MeteorJS: hot code push, downloading old bundle

Question

Whenever I make changes to the cordova-plugin list and upload to my server, new installs cannot download the bundle anymore. It just shows a white screen. Does this mean I have to upload new iphone/android versions every single time after making changes to the cordova plugin list?

Or is it possible to make sure the not yet updated appstore/play store app get served the older version?

If you send out a new update with a changed cordova-plugins file, you end up with two incompatible bundles. In my eyes the only solution is to update your mobile-server domain and the app in the appstore/playstore at the same time. Otherwise new app installs cannot download the bundle and will get a white screen.

However, this is not possible, since Apple takes about a day to review new app updates and they cannot review the app if you haven’t pushed the last version of the app to the mobile server yet…

Answer 1

The short answer is yes, you need to re-publish your APK every time you change your plugins.

Remember, Cordova plugins are not updated by hot code push so you will need to update your store listings in order to use the new cordova plugins. You will need to be aware of this when writing your code, and add conditionals to detect if the user has the new plugins installed.

This is from this article by Urigo: https://blog.meteor.com/meteor-hot-code-push-with-great-power-comes-great-responsibility-7e9e8f7312d5