Roll back a release

A rollback is a new release of an earlier bundle. The channel's release log keeps every step, and devices move to the old bundle like to any update. A revocation ends a release for good: a device running it moves to the newest older release it qualifies for, or to the embedded bundle.

Older code then runs over the data the newer bundle wrote. That is why an update only adds to stored data and never renames, removes or retypes it, the first of the three disciplines. A channel switch through setChannel has the same effect as a rollback.

Pick by what the devices should run next:

• Roll back when devices should run a known-good bundle at once. The rollback release is mandatory by default, so devices apply it as soon as they have downloaded it.
• Revoke when the release must not run anywhere and the release below it is the right place for its devices. Revoked is final, and the bundle comes back only through a new release.

PrerequisitesCopy Anchor Link

• The channel has at least two releases, since a rollback returns to one of them.
• You hold the Owner or Admin role when the channel is protected. Channels explains the flag.

1. Find the release to return toCopy Anchor Link

If you know the release number, skip to step 2.

npx hotcodepush release list --channel production

2. Roll backCopy Anchor Link

npx hotcodepush release rollback --channel production

The new release carries the target's bundle and conditions, records the release it replaces and applies within about a minute. A mandatory release restarts the app as soon as it is downloaded, unless the app set mandatoryApplyStrategy to manual, as Choose an apply strategy shows. If nothing happens, see Troubleshooting.

3. Or revoke insteadCopy Anchor Link

npx hotcodepush release revoke --release 43

A revocation applies within about a minute, and a device running the release leaves it on its next check. It takes a newer eligible release under its apply strategy. Otherwise it moves at once to the newest older release it qualifies for, or to the embedded bundle.

Revoked is final: npx hotcodepush release create --bundle 18 releases the bundle again as a new release.

4. Verify on devicesCopy Anchor Link

npx hotcodepush release get --release 44

A device that still shows the old release has not checked yet. If nothing happens, see Troubleshooting.

The device's own rollbackCopy Anchor Link

A release that fails to come up is rolled back on the device within seconds. After every apply the readiness gate waits for the app's first render, 10 seconds by default. A timeout or a crash reverts the device to the last confirmed bundle or the embedded one and blocks the bundle on that device.

The device reports the failure, and rollbackUpdate({ reason }) does the same from your code. The next start fires updateRolledBack once:

import { HotCodePush } from "@hotcodepush/capacitor-live-updates";

void HotCodePush.addListener("updateRolledBack", ({ fromRelease, toRelease, reason }) => {
  // fromRelease failed on this device; toRelease is null when the embedded bundle runs now.
  console.warn(`Rolled back from release #${fromRelease.number} (${reason})`, toRelease);
});

Those failure reports are what auto-pause counts, as Rollouts and auto-pause explains.

Next stepsCopy Anchor Link

• Roll out gradually: a rollout that pauses on failures makes a rollback rarer.
• Choose an apply strategy decides who restarts the app after a mandatory release.
• release lists every flag of release rollback, release revoke and release create --bundle.