@chankruze/react-native-in-app-updates

Lightweight in-app updates for Android and iOS.

• Android — Google Play In-App Updates API (FLEXIBLE + IMMEDIATE flows)
• iOS — iTunes Search API version check + App Store redirect
• New Architecture — TurboModule on Android, pure TypeScript on iOS
• Zero extra dependencies beyond react-native

Compatibility

Environment	Supported
React Native CLI	✅
Expo Bare Workflow	✅
EAS Build + expo-dev-client	✅
Expo Managed Workflow	❌
Expo Go	❌

Expo Managed / Expo Go users: This library requires native module support which is not available in the managed sandbox. Use expo-in-app-updates instead.

Why it won't work in Expo Managed Workflow

Our library uses the standard React Native TurboModule API (NativeReactNativeInAppUpdatesSpec, TurboModuleRegistry). Expo Go and Expo Managed Workflow sandbox the native layer — custom TurboModules can't be registered because there's no access to the native build pipeline. The app would crash on the TurboModuleRegistry.getEnforcing call at startup.

Expo has their own native module system (expo-modules-core) and their own in-app updates package (expo-in-app-updates) built on it. That's the right tool for managed Expo users.

Installation

yarn add @chankruze/react-native-in-app-updates
# or
npm install @chankruze/react-native-in-app-updates

iOS

No native setup needed — iOS is pure TypeScript.

No LSApplicationQueriesSchemes required. Unlike libraries that use the itms-apps:// deep link scheme, this library opens the App Store via a standard https://apps.apple.com/... URL. HTTPS URLs do not need to be whitelisted in Info.plist or app.json.

Android

No manual linking needed. The library uses com.google.android.play:app-update-ktx which is bundled.

Important: In-App Updates only work on release builds installed from the Play Store. Debug builds always return updateAvailable: false.

Quick start

import { useEffect } from 'react';
import { Platform, Linking } from 'react-native';
import {
  checkForUpdate,
  startUpdate,
  installUpdate,
  addUpdateListener,
  UpdateType,
  InstallStatus,
  type IosUpdateInfo,
  type AndroidUpdateInfo,
} from '@chankruze/react-native-in-app-updates';

function useInAppUpdates() {
  useEffect(() => {
    // Android FLEXIBLE: auto-install once download completes
    if (Platform.OS !== 'android') return;
    return addUpdateListener('onInAppUpdateStatus', (event) => {
      if (event.status === InstallStatus.DOWNLOADED) {
        installUpdate();
      }
    });
  }, []);

  useEffect(() => {
    const run = async () => {
      try {
        if (Platform.OS === 'ios') {
          const info = (await checkForUpdate({
            bundleId: 'com.example.myapp',
            country: 'us',
          })) as IosUpdateInfo;

          if (info.updateAvailable && info.appStoreUrl) {
            // Show your own modal, then:
            Linking.openURL(info.appStoreUrl);
          }
        } else {
          const info = (await checkForUpdate({})) as AndroidUpdateInfo;
          if (info.updateAvailable) {
            // priority >= 4 → force IMMEDIATE, otherwise FLEXIBLE
            const type =
              info.updatePriority >= 4
                ? UpdateType.IMMEDIATE
                : UpdateType.FLEXIBLE;
            await startUpdate(type);
          }
        }
      } catch {
        // in-app updates are best-effort — never interrupt the user
      }
    };

    run();
  }, []);
}

API

checkForUpdate(options?)

Checks whether an update is available.

Option	Type	Platform	Description
bundleId	string	iOS (required)	App bundle ID
country	string	iOS	ISO 3166-1 country code (e.g. 'us', 'in')
curVersion	string	iOS	Current version to compare against

Returns AndroidUpdateInfo on Android:

Field	Type	Description
updateAvailable	boolean	Whether a newer version exists
availabilityStatus	AvailabilityStatus	Raw Play Store availability enum
flexibleAllowed	boolean	FLEXIBLE update is allowed
immediateAllowed	boolean	IMMEDIATE update is allowed
updatePriority	number	Server-set priority 0–5 (use >= 4 for IMMEDIATE)
versionCode	number	Available Play Store version code
daysSinceRelease	number | null	Days since update was published

Returns IosUpdateInfo on iOS:

Field	Type	Description
updateAvailable	boolean	Whether a newer version exists
storeVersion	string	Latest version string (e.g. "2.1.0")
releaseDate	string | null	ISO 8601 release date
appStoreUrl	string | null	Direct App Store URL for Linking.openURL

---

startUpdate(updateType?)

Android only. Triggers the Play Store update flow.

await startUpdate(UpdateType.FLEXIBLE); // download in background
await startUpdate(UpdateType.IMMEDIATE); // full-screen blocking update

---

installUpdate()

Android only. Completes a finished FLEXIBLE download. Call this when onInAppUpdateStatus fires with status === InstallStatus.DOWNLOADED.

---

addUpdateListener(event, listener)

Android only. Subscribes to native update events. Returns an unsubscribe function.

const unsubscribe = addUpdateListener('onInAppUpdateStatus', (event) => {
  console.log(event.status); // InstallStatus enum value
  console.log(event.bytesDownloaded); // bytes downloaded so far
  console.log(event.totalBytesToDownload);
});

// cleanup
unsubscribe();

Events:

Event	Payload	Description
onInAppUpdateStatus	UpdateStatusEvent	Download progress + install status
onInAppUpdateResult	UpdateResultEvent	Final result (installed / cancelled)

---

openAppStore(appId)

iOS only. Opens the App Store page for the given numeric App Store ID.

openAppStore('123456789');
// opens https://apps.apple.com/app/id123456789

Alternatively, use Linking.openURL(info.appStoreUrl) with the URL from checkForUpdate.

Enums

enum UpdateType {
  FLEXIBLE = 0, // background download, user continues using app
  IMMEDIATE = 1, // full-screen blocking update
}

enum InstallStatus {
  UNKNOWN = 0,
  PENDING = 1,
  DOWNLOADING = 2,
  INSTALLING = 3,
  INSTALLED = 4,
  FAILED = 5,
  CANCELED = 6,
  DOWNLOADED = 11, // ready to install — call installUpdate()
}

enum AvailabilityStatus {
  UNKNOWN = 0,
  UNAVAILABLE = 1,
  AVAILABLE = 2,
  DEVELOPER_TRIGGERED = 3,
}

Android testing

Play Store In-App Updates require a real device with a release build installed from the Play Store (or Internal Testing track).

1. Upload versionCode = 1 to Play Console → Internal Testing track
2. Install on device via the Internal Testing link
3. Upload versionCode = 2 to Internal Testing (no need to publish)
4. Open the app — checkForUpdate() will now return updateAvailable: true

iOS testing

checkForUpdate() hits the live iTunes Search API. To test:

1. Ensure your app is published on the App Store
2. Pass your production bundleId and the correct country code
3. If the App Store version is higher than curVersion, updateAvailable will be true

License

MIT

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Made with create-react-native-library