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Expo Updates

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A library that allows programmatically controlling and responding to new updates made available to your app.

The expo-updates library allows you to programmatically control and respond to new updates made available to your app.

Platform Compatibility

Android Device	Android Emulator	iOS Device	iOS Simulator	Web

Installation

Terminal

- npx expo install expo-updates

If you're installing this in a bare React Native app, you should also follow these additional installation instructions.

Most of the methods and constants in this module can only be used or tested in release mode. In debug builds, the default behavior is to always load the latest JavaScript from a development server. It is possible to build a debug version of your app with the same updates behavior as a release build. Such an app will not open the latest JavaScript from your development server — it will load published updates just as a release build does. This may be useful for debugging the behavior of your app when it is not connected to a development server.

To test manual updates in the Expo Go app, run eas update and then open the published version of your app with Expo Go.

To test manual updates with standalone apps, you can create a .apk or a simulator build, or make a release build locally with npx expo run:android --variant release and npx expo run:ios --configuration Release (you don't need to submit this build to the store to test).

Check for updates manually

The expo-updates library exports a variety of functions to interact with updates once the app is already running. In some scenarios, you may want to check if updates are available or not. This can be done manually by using checkForUpdateAsync() as shown in the example below:

App.js

import { View, Button } from 'react-native';
import * as Updates from 'expo-updates';

function App() {
  async function onFetchUpdateAsync() {
    try {
      const update = await Updates.checkForUpdateAsync();

      if (update.isAvailable) {
        await Updates.fetchUpdateAsync();
        await Updates.reloadAsync();
      }
    } catch (error) {
      // You can also add an alert() to see the error message in case of an error when fetching updates.
      alert(`Error fetching latest Expo update: ${error}`);
    }
  }

  return (
    <View>
      <Button title="Fetch update" onPress={onFetchUpdateAsync} />
    </View>
  );
}

Use `expo-updates` with a custom server

Every custom updates server must implement the Expo Updates protocol.

Custom Expo Updates Server

You can find an example implementation of a custom server and an app using that server in this GitHub repository.

Configuration options

There are build-time configuration options that control the behavior of expo-updates.

On Android, these options are set as meta-data tags adjacent to the tags added during installation in the AndroidManifest.xml file. You can also define these options at runtime by passing a Map as the second parameter of UpdatesController.initialize(), and the provided values will override any value specified in AndroidManifest.xml.

On iOS, these properties are set as keys in Expo.plist file. You can also set them at runtime by calling [EXUpdatesAppController.sharedInstance setConfiguration:] at any point before calling start or startAndShowLaunchScreen, and the values in this dictionary will override any values specified in Expo.plist.

iOS plist/dictionary key	Android Map key	Android meta-data name	Default	Required?
`EXUpdatesEnabled`	`enabled`	`expo.modules.updates.ENABLED`	`true`
`EXUpdatesURL`	`updateUrl`	`expo.modules.updates.EXPO_UPDATE_URL`	(none)
`EXUpdatesRequestHeaders`	`requestHeaders`	`expo.modules.updates.UPDATES_CONFIGURATION_REQUEST_HEADERS_KEY`	(none)
`EXUpdatesSDKVersion`	`sdkVersion`	`expo.modules.updates.EXPO_SDK_VERSION`	(none)	(exactly one of `sdkVersion` or `runtimeVersion` is required, Required for apps hosted on Expo's server)
`EXUpdatesRuntimeVersion`	`runtimeVersion`	`expo.modules.updates.EXPO_RUNTIME_VERSION`	(none)	(exactly one of `sdkVersion` or `runtimeVersion` is required)
`EXUpdatesReleaseChannel`	`releaseChannel`	`expo.modules.updates.EXPO_RELEASE_CHANNEL`	`default`
`EXUpdatesCheckOnLaunch`	`checkOnLaunch`	`expo.modules.updates.EXPO_UPDATES_CHECK_ON_LAUNCH`	`ALWAYS` (`ALWAYS`, `NEVER`, `WIFI_ONLY`, `ERROR_RECOVERY_ONLY`)
`EXUpdatesLaunchWaitMs`	`launchWaitMs`	`expo.modules.updates.EXPO_UPDATES_LAUNCH_WAIT_MS`	`0`
`EXUpdatesCodeSigningCertificate`	`codeSigningCertificate`	`expo.modules.updates.CODE_SIGNING_CERTIFICATE`	(none)
`EXUpdatesCodeSigningMetadata`	`codeSigningMetadata`	`expo.modules.updates.CODE_SIGNING_METADATA`	(none)
`EXUpdatesCodeSigningIncludeManifestResponseCertificateChain`	`codeSigningIncludeManifestResponseCertificateChain`	`expo.modules.updates.CODE_SIGNING_INCLUDE_MANIFEST_RESPONSE_CERTIFICATE_CHAIN`	false
`EXUpdatesConfigCodeSigningAllowUnsignedManifests`	`codeSigningAllowUnsignedManifests`	`expo.modules.updates.CODE_SIGNING_ALLOW_UNSIGNED_MANIFESTS`	false

