Mobile CI/CD: Are you set up for delivery success?

CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment or Delivery) is an important component for ensuring regular, predictable, and high-quality releases of mobile apps. Without a solid CI/CD process, teams struggle to deliver efficiently, maintain reliable releases, and scale effectively.

For technology leaders who aren't mobile specialists, this guide simplifies why mobile CI/CD is different, how to assess your current process, and how to choose the right tools for an effective mobile CI/CD set up.

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Why CI/CD matters for mobile app success

A good CI/CD pipeline removes avoidable bottlenecks that slow down product delivery and increase costs. With the right pipeline in place you get:

• Predictability - deliver features on schedule and meet business expectations.
• Efficiency - reduce time spent on manual build maintenance.
• Risk reduction - ship smaller, well-tested changes more frequently, avoiding large, error-prone releases.
• User trust - prevent shipping broken updates that frustrate customers and damage your brand.

Unlike web or backend software, mobile apps have unique CI/CD constraints that require a different approach.

How mobile CI/CD is different from web or backend CI/CD

In web and backend systems, CI/CD allows fully automated deployments. Developers merge code, pipelines run, and if all tests pass, changes go live. Some teams deploy hundreds of times a day.

With mobile apps, this level of automation isn't possible. Even high-performing teams release only every 1-2 weeks - 500 times less frequently than comparable web teams!

Why?

1. App Store approvals - iOS and Android apps require manual review before release. Pushing new changes before approval resets the process, so you can't go any faster.
2. Manual store page updates - screenshots, marketing text, and keywords require updates, which can't be fully automated.
3. Staged releases - a mobile update build goes through internal testing, beta testing, before reaching all users. These steps can be automated to some degree, but require some manual steps.
4. No rollbacks - unlike web apps, users don't automatically get fixes. