Versioning Cordova Hot Updates

Consistent identifiers unlock reliable rollouts, diffing, and reporting.

Without disciplined versioning, teams struggle to know which bundle is live, which devices received it, and how to rollback. Adopt these practices to keep history clear.

Use Semantic Bundle IDs

Format bundles as appVersion.hotUpdate.incremental. Example: 5.3.0.2024.04. The first three numbers mirror the store binary. The final digits increment each OTA push. This instantly tells support which binary is required for a fix.

Publish a Machine-Readable Manifest

{
  "bundleId": "5.3.0.2024.04",
  "createdAt": "2024-04-02T15:04:05Z",
  "minNativeVersion": "5.3.0",
  "checksum": "sha256-....",
  "notes": "Fixes crash in checkout",
  "rollout": {
    "qa": 100,
    "beta": 25,
    "prod": 5
  }
}

Store the manifest with the artifact so your rollout tooling can enforce the gating strategies from our rollout playbook.

Track Dependencies and Approvals

Log which Git commit, environment variables, and reviewers are associated with each bundle. Include links to QA evidence and security scans. This lineage makes compliance reviews painless.

Bonus: Use the manifest notes to point to relevant KPIs in your metrics dashboard so leaders can correlate business impact.

Versioning discipline pays dividends every time you troubleshoot an incident, report progress, or onboard a new team member.