A well run hot update program delivers critical fixes in minutes instead of weeks. Yet every Cordova team must balance the convenience of over-the-air (OTA) releases with the guardrails imposed by Apple, Google, and corporate security. The following checklist keeps your first wave of updates safe and high‑impact.
What Cordova Allows You to Change
Cordova bundles ship with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and media assets that can be swapped without resubmitting the binary. That means UI copy adjustments, bug fixes, feature flags, and analytics tweaks can all be patched instantly. Anything that touches native capabilities—new plugins, entitlements, or payment flows—still requires a store upload. When in doubt, scope new work to web assets, and save native changes for your next sprint.
Respecting Store Policies
Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines and Google’s Developer Program Policy allow OTA fixes as long as they don’t fundamentally change the product. Keep a running changelog, demonstrate that every hot update improves stability or UI, and avoid any dynamic code execution that could be interpreted as downloading a new app shell. Our security hardening guide goes deeper into code signing.
When to Ship OTA Versus Waiting
- Ship now: copy fixes, JavaScript logic bugs, updated translations, CSS tweaks, telemetry instrumentation.
- Binary release: new App Tracking Transparency prompts, plugin additions, push notification changes, or anything requiring new permissions.
- Hybrid approach: release minimal native scaffolding, then finish polish and experiments via OTA.
Building Confidence Before the First Push
Establish a repeatable workflow that includes bundling, automated tests, signing, and staged rollouts. Pair your foundational checklist with the deeper dives on rollout strategy, payload optimization, and versioning. When these basics are in place, hot updates evolve from a risky last resort into your default delivery motion.