Shipping Your App

We use EAS (Expo Application Services) for building and deploying.

1. EAS Build (The Binary)

EAS Build compiles your native Android (.apk/.aab) and iOS (.ipa) binaries in the cloud.

Key Config: eas.json

{
  "build": {
    "development": {
      "developmentClient": true,
      "distribution": "internal"
    },
    "production": {
      "channel": "production"
    }
  }
}

Commands

• Build Dev Client: eas build --profile development --platform ios
• Build for Store: eas build --profile production --platform all

2. EAS Update (OTA)

"Over The Air" updates allow you to fix bugs without going through the App Store review process.

How it works

1. You change JS/TS code.
2. You run eas update.
3. Users download the new bundle silently on next launch.

Important Rules

[!WARNING] Native Changes: If you install a new native library (e.g., camera or maps), OTA updates will CRASH the app for users who have the old binary. You MUST build a new binary (eas build) for native changes.

Commands

• Preview: eas update --branch preview
• Production: eas update --branch production

3. Versioning Strategy

• version in app.json = The Native Binary Version (e.g., 1.0.0). Change this for Store submissions.
• runtimeVersion in app.json = The Policy for OTA. Usually matches sdkVersion or appVersion.