel-name</string>
</dict>

Create a build for the project

You need to create a build for Android or iOS. We recommend creating a build with the preview build profile first. See Create your first build on how to get started and set up Internal distribution for your device or simulator.

Once you have a build running on your device or a simulator, you are ready to send an update.

Make changes locally

After creating the build, you are ready to iterate on the project. Start a local development server with the following command:

Then, make any desired changes to your project's JavaScript, styling, or image assets.

Publish an update

Publishing an update allows:

• Fixing bugs and quickly updating non-native parts of a project instead of creating a new build
• Sharing a preview version of an app using internal distribution

To publish an update with changes from your project, use the eas update command, and specify a name for the channel and a message to describe the update:

Test the update

After the update is uploaded to EAS Update, you can use one of the following methods to test the update:

• Use the Extensions tab in a development build to load the update.
• Use Expo Orbit to install and launch the update in a development build.
• Implement a custom strategy with Updates API and app config to load updates in the app programmatically.
• Manually test the update by force closing and reopening a release build of your app up to two times to download and apply the update. Updates for non-development builds (preview or production) are automatically downloaded to the device in the background when the app starts up and makes a request for any new updates. The update will be applied after it is downloaded and the app is restarted.