Publishing app releases

Platform → Releases — “Point the in-app updater and the public downloads page at a build. Publishing takes effect on the next client request — no redeploy.”

Exactly one release is live per platform and channel. Publishing a new one retires the previous one automatically.

How shipping a build works

1. Create a release and attach each build file. Files upload straight to object storage and are checksummed on the server afterwards.
2. Store-delivered platforms — the App Store and Play — take a listing URL instead of a file.
3. Activate it. The in-app updater and the public downloads page both pick it up on their next request.

Publishing

1. Go to Platform → Releases and click New release.
2. Pick the platform you are shipping. The form is prefilled with that platform’s usual install method, minimum OS and download set, and everything stays editable.
3. Fill in the Version, the Channel, the Install method, the Minimum OS and the Release notes.
4. Set the Minimum version — the mandatory-update floor. Read the warning below before you put anything in this box.
5. Under Downloads, click Add download for each file. Use Upload build, set the Button label, Kind, format and arch, and mark one Primary download. The size and checksum are filled in by the server once the upload verifies.
6. Save.
7. When you are ready, click Publish and confirm. The dialog names exactly what replaces what.

Retire takes a release down: “The updater stops offering an update and the downloads page loses these files.”

The Minimum version floor locks every device on that platform at once

Anything below the floor gets the full-screen Update required block — no Later, no Back, the app unusable until it updates. It applies to every device on that platform and channel simultaneously.

There is no staged rollout. A Rollout % can be recorded, but nothing acts on it.

Publish the release and confirm it installs before you raise the floor. If the build is broken or its download address is wrong, every till on that platform is stuck with no way forward. See installing and updating for what the user sees.

Editing a release replaces its download list wholesale

The save sends the complete set of files, so anything not on the form when you save is dropped — silently, with no confirmation.

If you open a release to change one field, do not remove a download row by accident.

Deleting a release does not delete the uploaded files

“The binaries in object storage are not touched.” Storage grows with every deleted release and there is no cleanup here. Tidy the bucket separately.

An unreachable release is reported to users as “up to date”

If a release is retired, or the version endpoint has a problem, every client is told it is on the latest version rather than shown an error. That is deliberate — it keeps shops selling — but it means silence is not evidence that updates are reaching anyone.

What users get

The in-app updater offers an ordinary update as a dismissible banner, and a below-the-floor update as the blocking screen. Whether it installs by itself depends entirely on the platform — web and Android-from-Play are automatic, iPhone is a store redirect, and Linux has no automatic path at all.

The full picture, written for merchants, is at installing and updating.

Related

• Installing and updating
• Platform data and staff