A mobile app update strategy checklist

“Ship an update” sounds simple until it's 5pm on a Friday and you're deciding whether to push a fix to a million devices with no plan for what happens if it's wrong. A real update strategy answers those questions before you need them. Here's a complete checklist for how a Capacitor app should handle updates, with OtaKit as the reference implementation.

Cadence — how often you ship

• Decide a default rhythm (continuous on merge, or batched) so releases are predictable.
• Have a separate emergency path for hotfixes — see deploy a hotfix in minutes.
• Keep native store releases rare; ship the web layer over the air in between.

Channels — where updates flow

• Set up dev/staging/production channels — see staging environments.
• Validate on staging, then promote the same bundle — see channel promotion.
• Have a beta channel for opt-in users — see targeting users.

Rollout — how fast updates reach everyone

• Use staged rollouts for anything non-trivial — see staged rollouts.
• Reserve force-immediate for genuine emergencies — see forced updates.

Safety — what happens when it's wrong

• Confirm notifyAppReady() is called so automatic rollback is armed.
• Know your manual rollback / roll-forward move — see rollback strategies.
• Test updates on device before production — see how to test.

Versioning — keeping bundles compatible with shells

• Use runtime versions to gate bundles to compatible native shells — see semantic versioning.
• Never ship a bundle that assumes a native capability older binaries lack.

Observability — knowing what happened

• Track apply and rollback rates — see monitoring.
• Have a debugging runbook — see debugging OTA updates.

Communication — telling users what changed

• Keep changelogs for OTA releases — see changelogs and release notes.
• Decide your update UX: silent vs prompt — see background vs foreground.

Where to go next

Start with update strategies, then work through the linked posts for each area you haven't nailed down yet.