Update Ionic Capacitor apps without App/Play Store review (Code-push / hot-code updates).

You have 3 ways possible :

• Use capgo.app a full featured auto-update system in 5 min Setup, to manage version, update, revert and see stats.
• Use your own server update with auto-update system
• Use manual methods to zip, upload, download, from JS to do it when you want.

Join the discord to get help.

I maintain a more user-friendly and complete documentation here.

Add the NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryUserDefaults dictionary key to your Privacy Manifest (usually ios/App/PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes</key>
    <array>
      <!-- Add this dict entry to the array if the file already exists. -->
      <dict>
        <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPIType</key>
        <string>NSPrivacyAccessedAPICategoryUserDefaults</string>
        <key>NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypeReasons</key>
        <array>
          <string>CA92.1</string>
        </array>
      </dict>
    </array>
  </dict>
</plist>

We recommend to declare CA92.1 as the reason for accessing the UserDefaults API.

npm install @capgo/capacitor-updater
npx cap sync

Create your account in capgo.app and get your API key

• Login to CLI npx @capgo/cli@latest init API_KEY And follow the steps by step to setup your app.

For detailed instructions on the auto-update setup, refer to the Auto update documentation.

Download update distribution zipfiles from a custom URL. Manually control the entire update process.

• Edit your capacitor.config.json like below, set autoUpdate to false.

// capacitor.config.json
{
	"appId": "**.***.**",
	"appName": "Name",
	"plugins": {
		"CapacitorUpdater": {
			"autoUpdate": false,
		}
	}
}

• Add to your main code

  import { CapacitorUpdater } from '@capgo/capacitor-updater'
  CapacitorUpdater.notifyAppReady()

This informs Capacitor Updater that the current update bundle has loaded succesfully. Failing to call this method will cause your application to be rolled back to the previously successful version (or built-in bundle).

• Add this to your application.

  const version = await CapacitorUpdater.download({
    url: 'https://github.com/Cap-go/demo-app/releases/download/0.0.4/dist.zip',
  })
  await CapacitorUpdater.set(version); // sets the new version, and reloads the app

• Failed updates will automatically roll back to the last successful version.
• Example: Using App-state to control updates, with SplashScreen: You might also consider performing auto-update when application state changes, and using the Splash Screen to improve user experience.

  import { CapacitorUpdater, VersionInfo } from '@capgo/capacitor-updater'
  import { SplashScreen } from '@capacitor/splash-screen'
  import { App } from '@capacitor/app'

  let version: VersionInfo;
  App.addListener('appStateChange', async (state) => {
      if (state.isActive) {
        // Ensure download occurs while the app is active, or download may fail
        version = await CapacitorUpdater.download({
          url: 'https://github.com/Cap-go/demo-app/releases/download/0.0.4/dist.zip',
        })
      }

      if (!state.isActive && version) {
        // Activate the update when the application is sent to background
        SplashScreen.show()
        try {
          await CapacitorUpdater.set(version);
          // At this point, the new version should be active, and will need to hide the splash screen
        } catch () {
          SplashScreen.hide() // Hide the splash screen again if something went wrong
        }
      }
  })

TIP: If you prefer a secure and automated way to update your app, you can use capgo.app - a full-featured, auto-update system.

Android Google Play and iOS App Store have corresponding guidelines that have rules you should be aware of before integrating the Capacitor-updater solution within your application.

Third paragraph of Device and Network Abuse topic describe that updating source code by any method besides Google Play's update mechanism is restricted. But this restriction does not apply to updating JavaScript bundles.

This restriction does not apply to code that runs in a virtual machine and has limited access to Android APIs (such as JavaScript in a web view or browser).

That fully allow Capacitor-updater as it updates just JS bundles and can't update native code part.

Paragraph 3.3.2, since back in 2015's Apple Developer Program License Agreement fully allowed performing over-the-air updates of JavaScript and assets.

And in its latest version (20170605) downloadable here this ruling is even broader:

Interpreted code may be downloaded to an Application, but only so long as such code:

• (a) does not change the primary purpose of the Application by providing features or functionality that are inconsistent with the intended and advertised purpose of the Application as submitted to the App Store
• (b) does not create a store or storefront for other code or applications
• (c) does not bypass signing, sandbox, or other security features of the OS.

Capacitor-updater allows you to respect these rules in full compliance, so long as the update you push does not significantly deviate your product from its original App Store approved intent.

To further remain in compliance with Apple's guidelines, we suggest that App Store-distributed apps don't enable the Force update scenario, since in the App Store Review Guidelines it is written that:

Apps must not force users to rate the app, review the app, download other apps, or other similar actions to access functionality, content, or use of the app.

This is not a problem for the default behavior of background update, since it won't force the user to apply the new version until the next app close, but at least you should be aware of that ruling if you decide to show it.

Capacitor Updater works by unzipping a compiled app bundle to the native device filesystem. Whatever you choose to name the file you upload/download from your release/update server URL (via either manual or automatic updating), this .zip bundle must meet the following requirements:

• The zip file should contain the full contents of your production Capacitor build output folder, usually {project directory}/dist/ or {project directory}/www/. This is where index.html will be located, and it should also contain all bundled JavaScript, CSS, and web resources necessary for your app to run.
• Do not password encrypt the bundle zip file, or it will fail to unpack.
• Make sure the bundle does not contain any extra hidden files or folders, or it may fail to unpack.

CapacitorUpdater can be configured with these options:

In capacitor.config.json:

{
  "plugins": {
    "CapacitorUpdater": {
      "appReadyTimeout": 1000 // (1 second),
      "responseTimeout": 10 // (10 second),
      "autoDeleteFailed": false,
      "autoDeletePrevious": false,
      "autoUpdate": false,
      "resetWhenUpdate": false,
      "updateUrl": https://example.com/api/auto_update,
      "channelUrl": https://example.com/api/channel,
      "statsUrl": https://example.com/api/stats,
      "privateKey": undefined,
      "publicKey": undefined,
      "version": undefined,
      "directUpdate": undefined,
      "periodCheckDelay": undefined,
      "localS3": undefined,
      "localHost": undefined,
      "localWebHost": undefined,
      "localSupa": undefined,
      "localSupaAnon": undefined,
      "localApi": undefined,
      "localApiFiles": undefined,
      "allowModifyUrl": undefined,
      "defaultChannel": undefined,
      "appId": undefined
    }
  }
}

In capacitor.config.ts:

/// <reference types="@capgo/capacitor-updater" />

import { CapacitorConfig } from '@capacitor/cli';

const config: CapacitorConfig = {
  plugins: {
    CapacitorUpdater: {
      appReadyTimeout: 1000 // (1 second),
      responseTimeout: 10 // (10 second),
      autoDeleteFailed: false,
      autoDeletePrevious: false,
      autoUpdate: false,
      resetWhenUpdate: false,
      updateUrl: https://example.com/api/auto_update,
      channelUrl: https://example.com/api/channel,
      statsUrl: https://example.com/api/stats,
      privateKey: undefined,
      publicKey: undefined,
      version: undefined,
      directUpdate: undefined,
      periodCheckDelay: undefined,
      localS3: undefined,
      localHost: undefined,
      localWebHost: undefined,
      localSupa: undefined,
      localSupaAnon: undefined,
      localApi: undefined,
      localApiFiles: undefined,
      allowModifyUrl: undefined,
      defaultChannel: undefined,
      appId: undefined,
    },
  },
};

export default config;

• notifyAppReady()
• setUpdateUrl(...)
• setStatsUrl(...)
• setChannelUrl(...)
• download(...)
• next(...)
• set(...)
• delete(...)
• list()
• reset(...)
• current()
• reload()
• setMultiDelay(...)
• cancelDelay()
• getLatest()
• setChannel(...)
• unsetChannel(...)
• getChannel()
• setCustomId(...)
• getBuiltinVersion()
• getDeviceId()
• getPluginVersion()
• isAutoUpdateEnabled()
• removeAllListeners()
• addListener('download', ...)
• addListener('noNeedUpdate', ...)
• addListener('updateAvailable', ...)
• addListener('downloadComplete', ...)
• addListener('majorAvailable', ...)
• addListener('updateFailed', ...)
• addListener('downloadFailed', ...)
• addListener('appReloaded', ...)
• addListener('appReady', ...)
• isAutoUpdateAvailable()
• Interfaces
• Type Aliases

notifyAppReady() => Promise<AppReadyResult>

Notify Capacitor Updater that the current bundle is working (a rollback will occur if this method is not called on every app launch) By default this method should be called in the first 10 sec after app launch, otherwise a rollback will occur. Change this behaviour with {@link appReadyTimeout}

Returns: Promise<AppReadyResult>

setUpdateUrl(options: UpdateUrl) => Promise<void>

Set the updateUrl for the app, this will be used to check for updates.

Since: 5.4.0

setStatsUrl(options: StatsUrl) => Promise<void>

Set the statsUrl for the app, this will be used to send statistics. Passing an empty string will disable statistics gathering.

Since: 5.4.0

setChannelUrl(options: ChannelUrl) => Promise<void>

Set the channelUrl for the app, this will be used to set the channel.

Since: 5.4.0

download(options: DownloadOptions) => Promise<BundleInfo>

Download a new bundle from the provided URL, it should be a zip file, with files inside or with a unique id inside with all your files

Returns: Promise<BundleInfo>

next(options: BundleId) => Promise<BundleInfo>

Set the next bundle to be used when the app is reloaded.

Returns: Promise<BundleInfo>

set(options: BundleId) => Promise<void>

Set the current bundle and immediately reloads the app.

delete(options: BundleId) => Promise<void>

Deletes the specified bundle from the native app storage. Use with {@link list} to get the stored Bundle IDs.

list() => Promise<BundleListResult>

Get all locally downloaded bundles in your app

Returns: Promise<BundleListResult>

reset(options?: ResetOptions | undefined) => Promise<void>

Reset the app to the builtin bundle (the one sent to Apple App Store / Google Play Store ) or the last successfully loaded bundle.

current() => Promise<CurrentBundleResult>

Get the current bundle, if none are set it returns builtin. currentNative is the original bundle installed on the device

Returns: Promise<CurrentBundleResult>

reload() => Promise<void>

Reload the view

setMultiDelay(options: MultiDelayConditions) => Promise<void>

Sets a {@link DelayCondition} array containing conditions that the Plugin will use to delay the update. After all conditions are met, the update process will run start again as usual, so update will be installed after a backgrounding or killing the app. For the date kind, the value should be an iso8601 date string. For the background kind, the value should be a number in milliseconds. For the nativeVersion kind, the value should be the version number. For the kill kind, the value is not used. The function has unconsistent behavior the option kill do trigger the update after the first kill and not after the next background like other options. This will be fixed in a future major release.

Since: 4.3.0

cancelDelay() => Promise<void>

Cancels a {@link DelayCondition} to process an update immediately.

Since: 4.0.0

getLatest() => Promise<LatestVersion>

Get Latest bundle available from update Url

Returns: Promise<LatestVersion>

Since: 4.0.0

setChannel(options: SetChannelOptions) => Promise<ChannelRes>

Sets the channel for this device. The channel has to allow for self assignment for this to work. Do not use this method to set the channel at boot when autoUpdate is enabled in the {@link PluginsConfig}. This method is to set the channel after the app is ready. This methods send to Capgo backend a request to link the device ID to the channel. Capgo can accept or refuse depending of the setting of your channel.

Returns: Promise<ChannelRes>

Since: 4.7.0

unsetChannel(options: UnsetChannelOptions) => Promise<void>

Unset the channel for this device. The device will then return to the default channel

Since: 4.7.0

getChannel() => Promise<GetChannelRes>

Get the channel for this device

Returns: Promise<GetChannelRes>

Since: 4.8.0

setCustomId(options: SetCustomIdOptions) => Promise<void>

Set a custom ID for this device

Since: 4.9.0

getBuiltinVersion() => Promise<BuiltinVersion>

Get the native app version or the builtin version if set in config

Returns: Promise<BuiltinVersion>

Since: 5.2.0

getDeviceId() => Promise<DeviceId>

Get unique ID used to identify device (sent to auto update server)

Returns: Promise<DeviceId>

getPluginVersion() => Promise<PluginVersion>

Get the native Capacitor Updater plugin version (sent to auto update server)

Returns: Promise<PluginVersion>

isAutoUpdateEnabled() => Promise<AutoUpdateEnabled>

Get the state of auto update config.

Returns: Promise<AutoUpdateEnabled>

removeAllListeners() => Promise<void>

Remove all listeners for this plugin.

Since: 1.0.0

addListener(eventName: "download", listenerFunc: (state: DownloadEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Listen for bundle download event in the App. Fires once a download has started, during downloading and when finished.

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Since: 2.0.11

addListener(eventName: "noNeedUpdate", listenerFunc: (state: NoNeedEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Listen for no need to update event, useful when you want force check every time the app is launched

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Since: 4.0.0

addListener(eventName: "updateAvailable", listenerFunc: (state: UpdateAvailableEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Listen for available update event, useful when you want to force check every time the app is launched

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Since: 4.0.0

addListener(eventName: "downloadComplete", listenerFunc: (state: DownloadCompleteEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Listen for downloadComplete events.

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Since: 4.0.0

addListener(eventName: "majorAvailable", listenerFunc: (state: MajorAvailableEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Listen for Major update event in the App, let you know when major update is blocked by setting disableAutoUpdateBreaking

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Since: 2.3.0

addListener(eventName: "updateFailed", listenerFunc: (state: UpdateFailedEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Listen for update fail event in the App, let you know when update has fail to install at next app start

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Since: 2.3.0

addListener(eventName: "downloadFailed", listenerFunc: (state: DownloadFailedEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Listen for download fail event in the App, let you know when a bundle download has failed

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Since: 4.0.0

addListener(eventName: "appReloaded", listenerFunc: () => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Listen for reload event in the App, let you know when reload has happened

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Since: 4.3.0

addListener(eventName: "appReady", listenerFunc: (state: AppReadyEvent) => void) => Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Listen for app ready event in the App, let you know when app is ready to use

Returns: Promise<PluginListenerHandle>

Since: 5.1.0

isAutoUpdateAvailable() => Promise<AutoUpdateAvailable>

Get if auto update is available (not disabled by serverUrl).

Returns: Promise<AutoUpdateAvailable>

"success" | "error" | "pending" | "downloading"

"background" | "kill" | "nativeVersion" | "date"

  import { CapacitorUpdater } from '@capgo/capacitor-updater';

CapacitorUpdater.addListener('download', (info: any) => {
  console.log('download was fired', info.percent);
});

On iOS, Apple don't allow you to show a message when the app is updated, so you can't show a progress bar.

• cordova-plugin-ionic
• capacitor-codepush

jamesyoung1337 Thank you so much for your guidance and support, it was impossible to make this plugin work without you.