react-native-versionpilot

react-native-versionpilot

I kept rewriting the same "check for update" screen in every app — hit the Play Store / App Store, compare versions, show a modal, block the back button if it's a critical release. This is that logic packaged as one component so I (and hopefully you) never have to write it again.

Preview

Install

yarn add react-native-versionpilot
cd ios && pod install

It's a native module, so a full rebuild is needed after install — a Metro reload won't pick it up.

Get it running

Wrap your app once:

import { VersionPilot } from 'react-native-versionpilot';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <VersionPilot>
      <Navigation />
    </VersionPilot>
  );
}

On launch it grabs the current version, hits the store for the latest one, and shows a dialog if there's something newer. No other setup.

If you want it pointed at specific store listings instead of guessing from the bundle id:

<VersionPilot
  country="IN"
  iosAppId="6443614190"
  androidPackageName="com.languageacademy"
  theme={{ primaryColor: '#1b4e73' }}
>
  <Navigation />
</VersionPilot>

Update modes

Most apps need three different behaviors depending on how big the release is, so all three are built in.

Optional — the default. Shows Update / Later.

<VersionPilot force={false} />

Force — only an Update button, and on Android the hardware back button is disabled so people can't dismiss it.

<VersionPilot force />

Auto force on major/minor — instead of deciding manually, let the version bump decide:

<VersionPilot autoForceOnMinor />

And if you'd rather not show anything automatically and just want the data:

import AppUpdate from 'react-native-versionpilot';

const result = await AppUpdate.check({ showDialog: false });

if (result.updateAvailable) {
  AppUpdate.showDialog(result);
}

What you get back

const result = await AppUpdate.check();

// {
//   updateAvailable: true,
//   currentVersion: '1.0.0',
//   latestVersion: '1.2.0',
//   forceUpdate: false,
//   storeUrl: 'https://...',
//   releaseNotes: '...',
// }

<VersionPilot> props

Making it look like your app

The default theme is a plain teal card, which is intentionally boring so you'll want to change it:

<VersionPilot
  theme={{
    primaryColor: '#1b4e73',
    backgroundColor: '#FFFFFF',
    borderRadius: 24,
  }}
  title="New Update"
  message="A new version is available."
/>

If theming isn't enough and you want to throw the whole layout away:

<VersionPilot
  renderContent={({ title, message, onUpdate, onLater, forceUpdate }) => (
    <>{/* whatever you want here */}</>
  )}
/>

The dialog itself is also responsive — text and spacing scale with screen width instead of being fixed pixel values, so it doesn't look oversized on a small phone or cramped on a tablet.

The rest of the API

Things you probably won't need on day one, but are there if you do.

<VersionPilot
  styles={{
    card: { paddingTop: 32 },
    title: { fontSize: 24 },
    updateButton: { minHeight: 52 },
  }}
  icon={require('./assets/update.png')}
  buttonLayout="horizontal"
/>

import { UpdateDialog, useAppUpdate } from 'react-native-versionpilot';

const { result, visible, openStore, hideDialog } = useAppUpdate({ showDialog: false });

<UpdateDialog visible={visible} result={result} onUpdate={openStore} onLater={hideDialog} />

AppUpdate.addListener('updateFound', result => {});
AppUpdate.addListener('updated', result => {});
AppUpdate.addListener('later', result => {});
AppUpdate.removeAllListeners();

AppUpdate.showDialog(result);
AppUpdate.hideDialog();
AppUpdate.openStore();
AppUpdate.getCurrentVersion();
AppUpdate.getBuildNumber();
AppUpdate.configure({ country: 'IN', autoForceOnMinor: true });

How it actually finds the version

• iOS — the iTunes lookup API, by bundle id or App Store numeric id.
• Android — there's no public Play Store API, so it reads the version straight off the store listing page. This is the same trick most update-check libraries use; if Google changes their HTML this could need a fix, so open an issue if it stops working.

Expo

The store-checking part is plain fetch, so it works fine in Expo Go. The native bits (reading the installed version/build number) need a dev client or a bare build — or just pass them in yourself:

await AppUpdate.check({
  currentVersion: '1.0.0',
  androidPackageName: 'com.example.app',
  iosAppId: '1234567890',
});

License

MIT — Pawan Vishwakarma