I have a use case at work where we have a web application that we’d like to add Capacitor to and deploy to the app store in addition to the existing PWA presence it has. If it was an app that rarely changed then it would be no problem, simply develop it as I would normally. This app, however, is updated every morning with bug fixes, new features, etc. The app stores have a whole approval process for each version I release, sometimes taking multiple days. If I do that, the app store version will potentially be days behind the web version, which could be problematic if we made breaking changes.
How is best to handle this? The ideal scenario is I could simply have a lightweight app that merely loads our web app from the web, but I would imagine that’s not possible due to App Store policies. I know there’s Ionic AppFlow’s “Deploy” product, but we won’t be able to pay for that solution.
If you have a similar scenario to me, how do you handle this?
Go through normal app store approval processes, but have the app get out of sync quickly.
Load the web app from a web URL. This is possible with Capacitor, but yes, Apple will reject/remove the app if they catch you. The reason is basically that they don’t want a developer to change the app out from under them. Such as if a children’s game app suddenly switched to a gambling app.
Use Appflow’s Live Update feature to update the UI and business logic remotely.
Implement your own Live Update feature to deploy updates remotely.
The Live Update feature is your best option. You could try to implement it yourself, but if this is for your work, why not try Appflow? It’s free to get started. Try it out as a POC, then show the team to get buy-in. If it’s something you really need, they might be up for it and it’s worth paying for so that you can focus on the unique features your business needs.