For a detailed explanation, see the expo-updates repository.

API

import * as Updates from 'expo-updates';

Constants

`Updates.channel`

Type: string | null

The channel name of the current build, if configured for use with EAS Update. Null otherwise.

`Updates.createdAt`

Type: Date | null

If expo-updates is enabled, this is a Date object representing the creation time of the update that's currently running (whether it was embedded or downloaded at runtime).

In development mode, or any other environment in which expo-updates is disabled, this value is null.

`Updates.isEmbeddedLaunch`

Type: boolean

This will be true if the currently running update is the one embedded in the build, and not one downloaded from the updates server.

`Updates.isEmergencyLaunch`

Type: boolean

expo-updates does its very best to always launch monotonically newer versions of your app so you don't need to worry about backwards compatibility when you put out an update. In very rare cases, it's possible that expo-updates may need to fall back to the update that's embedded in the app binary, even after newer updates have been downloaded and run (an "emergency launch"). This boolean will be true if the app is launching under this fallback mechanism and false otherwise. If you are concerned about backwards compatibility of future updates to your app, you can use this constant to provide special behavior for this rare case.

`Updates.manifest`

Type: Partial<Manifest>

If expo-updates is enabled, this is the manifest object for the update that's currently running.

In development mode, or any other environment in which expo-updates is disabled, this object is empty.

`Updates.releaseChannel`

Type: string

The name of the release channel currently configured in this standalone or bare app when using classic updates. When using Expo Updates, the value of this field is always "default".

`Updates.runtimeVersion`

Type: string | null

The runtime version of the current build.

`Updates.updateId`

Type: string | null

The UUID that uniquely identifies the currently running update if expo-updates is enabled. The UUID is represented in its canonical string form (xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx) and will always use lowercase letters. In development mode, or any other environment in which expo-updates is disabled, this value is null.

Methods

`Updates.checkForUpdateAsync()`

Checks the server to see if a newly deployed update to your project is available. Does not actually download the update. This method cannot be used in development mode, and the returned promise will be rejected if you try to do so.

Checking for an update uses a device's bandwidth and battery life like any network call. Additionally, updates served by Expo may be rate limited. A good rule of thumb to check for updates judiciously is to check when the user launches or foregrounds the app. Avoid polling for updates in a frequent loop.

Returns

Promise<UpdateCheckResult>

A promise that fulfills with an UpdateCheckResult object.

The promise rejects if the app is in development mode, or if there is an unexpected error or timeout communicating with the server.

`Updates.clearLogEntriesAsync()`

Clears existing expo-updates log entries.

For now, this operation does nothing on the client. Once log persistence has been implemented, this operation will actually remove existing logs.

Returns

Promise<void>

A promise that fulfills if the clear operation was successful.

The promise rejects if there is an unexpected error in clearing the logs.

`Updates.fetchUpdateAsync()`

Downloads the most recently deployed update to your project from server to the device's local storage. This method cannot be used in development mode, and the returned promise will be rejected if you try to do so.

Returns

Promise<UpdateFetchResult>

A promise that fulfills with an UpdateFetchResult object.

The promise rejects if the app is in development mode, or if there is an unexpected error or timeout communicating with the server.

