React Native Module for CodePush

This plugin provides client-side integration for the CodePush service, allowing you to easily add a dynamic update experience to your React Native app(s).

• How does it work?
• Supported React Native Platforms
• Supported Components
• Getting Started
• iOS Setup
• Android Setup
• Windows Setup
• Plugin Usage
• Releasing Updates
• API Reference
  • JavaScript API
  • Objective-C API Reference (iOS)
  • Java API Reference (Android)
• Example Apps
• Debugging / Troubleshooting

How does it work?

A React Native app is composed of JavaScript files and any accompanying images, which are bundled together by the packager and distributed as part of a platform-specific binary (i.e. an .ipa or .apk file). Once the app is released, updating either the JavaScript code (e.g. making bug fixes, adding new features) or image assets, requires you to recompile and redistribute the entire binary, which of course, includes any review time associated with the store(s) you are publishing to.

The CodePush plugin helps get product improvements in front of your end users instantly, by keeping your JavaScript and images synchronized with updates you release to the CodePush server. This way, your app gets the benefits of an offline mobile experience, as well as the "web-like" agility of side-loading updates as soon as they are available. It's a win-win!

In order to ensure that your end users always have a functioning version of your app, the CodePush plugin maintains a copy of the previous update, so that in the event that you accidentally push an update which includes a crash, it can automatically roll back. This way, you can rest assured that your newfound release agility won't result in users becoming blocked before you have a chance to roll back on the server. It's a win-win-win!

Note: Any product changes which touch native code (e.g. modifying your AppDelegate.m/MainActivity.java file, adding a new plugin) cannot be distributed via CodePush, and therefore, must be updated via the appropriate store(s).

Supported React Native platforms

• iOS (8+)
• Android (4.1+)
• Windows (UWP)

We try our best to maintain backwards compatability of our plugin with previous versions of React Native, but due to the nature of the platform, and the existence of breaking changes between releases, it is possible that you need to use a specific version of the CodePush plugin in order to support the exact version of React Native you are using. The following table outlines which CodePush plugin versions officially support the respective React Native versions:

React Native version(s)	Supporting CodePush version(s)
<0.14.0	Unsupported
v0.14.0	v1.3.0 (introduced Android support)
v0.15.0-v0.18.0	v1.4.0-v1.6.0 (introduced iOS asset support)
v0.19.0-v0.26.0	v1.7.0+ (introduced Android asset support)
v0.27.0+	TBD :) We work hard to respond to new RN releases, but they do occasionally break us. We will update this chart with each RN release, so that users can check to see what our "official" support is.

Supported Components

When using the React Native assets sytem (i.e. using the require("./foo.png") syntax), the following list represents the set of core components (and props) that support having their referenced images updated via CodePush:

Component	Prop(s)
Image	source
MapView.Marker (Requires react-native-maps >=O.3.2)	image
ProgressViewIOS	progressImage, trackImage
TabBarIOS.Item	icon, selectedIcon
ToolbarAndroid (React Native 0.21.0+)	actions[].icon, logo, overflowIcon

The following list represents the set of components (and props) that don't currently support their assets being updated via CodePush, due to their dependency on static images (i.e. using the { uri: "foo"} syntax):

Component	Prop(s)
SliderIOS	maximumTrackImage, minimumTrackImage, thumbImage, trackImage
Video	source

As new core components are released, which support referencing assets, we'll update this list to ensure users know what exactly they can expect to update using CodePush.

Getting Started

Once you've followed the general-purpose "getting started" instructions for setting up your CodePush account, you can start CodePush-ifying your React Native app by running the following command from within your app's root directory:

npm install --save react-native-code-push@latest

As with all other React Native plugins, the integration experience is different for iOS and Android, so perform the following setup steps depending on which platform(s) you are targetting.

If you want to see how other projects have integrated with CodePush, you can check out the excellent example apps provided by the community.

iOS Setup

Once you've acquired the CodePush plugin, you need to integrate it into the Xcode project of your React Native app and configure it correctly. To do this, take the following steps:

Plugin Installation (iOS)

In order to accomodate as many developer preferences as possible, the CodePush plugin supports iOS installation via three mechanisms:

1. RNPM - React Native Package Manager (RNPM) is an awesome tool that provides the simplest installation experience possible for React Native plugins. If you're already using it, or you want to use it, then we recommend this approach.

2. CocoaPods - If you're building a native iOS app that is embedding React Native into it, or you simply prefer using CocoaPods, then we recommend using the Podspec file that we ship as part of our plugin.

3. "Manual" - If you don't want to depend on any additional tools or are fine with a few extra installation steps (it's a one-time thing), then go with this approach.

Plugin Installation (iOS - RNPM)

1. Run rnpm link react-native-code-push

   Note: If you don't already have RNPM installed, you can do so by simply running npm i -g rnpm and then executing the above command.

2. Open your app's Xcode project

3. Select the project node in Xcode and select the "Build Phases" tab of your project configuration.

4. Click the plus sign underneath the "Link Binary With Libraries" list and select the libz.tbd library underneath the iOS node that matches your target version.

   

   Note: Alternatively, if you prefer, you can add the -lz flag to the Other Linker Flags field in the Linking section of the Build Settings.

We hope to eventually remove the need for steps #2-4, but in the meantime, RNPM doesn't support automating them.

Plugin Installation (iOS - CocoaPods)

1. Add the CodePush plugin dependency to your Podfile, pointing at the path where NPM installed it

   pod 'CodePush', :path => './node_modules/react-native-code-push'
   

   NOTE: The above path needs to be relative to your app's Podfile, so adjust it as neccessary.

2. Run pod install

NOTE: The CodePush .podspec depends on the React pod, and so in order to ensure that it can correctly use the version of React Native that your app is built with, please make sure to define the React dependency in your app's Podfile as explained here.

Plugin Installation (iOS - Manual)

1. Open your app's Xcode project

2. Find the CodePush.xcodeproj file within the node_modules/react-native-code-push/ios directory (or node_modules/react-native-code-push for <=1.7.3-beta installations) and drag it into the Libraries node in Xcode

   

3. Select the project node in Xcode and select the "Build Phases" tab of your project configuration.

4. Drag libCodePush.a from Libraries/CodePush.xcodeproj/Products into the "Link Binary With Libraries" section of your project's "Build Phases" configuration.

   

5. Click the plus sign underneath the "Link Binary With Libraries" list and select the libz.tbd library underneath the iOS 9.1 node.

   

   Note: Alternatively, if you prefer, you can add the -lz flag to the Other Linker Flags field in the Linking section of the Build Settings.

6. Under the "Build Settings" tab of your project configuration, find the "Header Search Paths" section and edit the value. Add a new value, $(SRCROOT)/../node_modules/react-native-code-push and select "recursive" in the dropdown.

   

Plugin Configuration (iOS)

Once your Xcode project has been setup to build/link the CodePush plugin, you need to configure your app to consult CodePush for the location of your JS bundle, since it is responsible for synchronizing it with updates that are released to the CodePush server. To do this, perform the following steps:

1. Open up the AppDelegate.m file, and add an import statement for the CodePush headers:

   #import "CodePush.h"
   

2. Find the following line of code, which loads your JS Bundle from the app binary for production releases:

   jsCodeLocation = [[NSBundle mainBundle] URLForResource:@"main" withExtension:@"jsbundle"];
   

3. Replace it with this line:

   jsCodeLocation = [CodePush bundleURL];
   

This change configures your app to always load the most recent version of your app's JS bundle. On the first launch, this will correspond to the file that was compiled with the app. However, after an update has been pushed via CodePush, this will return the location of the most recently installed update.

NOTE: The bundleURL method assumes your app's JS bundle is named main.jsbundle. If you have configured your app to use a different file name, simply call the bundleURLForResource: method (which assumes you're using the .jsbundle extension) or bundleURLForResource:withExtension: method instead, in order to overwrite that default behavior

Typically, you're only going to want to use CodePush to resolve your JS bundle location within release builds, and therefore, we recommend using the DEBUG pre-processor macro to dynamically switch between using the packager server and CodePush, depending on whether you are debugging or not. This will make it much simpler to ensure you get the right behavior you want in production, while still being able to use the Chrome Dev Tools, live reload, etc. at debug-time.

NSURL *jsCodeLocation;

#ifdef DEBUG
    jsCodeLocation = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://localhost:8081/index.ios.bundle?platform=ios&dev=true"];
#else
    jsCodeLocation = [CodePush bundleURL];
#endif

To let the CodePush runtime know which deployment it should query for updates against, open your app's Info.plist file and add a new entry named CodePushDeploymentKey, whose value is the key of the deployment you want to configure this app against (e.g. the key for the Staging deployment for the FooBar app). You can retrieve this value by running code-push deployment ls <appName> -k in the CodePush CLI (the -k flag is necessary since keys aren't displayed by default) and copying the value of the Deployment Key column which corresponds to the deployment you want to use (see below). Note that using the deployment's name (e.g. Staging) will not work. That "friendly name" is intended only for authenticated management usage from the CLI, and not for public consumption within your app.

Android Setup

In order to integrate CodePush into your Android project, perform the following steps:

Plugin Installation (Android)

In order to accomodate as many developer preferences as possible, the CodePush plugin supports Android installation via two mechanisms:

1. RNPM - React Native Package Manager (RNPM) is an awesome tool that provides the simplest installation experience possible for React Native plugins. If you're already using it, or you want to use it, then we recommend this approach.

2. "Manual" - If you don't want to depend on any additional tools or are fine with a few extra installation steps (it's a one-time thing), then go with this approach.

Plugin Installation (Android - RNPM)

1. Run rnpm link react-native-code-push

   Note: If you don't already have RNPM installed, you can do so by simply running npm i -g rnpm and then executing the above command.

2. If you're using RNPM >=1.6.0, you will be prompted for the deployment key you'd like to use. If you don't already have it, you can retreive this value by running code-push deployment ls <appName> -k, or you can choose to ignore it (by simply hitting <ENTER>) and add it in later. To get started, we would recommend just using your Staging deployment key, so that you can test out the CodePush end-to-end.

3. (Only needed in v1.8.0+ of the plugin) In your android/app/build.gradle file, add the codepush.gradle file as an additional build task definition underneath react.gradle:

   ...
   apply from: "react.gradle"
   apply from: "../../node_modules/react-native-code-push/android/codepush.gradle"
   ...
   

And that's it for installation using RNPM! Continue below to the Plugin Configuration section to complete the setup.

Plugin Installation (Android - Manual)

1. In your android/settings.gradle file, make the following additions:

   include ':app', ':react-native-code-push'
   project(':react-native-code-push').projectDir = new File(rootProject.projectDir, '../node_modules/react-native-code-push/android/app')
   

2. In your android/app/build.gradle file, add the :react-native-code-push project as a compile-time dependency:

   ...
   dependencies {
       ...
       compile project(':react-native-code-push')
   }
   

3. (Only needed in v1.8.0+ of the plugin) In your android/app/build.gradle file, add the codepush.gradle file as an additional build task definition underneath react.gradle:

   ...
   apply from: "react.gradle"
   apply from: "../../node_modules/react-native-code-push/android/codepush.gradle"
   ...
   

Plugin Configuration (Android)

Note: If you are using an older version (<=1.9.0-beta) of the CodePush plugin, please refer to these docs instead.

After installing the plugin and syncing your Android Studio project with Gradle, you need to configure your app to consult CodePush for the location of your JS bundle, since it will "take control" of managing the current and all future versions. To do this, update the MainActivity.java file to use CodePush via the following changes:

...
// 1. Import the plugin class (if you used RNPM to install the plugin, this
// should already be done for you automatically so you can skip this step).
import com.microsoft.codepush.react.CodePush;

public class MainActivity extends ReactActivity {
    // 2. Override the getJSBundleFile method in order to let
    // the CodePush runtime determine where to get the JS
    // bundle location from on each app start
    @Override
    protected String getJSBundleFile() {
        return CodePush.getBundleUrl();
    }

    @Override
    protected List<ReactPackage> getPackages() {
        // 3. Instantiate an instance of the CodePush runtime and add it to the list of
        // existing packages, specifying the right deployment key. If you don't already 
        // have it, you can run "code-push deployment ls <appName> -k" to retrieve your key.
        return Arrays.<ReactPackage>asList(
            new MainReactPackage(),
            new CodePush("deployment-key-here", this, BuildConfig.DEBUG)
        );
    }

    ...
}

Windows Setup

Once you've acquired the CodePush plugin, you need to integrate it into the Visual Studio project of your React Native app and configure it correctly. To do this, take the following steps:

Plugin Installation (Windows)

1. Open the Visual Studio solution located at windows\<AppName>\<AppName>.sln within your app

2. Right-click the solution node in the Solution Explorer window and select the Add -> Existing Project... menu item

   

3. Browse to the node_modules\react-native-code-push\windows directory, select the CodePush.csproj file and click OK

4. Back in the Solution Explorer, right-click the project node that is named after your app, and select the Add -> Reference... menu item

   

5. Select the Projects tab on the left hand side, check the CodePush item and then click OK

   

Plugin Configuration (Windows)

After installing the plugin, you need to configure your app to consult CodePush for the location of your JS bundle, since it will "take control" of managing the current and all future versions. To do this, update the AppReactPage.cs file to use CodePush via the following changes:

...
// 1. Import the CodePush namespace 
using CodePush.ReactNative;
...
class AppReactPage : ReactPage
{
    // 2. Declare a private instance variable for the CodePushModule instance.
    private CodePushReactPackage codePushReactPackage;
    
    // 3. Update the JavaScriptBundleFile property to initalize the CodePush runtime,
    // specifying the right deployment key, then use it to return the bundle URL from 
    // CodePush instead of statically from the binary. If you don't already have your
    // deployment key, you can run "code-push deployment ls <appName> -k" to retrieve it.
    public override string JavaScriptBundleFile
    {
        get
        {
            codePushReactPackage = new CodePushReactPackage("deployment-key-here", this);
            return codePushReactPackage.GetJavaScriptBundleFile();
        }
    }

    // 4. Add the codePushReactPackage instance to the list of existing packages. 
    public override List<IReactPackage> Packages
    {
        get
        {
            return new List<IReactPackage>
            {
                new MainReactPackage(),
                ...
                codePushReactPackage
            };
        }
    }
    ...
}

Plugin Usage

With the CodePush plugin downloaded and linked, and your app asking CodePush where to get the right JS bundle from, the only thing left is to add the necessary code to your app to control the following policies:

1. When (and how often) to check for an update? (e.g. app start, in response to clicking a button in a settings page, periodically at some fixed interval)

2. When an update is available, how to present it to the end user?

The simplest way to do this is to perform the following in your app's root component:

1. Import the JavaScript module for CodePush:

   import codePush from "react-native-code-push";
   

2. Call the sync method from within the componentDidMount lifecycle event, to initiate a background update on each app start:

   codePush.sync();
   

If an update is available, it will be silently downloaded, and installed the next time the app is restarted (either explicitly by the end user or by the OS), which ensures the least invasive experience for your end users. If an available update is mandatory, then it will be installed immediately, ensuring that the end user gets it as soon as possible.

If you would like your app to discover updates more quickly, you can also choose to call sync every time the app resumes from the background, by adding the following code (or something equivalent) as part of your app's startup behavior (e.g. your root component's componentDidMount method). You can call sync as frequently as you would like, so when and where you call it just depends on your personal preference.

AppState.addEventListener("change", (newState) => {
    newState === "active" && codePush.sync();
});

Additionally, if you would like to display an update confirmation dialog (an "active install"), configure when an available update is installed (e.g. force an immediate restart) or customize the update experience in any way, refer to the sync method's API reference for information on how to tweak this default behavior.

NOTE: While Apple's developer agreement fully allows performing over-the-air updates of JavaScript and assets (which is what enables CodePush!), it is against their policy for an app to display an update prompt. Because of this, we recommend that App Store-distributed apps don't enable the updateDialog option when calling sync, whereas Google Play and internally distributed apps (e.g. Enterprise, Fabric, HockeyApp) can choose to enable/customize it.

Releasing Updates

Once your app has been configured and distributed to your users, and you've made some JS and/or asset changes, it's time to instantly release them! The simplest (and recommended) way to do this is to use the release-react command in the CodePush CLI, which will handle bundling your JavaScript and asset files and releasing the update to the CodePush server.

In it's most basic form, this command only requires two parameters: your app name and the platform you are bundling the update for (either ios or android).

code-push release-react <appName> <platform>

code-push release-react MyApp ios
code-push release-react MyApp-Android android

The release-react command enables such a simple workflow because it provides many sensible defaults (e.g. generating a release bundle, assuming your app's entry file on iOS is either index.ios.js or index.js). However, all of these defaults can be customized to allow incremental flexibility as neccessary, which makes it a good fit for most scenarios.

# Release a mandatory update with a changelog
code-push release-react MyApp ios -m --description "Modified the header color"

# Release an update for an app that uses a non-standard entry file name, and also capture
# the sourcemap file generated by react-native bundle
code-push release-react MyApp ios --entryFile MyApp.js --sourcemapOutput ../maps/MyApp.map

# Release a dev Android build to just 1/4 of your end users
code-push release-react MyApp-Android android --rollout 25% --dev true

# Release an update that targets users running any 1.1.* binary, as opposed to
# limiting the update to exact version name in the build.gradle file
code-push release-react MyApp-Android android --targetBinaryVersion "~1.1.0"

The CodePush client supports differential updates, so even though you are releasing your JS bundle and assets on every update, your end users will only actually download the files they need. The service handles this automatically so that you can focus on creating awesome apps and we can worry about optimizing end user downloads.

