expo-eas-update-expert

EAS Update channels and branches route OTA deployments to specific Expo environments like staging or production. You configure them within your app configuration to direct over-the-air updates to the correct audience without requiring a full native rebuild.

Managing runtime versions ensures Expo OTA updates are only applied to compatible native builds. You define runtime version policies in your configuration to prevent pushing JavaScript bundles that rely on native dependencies missing from the user's current app build.

EAS Update supports staged rollouts and rollbacks for Expo over-the-air updates. You can gradually deploy updates to a percentage of users, monitor validation, and revert to a previous update if issues occur in production or staging environments.

expo-updates integrates with EAS Update by acting as the client library that fetches and applies Expo OTA updates. You configure it alongside your build pipelines to ensure smooth update delivery and validation directly from your defined channels.

You need runtime versions for Expo OTA updates to maintain compatibility between JavaScript bundles and native code. When you push an update requiring new native dependencies, the runtime version prevents delivery to incompatible app builds, avoiding crashes.