Auto-Update SDK

The Sentry Auto-Update SDK enables your internal iOS builds to automatically check for and install newer versions distributed through Sentry's Build Distribution. This is particularly useful for distributing nightly, alpha, or beta builds to your internal teams. It is not required to use the Sentry crash reporting SDK to use the iOS Auto-Update SDK.

Pre-requisites

The SDK can only be installed using Swift Package Manager.

You'll also need an internal integration token with Build Distribution permissions.

Create an Integration Token

To use the Auto-Update SDK, you need to create an internal integration token with the appropriate permissions:

1. Navigate to Settings > Custom Integrations in your Sentry organization

2. Click Create New Integration

3. Select Internal Integration and click Next

4. Give your integration a name (e.g., "Build Distribution")

5. Under Permissions, select Read next to the Distribution scope.

6. Click Save Changes

7. Scroll down to the Tokens section and click New Token

8. Save the generated token, you'll need it to integrate the SDK

Installation

Add a dependency on the SentryDistribution target contained in the sentry-cocoa package (https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa)

.package(url: "https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa", from: "9.6.0"),

.target(name: "MyTarget", dependencies: ["SentryDistribution"]),

Usage

Use the SDK by calling Updater.checkForUpdate(params: ). In addition to the access token, provide your Sentry org and project slug in the CheckForUpdateParams. For example:

import SentryDistribution
import SwiftUI

struct MyView: View {
  var body: some View {
    Button("Check For Update") {
      let params = CheckForUpdateParams(
        accessToken: "MY_TOKEN",
        organization: "___ORG_SLUG___",
        project: "___PROJECT_SLUG___")
      Updater.checkForUpdate(params: params) { result in
        handleUpdateResult(result: result)
      }
    }
  }
  
  static func handleUpdateResult(result: Result<UpdateCheckResponse, Error>) {
    guard case let .success(releaseInfo) = result else {
        // Handle error
        return
    }
    
    guard let releaseInfo = releaseInfo.update else {
      print("Already up to date")
      return
    }
    
    guard let url = Updater.buildUrlForInstall(releaseInfo.downloadUrl) else {
      return
    }
    DispatchQueue.main.async {
      Updater.install(url: url)
    }
  }
}

Install Groups

Install groups let you control which build the Auto-Update SDK returns when checking for updates. The API always returns a single build — the latest (by semver version, then build number) whose install groups overlap with the filter. Tag your builds with install groups at upload time using sentry-cli or the Fastlane plugin, and the API automatically filters update checks — a device running a build uploaded with ["beta"] will only see updates from other ["beta"] builds.

Unlike Android, iOS builds are identified by the UUID of the app binary, which is unique per binary. This means the API can always reliably look up the correct build and its install groups, so no additional SDK-side configuration is needed.

See the Install Groups guide for upload instructions and full details on how filtering works.

Security Considerations

• Internal Use Only: Never ship the auto-update SDK in production builds destined for public app stores
• Token Security: The distribution token is embedded in the app and can be extracted by reverse engineering. Use tokens with only the distribution read permission which is the minimum required permission for the auto-update SDK.