For more details about how the release-react command works, as well as the various parameters it exposes, refer to the CLI docs. Additionally, if you would prefer to handle running the react-native bundle command yourself, and therefore, want an even more flexible solution than release-react, refer to the release command for more details.

If you run into any issues, or have any questions/comments/feedback, you can ping us within the #code-push channel on Reactiflux, e-mail us and/or check out the troubleshooting details below.

---

API Reference

The CodePush plugin is made up of two components:

1. A JavaScript module, which can be imported/required, and allows the app to interact with the service during runtime (e.g. check for updates, inspect the metadata about the currently running app update).

2. A native API (Objective-C and Java) which allows the React Native app host to bootstrap itself with the right JS bundle location.

The following sections describe the shape and behavior of these APIs in detail:

JavaScript API Reference

When you require react-native-code-push, the module object provides the following top-level methods:

• checkForUpdate: Asks the CodePush service whether the configured app deployment has an update available.

• getCurrentPackage: Retrieves the metadata about the currently installed update (e.g. description, installation time, size). NOTE: As of v1.10.3-beta of the CodePush module, this method is deprecated in favor of getUpdateMetadata.

• getUpdateMetadata: Retrieves the metadata for an installed update (e.g. description, mandatory).

• notifyAppReady: Notifies the CodePush runtime that an installed update is considered successful. If you are manually checking for and installing updates (i.e. not using the sync method to handle it all for you), then this method MUST be called; otherwise CodePush will treat the update as failed and rollback to the previous version when the app next restarts.

• restartApp: Immediately restarts the app. If there is an update pending, it will be immediately displayed to the end user. Otherwise, calling this method simply has the same behavior as the end user killing and restarting the process.

• sync: Allows checking for an update, downloading it and installing it, all with a single call. Unless you need custom UI and/or behavior, we recommend most developers to use this method when integrating CodePush into their apps

codePush.checkForUpdate

codePush.checkForUpdate(deploymentKey: String = null): Promise<RemotePackage>;

Queries the CodePush service to see whether the configured app deployment has an update available. By default, it will use the deployment key that is configured in your Info.plist file (iOS), or MainActivity.java file (Android), but you can override that by specifying a value via the optional deploymentKey parameter. This can be useful when you want to dynamically "redirect" a user to a specific deployment, such as allowing "Early access" via an easter egg or a user setting switch.

This method returns a Promise which resolves to one of two possible values:

1. null if there is no update available. This occurs in the following scenarios:

   1. The configured deployment doesn't contain any releases, and therefore, nothing to update.
   2. The latest release within the configured deployment is targeting a different binary version than what you're currently running (either older or newer).
   3. The currently running app already has the latest release from the configured deployment, and therefore, doesn't need it again.

2. A RemotePackage instance which represents an available update that can be inspected and/or subsequently downloaded.

Example Usage:

codePush.checkForUpdate()
.then((update) => {
    if (!update) {
        console.log("The app is up to date!"); 
    } else {
        console.log("An update is available! Should we download it?");
    }
});

codePush.getCurrentPackage

NOTE: This method is considered deprecated as of v1.10.3-beta of the CodePush module. If you're running this version (or newer), we would recommend using the codePush.getUpdateMetadata instead, since it has more predictable behavior.

codePush.getCurrentPackage(): Promise<LocalPackage>;

Retrieves the metadata about the currently installed "package" (e.g. description, installation time). This can be useful for scenarios such as displaying a "what's new?" dialog after an update has been applied or checking whether there is a pending update that is waiting to be applied via a resume or restart.

This method returns a Promise which resolves to one of two possible values:

1. null if the app is currently running the JS bundle from the binary and not a CodePush update. This occurs in the following scenarios:

   1. The end-user installed the app binary and has yet to install a CodePush update
   2. The end-user installed an update of the binary (e.g. from the store), which cleared away the old CodePush updates, and gave precedence back to the JS binary in the binary.

2. A LocalPackage instance which represents the metadata for the currently running CodePush update.

Example Usage:

codePush.getCurrentPackage()
.then((update) => {
    // If the current app "session" represents the first time
    // this update has run, and it had a description provided
    // with it upon release, let's show it to the end user
    if (update.isFirstRun && update.description) {
        // Display a "what's new?" modal
    }
});

codePush.getUpdateMetadata

codePush.getUpdateMetadata(updateState: UpdateState = UpdateState.RUNNING): Promise<LocalPackage>;

Retrieves the metadata for an installed update (e.g. description, mandatory) whose state matches the specified updateState parameter. This can be useful for scenarios such as displaying a "what's new?" dialog after an update has been applied or checking whether there is a pending update that is waiting to be applied via a resume or restart. For more details about the possible update states, and what they represent, refer to the UpdateState reference.

This method returns a Promise which resolves to one of two possible values:

1. null if an update with the specified state doesn't currently exist. This occurs in the following scenarios:

   1. The end-user hasn't installed any CodePush updates yet, and therefore, no metadata is available for any updates, regardless what you specify as the updateState parameter.

   2. The end-user installed an update of the binary (e.g. from the store), which cleared away the old CodePush updates, and gave precedence back to the JS binary in the binary. Therefore, it would exhibit the same behavior as #1

   3. The updateState parameter is set to UpdateState.RUNNING, but the app isn't currently running a CodePush update. There may be a pending update, but the app hasn't been restarted yet in order to make it active.

   4. The updateState parameter is set to UpdateState.PENDING, but the app doesn't have any currently pending updates.

2. A LocalPackage instance which represents the metadata for the currently requested CodePush update (either the running or pending).

