Capacitor OTA Updates: A Complete Guide

OTA Updates for Capacitor Apps: The Missing Piece

For too long, Capacitor developers have been treated as second-class citizens in the OTA world. While React Native had CodePush, Capacitor developers were forced to use clunky workarounds or paid proprietary services tied to a specific framework.

Upflux changes that. We provide what is arguably the first enterprise-grade OTA solution designed specifically for Capacitor.

Why Capacitor Needs OTA Updates

Capacitor apps are web apps wrapped in a native shell. This makes them perfect candidates for OTA updates because 99% of your app logic lives in HTML, CSS, and JS—all of which can be hot-swapped instantly.

Common Pain Points We Solve

• The "White Screen of Death": If you ship a JS error, your app is dead until a new store review. With Upflux, you can roll back the bundle instantly.
• Sync Issues: Keeping web and native logic in sync is hard. Upflux allows you to target specific native binary versions with your web updates.

How Upflux Works with Capacitor

Upflux integrates deeply with the Capacitor runtime.

1. Intercept: The Upflux plugin intercepts the web view's request to load index.html.
2. Route: It checks if a newer, verified update exists in the local file system.
3. Serve: If yes, it serves the assets from the update folder. If no, it falls back to the bundled assets.

This ensures your app works offline-first and never hangs while checking for updates.

Getting Started

Step 1: Install the SDK

We have a dedicated package for Capacitor.

npm install @upfluxhq/capacitor
npx cap sync

Step 2: Initialize Upflux

In your src/main.ts or App.tsx:

import { Upflux } from '@upfluxhq/capacitor';

const upflux = new Upflux({
  appId: 'your-app-id',
  deployment: 'production',
  clientKey: 'upx_cli_xxxxx',
  serverUrl: 'https://api.upflux.io'
});

await upflux.init();

Step 3: Check and Apply Updates

You have full control over when updates happen. A common pattern is to check on launch:

const update = await upflux.checkForUpdates();

if (update.updateAvailable) {
  // Show a "New Update Available" UI or download silently
  const result = await upflux.downloadUpdate(update);
  
  if (result.success) {
    // Reload the WebView to apply
    await upflux.applyUpdate(result);
  }
}

Capacitor vs React Native OTA

Best Practices for Capacitor OTA

1. Version Your Native Shell: Use semantic versioning for your native builds (e.g., 1.0.0). Target your OTA updates to 1.0.x to ensure compatibility.
2. Test on Real Devices: The Capacitor WebView behaves differently than a desktop browser. Always test OTA updates on physical hardware.
3. Handle Offline Gracefully: Upflux is offline-safe by default, but ensure your update checking logic doesn't block app startup if the network is flaky.

Supported Capacitor Versions

Upflux supports:

• Capacitor 5.x
• Capacitor 6.x

Ready to give your Capacitor app superpowers? Read the generic setup guide or sign up now.