`Updates.readLogEntriesAsync(maxAge)`

Name	Type	Description
maxAge (optional)	`number`	Sets the max age of retrieved log entries in milliseconds. Default to 3600000 ms (1 hour). Default: `3600000`

Retrieves the most recent expo-updates log entries.

Returns

Promise<UpdatesLogEntry[]>

A promise that fulfills with an array of UpdatesLogEntry objects;

The promise rejects if there is an unexpected error in retrieving the logs.

`Updates.reloadAsync()`

Instructs the app to reload using the most recently downloaded version. This is useful for triggering a newly downloaded update to launch without the user needing to manually restart the app.

It is not recommended to place any meaningful logic after a call to await Updates.reloadAsync(). This is because the promise is resolved after verifying that the app can be reloaded, and immediately before posting an asynchronous task to the main thread to actually reload the app. It is unsafe to make any assumptions about whether any more JS code will be executed after the Updates.reloadAsync method call resolves, since that depends on the OS and the state of the native module and main threads.

This method cannot be used in development mode, and the returned promise will be rejected if you try to do so.

Returns

Promise<void>

A promise that fulfills right before the reload instruction is sent to the JS runtime, or rejects if it cannot find a reference to the JS runtime. If the promise is rejected in production mode, it most likely means you have installed the module incorrectly. Double check you've followed the installation instructions. In particular, on iOS ensure that you set the bridge property on EXUpdatesAppController with a pointer to the RCTBridge you want to reload, and on Android ensure you either call UpdatesController.initialize with the instance of ReactApplication you want to reload, or call UpdatesController.setReactNativeHost with the proper instance of ReactNativeHost.

Event Subscriptions

`Updates.addListener(listener)`

Name	Type	Description
listener	`(event: UpdateEvent) => void`	A function that will be invoked with an `UpdateEvent` instance and should not return any value.

Adds a callback to be invoked when updates-related events occur (such as upon the initial app load) due to auto-update settings chosen at build-time.

Returns

EventSubscription

An EventSubscription object on which you can call remove() to unsubscribe the listener.

Types

`UpdateCheckResult`

The result of checking for a new update.

Acceptable values are: UpdateCheckResultSuccess, UpdateCheckResultFailure.

`UpdateEvent`

An object that is passed into each event listener when an auto-update check occurs.

Name	Type	Description
manifest (optional)	`Manifest`	If `type` is `Updates.UpdateEventType.UPDATE_AVAILABLE`, the manifest of the newly downloaded update, and `undefined` otherwise.
message (optional)	`string`	If `type` is `Updates.UpdateEventType.ERROR`, the error message, and `undefined` otherwise.
type	`UpdateEventType`	Type of the event.

`UpdateFetchResult`

The result of fetching a new update.

Acceptable values are: UpdateFetchResultSuccess, UpdateFetchResultFailure.

`UpdatesLogEntry`

An object representing a single log entry from expo-updates logging on the client.

Name	Type	Description
assetId (optional)	`string`	If present, the unique ID or hash of an asset associated with this log entry.
code	`UpdatesLogEntryCode`	One of the defined code values for expo-updates log entries.
level	`UpdatesLogEntryLevel`	One of the defined log level or severity values.
message	`string`	The log entry message.
stacktrace (optional)	`string[]`	If present, an iOS or Android native stack trace associated with this log entry.
timestamp	`number`	The time the log was written, in milliseconds since Jan 1 1970 UTC.
updateId (optional)	`string`	If present, the unique ID of an update associated with this log entry.

Code	Description
`ERR_UPDATES_DISABLED`	A method call was attempted when the Updates module was disabled, or the application was running in development mode
`ERR_UPDATES_RELOAD`	An error occurred when trying to reload the application and it could not be reloaded. For bare workflow apps, double check the setup steps for this module to ensure it has been installed correctly and the proper native initialization methods are called.
`ERR_UPDATES_CHECK`	An unexpected error occurred when trying to check for new updates. Check the error message for more information.
`ERR_UPDATES_FETCH`	An unexpected error occurred when trying to fetch a new update. Check the error message for more information.
`ERR_UPDATES_READ_LOGS`	An unexpected error occurred when trying to read log entries. Check the error message for more information.

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Expo Updates