OTA Update for build with unspecified channel.

Expo Application Services (EAS)
1

I am trying to update a build I published without a specified channel. I submitted this via eas submit.

I am wondering if this is possible. I was using bare workflow before and my updates would go to ‘default’ channel just fine.

Corollary question, is there a way to see what channel my build points to? I could not find this info anywhere.

My eas.json looks like this:

 "build": {
    "development": {
      "developmentClient": true,
      "distribution": "internal",
    },
    "preview": {
      "distribution": "internal",
    },
    "production": {
    }
  },
  "submit": {
    "production": {...
2

hey @ajkp ,

I am wondering if this is possible. I was using bare workflow before and my updates would go to ‘default’ channel just fine.

No, it is not. If your build does not subscribe to a channel, it will not get updated. EAS Update requires you to specify the channel your build subscribes to.

Corollary question, is there a way to see what channel my build points to? I could not find this info anywhere.

Yes, there are a couple places. If you’ve used EAS Build, you will be able use the Deployments page to see which updates your builds will get, along with the channels they point to. Also, if you go to the Builds page you can click on your build and see the channel it was built with

3

@quinlanj bummer seems sort of a breaking change to mandate channels for updates (since this wasn’t the case in the classic workflow), but I understand.

I tried to check the Builds Page, but did not see info on the channel.

All I see is:

SDK version
Profile
Version
Version code
Commit
Created by

Under “Additional Details”
Build ID
Full name
Project ID
Resource class

4

Your build is not configured to a channel. Just to sanity check, did you run the setup instructions here: Get started - Expo Documentation ?

When you complete these steps, your eas.json should specify the channels like this:

{
  "build": {
    "preview": {
      "channel": "preview"
      // ...
    },
    "production": {
      "channel": "production"
      // ...
    }
  }
}
5

No I did not read/run the Update Documentation. Simply followed the build docs Create your first build - Expo Documentation and thought update would be supported by default as in non eas builds.

After following the build docs, I did not get a channel. It may be worth initializing channels / allowing updates by default? I can’t think of a benefit of having to opt in to updates. I’m sure you have a lot more visibility on pros and cons for this though.

6

If you have “channel” set in your eas.json like quinlanj mentioned.

Check if expo-updates is being in dev dependency.