What is an over-the-air update for mobile apps — Articles
Blog post from Expo
Over-the-air updates deliver software over a network, and in React Native mobile apps they update only the JavaScript bundle and associated assets rather than the store-reviewed native binary. This makes OTA updates suitable for JavaScript bug fixes, interface changes, copy, translations, and bundled assets, while native modules, permissions, SDK upgrades, icons, splash screens, and other native changes require a new App Store or Google Play release. Apple and Google permit interpreted-code updates within policy limits, but they cannot be used to substantially alter an app’s purpose or bypass store review. Typical OTA systems use runtime-version matching to prevent incompatible bundles, channels for production and testing streams, manifests with hashed assets, local caching, optional code signing, and rollback mechanisms. OTA updates can support urgent hotfixes and percentage-based staged rollouts, while feature flags can disable functionality independently of code deployment. Following the retirement of Microsoft App Center and CodePush in March 2025, teams can use hosted services such as Expo EAS Update or self-host the open Expo Updates protocol; EAS Update supports React Native projects, rollbacks, staged rollouts, and bundle-diff downloads, though its capabilities remain limited to the JavaScript layer.
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