Example Usage:

// Check if there is currently a CodePush update running, and if
// so, register it with the HockeyApp SDK (https://github.com/slowpath/react-native-hockeyapp)
// so that crash reports will correctly display the JS bundle version the user was running.
codePush.getUpdateMetadata().then((update) => {
    if (update) {
        hockeyApp.addMetadata({ CodePushRelease: update.label });
    }
});

// Check to see if there is still an update pending.
codePush.getUpdateMetadata(UpdateState.PENDING).then((update) => {
    if (update) {
        // There's a pending update, do we want to force a restart?   
    }
});

codePush.notifyAppReady

codePush.notifyAppReady(): Promise<void>;

Notifies the CodePush runtime that a freshly installed update should be considered successful, and therefore, an automatic client-side rollback isn't necessary. It is mandatory to call this function somewhere in the code of the updated bundle. Otherwise, when the app next restarts, the CodePush runtime will assume that the installed update has failed and roll back to the previous version. This behavior exists to help ensure that your end users aren't blocked by a broken update.

If you are using the sync function, and doing your update check on app start, then you don't need to manually call notifyAppReady since sync will call it for you. This behavior exists due to the assumption that the point at which sync is called in your app represents a good approximation of a successful startup.

NOTE: This method is also aliased as notifyApplicationReady (for backwards compatibility).

codePush.restartApp

codePush.restartApp(onlyIfUpdateIsPending: Boolean = false): void;		

Immediately restarts the app. If a truthy value is provided to the onlyIfUpdateIsPending parameter, then the app will only restart if there is actually a pending update waiting to be applied.

This method is for advanced scenarios, and is primarily useful when the following conditions are true:

1. Your app is specifying an install mode value of ON_NEXT_RESTART or ON_NEXT_RESUME when calling the sync or LocalPackage.install methods. This has the effect of not applying your update until the app has been restarted (by either the end user or OS) or resumed, and therefore, the update won't be immediately displayed to the end user.

2. You have an app-specific user event (e.g. the end user navigated back to the app's home route) that allows you to apply the update in an unobtrusive way, and potentially gets the update in front of the end user sooner then waiting until the next restart or resume.

codePush.sync

codePush.sync(options: Object, syncStatusChangeCallback: function(syncStatus: Number), downloadProgressCallback: function(progress: DownloadProgress)): Promise<Number>;

Synchronizes your app's JavaScript bundle and image assets with the latest release to the configured deployment. Unlike the checkForUpdate method, which simply checks for the presence of an update, and let's you control what to do next, sync handles the update check, download and installation experience for you.

This method provides support for two different (but customizable) "modes" to easily enable apps with different requirements:

1. Silent mode (the default behavior), which automatically downloads available updates, and applies them the next time the app restarts (e.g. the OS or end user killed it, or the device was restarted). This way, the entire update experience is "silent" to the end user, since they don't see any update prompt and/or "synthetic" app restarts.

2. Active mode, which when an update is available, prompts the end user for permission before downloading it, and then immediately applies the update. If an update was released using the mandatory flag, the end user would still be notified about the update, but they wouldn't have the choice to ignore it.

Example Usage:

// Fully silent update which keeps the app in
// sync with the server, without ever 
// interrupting the end user
codePush.sync();

// Active update, which lets the end user know
// about each update, and displays it to them
// immediately after downloading it
codePush.sync({ updateDialog: true, installMode: codePush.InstallMode.IMMEDIATE });

Note: If you want to decide whether you check and/or download an available update based on the end user's device battery level, network conditions, etc. then simply wrap the call to sync in a condition that ensures you only call it when desired.

While the sync method tries to make it easy to perform silent and active updates with little configuration, it accepts an "options" object that allows you to customize numerous aspects of the default behavior mentioned above:

• deploymentKey (String) - Specifies the deployment key you want to query for an update against. By default, this value is derived from the Info.plist file (iOS) and MainActivity.java file (Android), but this option allows you to override it from the script-side if you need to dynamically use a different deployment for a specific call to sync.

• installMode (codePush.InstallMode) - Specifies when you would like to install optional updates (i.e. those that aren't marked as mandatory). Defaults to codePush.InstallMode.ON_NEXT_RESTART. Refer to the InstallMode enum reference for a description of the available options and what they do.

• mandatoryInstallMode (codePush.InstallMode) - Specifies when you would like to install updates which are marked as mandatory. Defaults to codePush.InstallMode.IMMEDIATE. Refer to the InstallMode enum reference for a description of the available options and what they do.

• minimumBackgroundDuration (Number) - Specifies the minimum number of seconds that the app needs to have been in the background before restarting the app. This property only applies to updates which are installed using InstallMode.ON_NEXT_RESUME, and can be useful for getting your update in front of end users sooner, without being too obtrusive. Defaults to 0, which has the effect of applying the update immediately after a resume, regardless how long it was in the background.

• updateDialog (UpdateDialogOptions) - An "options" object used to determine whether a confirmation dialog should be displayed to the end user when an update is available, and if so, what strings to use. Defaults to null, which has the effect of disabling the dialog completely. Setting this to any truthy value will enable the dialog with the default strings, and passing an object to this parameter allows enabling the dialog as well as overriding one or more of the default strings. Before enabling this option within an App Store-distributed app, please refer to this note.

  The following list represents the available options and their defaults:

  • appendReleaseDescription (Boolean) - Indicates whether you would like to append the description of an available release to the notification message which is displayed to the end user. Defaults to false.

  • descriptionPrefix (String) - Indicates the string you would like to prefix the release description with, if any, when displaying the update notification to the end user. Defaults to " Description: "

  • mandatoryContinueButtonLabel (String) - The text to use for the button the end user must press in order to install a mandatory update. Defaults to "Continue".

  • mandatoryUpdateMessage (String) - The text used as the body of an update notification, when the update is specified as mandatory. Defaults to "An update is available that must be installed.".

  • optionalIgnoreButtonLabel (String) - The text to use for the button the end user can press in order to ignore an optional update that is available. Defaults to "Ignore".

  • optionalInstallButtonLabel (String) - The text to use for the button the end user can press in order to install an optional update. Defaults to "Install".

  • optionalUpdateMessage (String) - The text used as the body of an update notification, when the update is optional. Defaults to "An update is available. Would you like to install it?".

  • title (String) - The text used as the header of an update notification that is displayed to the end user. Defaults to "Update available".

