Instant updates

Learn how to set up EAS Update to push critical bug fixes and improvements.

EAS Update allows making small bug fixes and pushing quick improvements in a snap. It is a hosted service that uses the expo-updates library to serve updates. It allows an end user's app to swap out the non-native parts of their app (for example, JS, styling, and image changes) with a new update that contains bug fixes and other updates. In this guide, you will learn how to set up EAS Update for your app.

Install expo-updates

Start by installing the expo-updates library in your project. Run the following command:

Configure the project with eas update

You need to configure your project to use EAS Update. Run the following commands in the order they are specified:

After running these commands, the eas.json file be modified in the root directory of your project. Inside it, you'll find that a channel property is added to the development, preview and production build profiles.

{
  "build": {
    "development": {
      "channel": "development"
      %%placeholder-start%%... %%placeholder-end%%
    },
    "preview": {
      "channel": "preview"
      %%placeholder-start%%... %%placeholder-end%%
    },
    "production": {
      "channel": "production"
      %%placeholder-start%%... %%placeholder-end%%
    }
  }
}

The channel allows you to point updates at builds of that profile. For example, if you set up a GitHub Action to publish changes on merge, it will merge code into the "production" Git branch. Then, each commit will trigger a GitHub Action that will publish an update which will be available to build with the channel "production".

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. This will allow you to test your update before publishing it to the production channel.

Once you have a build running on your device or a simulator, you are ready to iterate on the project. Make any desired changes to your project's JavaScript, styling, or image assets.

Publish an update

To publish an update to the build, run the following command:

Once the update is built and uploaded to EAS and the command completes, force close and reopen your app up to two times to download and view the update.

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