Example Usage:

// Use a different deployment key for this
// specific call, instead of the one configured
// in the Info.plist file
codePush.sync({ deploymentKey: "KEY" });

// Download the update silently, but install it on
// the next resume, as long as at least 5 minutes
// has passed since the app was put into the background.
codePush.sync({ installMode: codePush.InstallMode.ON_NEXT_RESUME, minimumBackgroundDuration: 60 * 5 });

// Download the update silently, and install optional updates
// on the next restart, but install mandatory updates on the next resume.
codePush.sync({ mandatoryInstallMode: codePush.InstallMode.ON_NEXT_RESUME });

// Changing the title displayed in the
// confirmation dialog of an "active" update
codePush.sync({ updateDialog: { title: "An update is available!" } });

// Displaying an update prompt which includes the
// description associated with the CodePush release
codePush.sync({
   updateDialog: {
    appendReleaseDescription: true,
    descriptionPrefix: "\n\nChange log:\n"   
   },
   installMode: codePush.InstallMode.IMMEDIATE
});

In addition to the options, the sync method also accepts two optional function parameters which allow you to subscribe to the lifecycle of the sync "pipeline" in order to display additional UI as needed (e.g. a "checking for update modal or a download progress modal):

• syncStatusChangedCallback ((syncStatus: Number) => void) - Called when the sync process moves from one stage to another in the overall update process. The method is called with a status code which represents the current state, and can be any of the SyncStatus values.

• downloadProgressCallback ((progress: DownloadProgress) => void) - Called periodically when an available update is being downloaded from the CodePush server. The method is called with a DownloadProgress object, which contains the following two properties:

  • totalBytes (Number) - The total number of bytes expected to be received for this update (i.e. the size of the set of files which changed from the previous release).

  • receivedBytes (Number) - The number of bytes downloaded thus far, which can be used to track download progress.

Example Usage:

// Prompt the user when an update is available
// and then display a "downloading" modal 
codePush.sync({ updateDialog: true }, 
  (status) => {
      switch (status) {
          case codePush.SyncStatus.DOWNLOADING_PACKAGE:
              // Show "downloading" modal
              break;
          case codePush.SyncStatus.INSTALLING_UPDATE:
              // Hide "downloading" modal
              break;
      }
  },
  ({ receivedBytes, totalBytes, }) => { 
    /* Update download modal progress */ 
  }
);

This method returns a Promise which is resolved to a SyncStatus code that indicates why the sync call succeeded. This code can be one of the following SyncStatus values:

• codePush.SyncStatus.UP_TO_DATE (4) - The app is up-to-date with the CodePush server.

• codePush.SyncStatus.UPDATE_IGNORED (5) - The app had an optional update which the end user chose to ignore. (This is only applicable when the updateDialog is used)

• codePush.SyncStatus.UPDATE_INSTALLED (6) - The update has been installed and will be run either immediately after the syncStatusChangedCallback function returns or the next time the app resumes/restarts, depending on the InstallMode specified in SyncOptions.

• codePush.SyncStatus.SYNC_IN_PROGRESS (7) - There is an ongoing sync operation running which prevents the current call from being executed.

The sync method can be called anywhere you'd like to check for an update. That could be in the componentWillMount lifecycle event of your root component, the onPress handler of a <TouchableHighlight> component, in the callback of a periodic timer, or whatever else makes sense for your needs. Just like the checkForUpdate method, it will perform the network request to check for an update in the background, so it won't impact your UI thread and/or JavaScript thread's responsiveness.

Package objects

The checkForUpdate and getUpdateMetadata methods return Promise objects, that when resolved, provide acces to "package" objects. The package represents your code update as well as any extra metadata (e.g. description, mandatory?). The CodePush API has the distinction between the following types of packages:

• LocalPackage: Represents a downloaded update that is either already running, or has been installed and is pending an app restart.

• RemotePackage: Represents an available update on the CodePush server that hasn't been downloaded yet.

LocalPackage

Contains details about an update that has been downloaded locally or already installed. You can get a reference to an instance of this object either by calling the module-level getUpdateMetadata method, or as the value of the promise returned by the RemotePackage.download method.

Properties

• appVersion: The app binary version that this update is dependent on. This is the value that was specified via the appStoreVersion parameter when calling the CLI's release command. (String)
• deploymentKey: The deployment key that was used to originally download this update. (String)
• description: The description of the update. This is the same value that you specified in the CLI when you released the update. (String)
• failedInstall: Indicates whether this update has been previously installed but was rolled back. The sync method will automatically ignore updates which have previously failed, so you only need to worry about this property if using checkForUpdate. (Boolean)
• isFirstRun: Indicates whether this is the first time the update has been run after being installed. This is useful for determining whether you would like to show a "What's New?" UI to the end user after installing an update. (Boolean)
• isMandatory: Indicates whether the update is considered mandatory. This is the value that was specified in the CLI when the update was released. (Boolean)
• isPending: Indicates whether this update is in a "pending" state. When true, that means the update has been downloaded and installed, but the app restart needed to apply it hasn't occurred yet, and therefore, it's changes aren't currently visible to the end-user. (Boolean)
• label: The internal label automatically given to the update by the CodePush server. This value uniquely identifies the update within it's deployment. (String)
• packageHash: The SHA hash value of the update. (String)
• packageSize: The size of the code contained within the update, in bytes. (Number)

Methods

• install(installMode: codePush.InstallMode = codePush.InstallMode.ON_NEXT_RESTART, minimumBackgroundDuration = 0): Promise<void>: Installs the update by saving it to the location on disk where the runtime expects to find the latest version of the app. The installMode parameter controls when the changes are actually presented to the end user. The default value is to wait until the next app restart to display the changes, but you can refer to the InstallMode enum reference for a description of the available options and what they do. If the installMode parameter is set to InstallMode.ON_NEXT_RESUME, then the minimumBackgroundDuration parameter allows you to control how long the app must have been in the background before forcing the install after it is resumed.

RemotePackage

Contains details about an update that is available for download from the CodePush server. You get a reference to an instance of this object by calling the checkForUpdate method when an update is available. If you are using the sync API, you don't need to worry about the RemotePackage, since it will handle the download and installation process automatically for you.

Properties

The RemotePackage inherits all of the same properties as the LocalPackage, but includes one additional one:

• downloadUrl: The URL at which the package is available for download. This property is only needed for advanced usage, since the download method will automatically handle the acquisition of updates for you. (String)

Methods

• download(downloadProgressCallback?: Function): Promise<LocalPackage>: Downloads the available update from the CodePush service. If a downloadProgressCallback is specified, it will be called periodically with a DownloadProgress object ({ totalBytes: Number, receivedBytes: Number }) that reports the progress of the download until it completes. Returns a Promise that resolves with the LocalPackage.

Enums

The CodePush API includes the following enums which can be used to customize the update experience:

InstallMode

This enum specifies when you would like an installed update to actually be applied, and can be passed to either the sync or LocalPackage.install methods. It includes the following values:

• codePush.InstallMode.IMMEDIATE (0) - Indicates that you want to install the update and restart the app immediately. This value is appropriate for debugging scenarios as well as when displaying an update prompt to the user, since they would expect to see the changes immediately after accepting the installation. Additionally, this mode can be used to enforce mandatory updates, since it removes the potentially undesired latency between the update installation and the next time the end user restarts or resumes the app.

• codePush.InstallMode.ON_NEXT_RESTART (1) - Indicates that you want to install the update, but not forcibly restart the app. When the app is "naturally" restarted (due the OS or end user killing it), the update will be seamlessly picked up. This value is appropriate when performing silent updates, since it would likely be disruptive to the end user if the app suddenly restarted out of nowhere, since they wouldn't have realized an update was even downloaded. This is the default mode used for both the sync and LocalPackage.install methods.

• codePush.InstallMode.ON_NEXT_RESUME (2) - Indicates that you want to install the update, but don't want to restart the app until the next time the end user resumes it from the background. This way, you don't disrupt their current session, but you can get the update in front of them sooner then having to wait for the next natural restart. This value is appropriate for silent installs that can be applied on resume in a non-invasive way.

SyncStatus

This enum is provided to the syncStatusChangedCallback function that can be passed to the sync method, in order to hook into the overall update process. It includes the following values:

• codePush.SyncStatus.CHECKING_FOR_UPDATE (0) - The CodePush server is being queried for an update.
• codePush.SyncStatus.AWAITING_USER_ACTION (1) - An update is available, and a confirmation dialog was shown to the end user. (This is only applicable when the updateDialog is used)
• codePush.SyncStatus.DOWNLOADING_PACKAGE (2) - An available update is being downloaded from the CodePush server.
• codePush.SyncStatus.INSTALLING_UPDATE (3) - An available update was downloaded and is about to be installed.
• codePush.SyncStatus.UP_TO_DATE (4) - The app is fully up-to-date with the configured deployment.
• codePush.SyncStatus.UPDATE_IGNORED (5) - The app has an optional update, which the end user chose to ignore. (This is only applicable when the updateDialog is used)
• codePush.SyncStatus.UPDATE_INSTALLED (6) - An available update has been installed and will be run either immediately after the syncStatusChangedCallback function returns or the next time the app resumes/restarts, depending on the InstallMode specified in SyncOptions.
• codePush.SyncStatus.SYNC_IN_PROGRESS (7) - There is an ongoing sync operation running which prevents the current call from being executed.
• codePush.SyncStatus.UNKNOWN_ERROR (-1) - The sync operation encountered an unknown error.

UpdateState

This enum specifies the state that an update is currently in, and can be specified when calling the getUpdateMetadata method. It includes the following values:

• codePush.UpdateState.RUNNING (0) - Indicates that an update represents the version of the app that is currently running. This can be useful for identifying attributes about the app, for scenarios such as displaying the release description in a "what's new?" dialog or reporting the latest version to an analytics and/or crash reporting service.

• codePush.UpdateState.PENDING (1) - Indicates than an update has been installed, but the app hasn't been restarted yet in order to apply it. This can be useful for determining whether there is a pending update, which you may want to force a programmatic restart (via restartApp) in order to apply.

• codePush.UpdateState.LATEST (2) - Indicates than an update represents the latest available release, and can be either currently running or pending.

Objective-C API Reference (iOS)

The Objective-C API is made available by importing the CodePush.h header into your AppDelegate.m file, and consists of a single public class named CodePush.

CodePush

Contains static methods for retreiving the NSURL that represents the most recent JavaScript bundle file, and can be passed to the RCTRootView's initWithBundleURL method when bootstrapping your app in the AppDelegate.m file.

The CodePush class' methods can be thought of as composite resolvers which always load the appropriate bundle, in order to accomodate the following scenarios:

1. When an end-user installs your app from the store (e.g. 1.0.0), they will get the JS bundle that is contained within the binary. This is the behavior you would get without using CodePush, but we make sure it doesn't break :)

2. As soon as you begin releasing CodePush updates, your end-users will get the JS bundle that represents the latest release for the configured deployment. This is the behavior that allows you to iterate beyond what you shipped to the store.

3. As soon as you release an update to the app store (e.g. 1.1.0), and your end-users update it, they will once again get the JS bundle that is contained within the binary. This behavior ensures that CodePush updates that targetted a previous app store version aren't used (since we don't know it they would work), and your end-users always have a working version of your app.

4. Repeat #2 and #3 as the CodePush releases and app store releases continue on into infinity (and beyond?)

Because of this behavior, you can safely deploy updates to both the app store(s) and CodePush as neccesary, and rest assured that your end-users will always get the most recent version.

Methods

• (NSURL *)bundleURL - Returns the most recent JS bundle NSURL as described above. This method assumes that the name of the JS bundle contained within your app binary is main.jsbundle.

• (NSURL *)bundleURLForResource:(NSString *)resourceName - Equivalent to the bundleURL method, but also allows customizing the name of the JS bundle that is looked for within the app binary. This is useful if you aren't naming this file main (which is the default convention). This method assumes that the JS bundle's extension is *.jsbundle.

• (NSURL *)bundleURLForResource:(NSString *)resourceName withExtension:(NSString *)resourceExtension: Equivalent to the bundleURLForResource: method, but also allows customizing the extension used by the JS bundle that is looked for within the app binary. This is useful if you aren't naming this file *.jsbundle (which is the default convention).

• (void)setDeploymentKey:(NSString *)deploymentKey - Sets the deployment key that the app should use when querying for updates. This is a dynamic alternative to setting the deployment key in your Info.plist and/or specifying a deployment key in JS when calling checkForUpdate or sync.

Java API Reference (Android)

The Java API is made available by importing the com.microsoft.codepush.react.CodePush class into your MainActivity.java file, and consists of a single public class named CodePush.

CodePush

Constructs the CodePush client runtime and represents the ReactPackage instance that you add to you app's list of packages.

Constructors

• CodePush(String deploymentKey, Activity mainActivity) - Creates a new instance of the CodePush runtime, that will be used to query the service for updates via the provided deployment key. The mainActivity parameter should always be set to this when configuring your React packages list inside the MainActivity class. This constructor puts the CodePush runtime into "release mode", so if you want to enable debugging behavior, use the following constructor instead.

• CodePush(String deploymentKey, Activity mainActivity, bool isDebugMode) - Equivalent to the previous constructor, but allows you to specify whether you want the CodePush runtime to be in debug mode or not. When using this constructor, the isDebugMode parameter should always be set to BuildConfig.DEBUG in order to stay synchronized with your build type. When putting CodePush into debug mode, the following behaviors are enabled:

  1. Old CodePush updates aren't deleted from storage whenever a new binary is deployed to the emulator/device. This behavior enables you to deploy new binaries, without bumping the version during development, and without continuously getting the same update every time your app calls sync.

  2. The local cache that the React Native runtime maintains in debug mode is deleted whenever a CodePush update is installed. This ensures that when the app is restarted after an update is applied, you will see the expected changes. As soon as this PR is merged, we won't need to do this anymore.

Static Methods

• getBundleUrl() - Returns the path to the most recent version of your app's JS bundle file, assuming that the resource name is index.android.bundle. If your app is using a different bundle name, then use the overloaded version of this method which allows specifying it. This method has the same resolution behavior as the Objective-C equivalent described above.

• getBundleUrl(String bundleName) - Returns the path to the most recent version of your app's JS bundle file, using the specified resource name (e.g. index.android.bundle). This method has the same resolution behavior as the Objective-C equivalent described above.

Example Apps

The React Native community has graciously created some awesome open source apps that can serve as examples for developers that are getting started. The following is a list of OSS React Native apps that are also using CodePush, and can therefore be used to see how others are using the service:

• F8 App - The official conference app for F8 2016.
• Feline for Product Hunt - An Android client for Product Hunt.
• GeoEncoding - An app by Lynx IT Digital which demonstrates how to use numerous React Native components and modules.
• Math Facts - An app by Khan Academy to help memorize math facts more easily.
• MoveIt! - An app by Multunus that allows employees within a company to track their work-outs.

Note: If you've developed a React Native app using CodePush, that is also open-source, please let us know. We would love to add it to this list!

Debugging / Troubleshooting

The sync method includes a lot of diagnostic logging out-of-the-box, so if you're encountering an issue when using it, the best thing to try first is examining the output logs of your app. This will tell you whether the app is configured correctly (e.g. can the plugin find your deployment key?), if the app is able to reach the server, if an available update is being discovered, if the update is being successfully downloaded/installed, etc. We want to continue improving the logging to be as intuitive/comprehensive as possible, so please let us know if you find it to be confusing or missing anything.

To view these logs, you can use either the Chrome DevTools Console, the XCode Console (iOS), the OS X Console (iOS) and/or ADB logcat (Android). By default, React Native logs are disabled on iOS in release builds, so if you want to view them in a release build, you simply need to make the following changes to your AppDelegate.m file:

1. Add an #import "RCTLog.h" statement

2. Add the following statement to the top of your application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method:

   RCTSetLogThreshold(RCTLogLevelInfo);
   

Now you'll be able to see CodePush logs in either debug or release mode, on both iOS or Android. If examining the logs don't provide an indication of the issue, please refer to the following common issues for additional resolution ideas:

Issue / Symptom	Possible Solution
Compilation Error	Double-check that your version of React Native is compatible with the CodePush version you are using.
Network timeout / hang when calling sync or checkForUpadte in the iOS Simulator	Try resetting the simulator by selecting the Simulator -> Reset Content and Settings.. menu item, and then re-running your app.
Server responds with a 404 when calling sync or checkForUpdate	Double-check that the deployment key you added to your Info.plist (iOS), build.gradle (Android) or that you're passing to sync/checkForUpdate, is in fact correct. You can run code-push deployment ls [APP_NAME] -k to view the correct keys for your app deployments.
Update not being discovered	Double-check that the version of your running app (e.g. 1.0.0) matches the version you specified when releasing the update to CodePush. Additionally, make sure that you are releasing to the same deployment that your app is configured to sync with.
Update not being displayed after restart	If you're not calling sync on app start (e.g. within componentDidMount of your root component), then you need to explicitly call notifyApplicationReady on app start, otherwise, the plugin will think your update failed and roll it back.
Images dissappear after installing CodePush update	If your app is using the React Native assets system to load images (i.e. the require(./foo.png) syntax), then you MUST release your assets along with your JS bundle to CodePush. Follow these instructions to see how to do this.
No JS bundle is being found when running your app against the iOS simulator	By default, React Native doesn't generate your JS bundle when running against the simulator. Therefore, if you're using [CodePush bundleURL], and targetting the iOS simulator, you may be getting a nil result. This issue will be fixed in RN 0.22.0, but only for release builds. You can unblock this scenario right now by making this change locally.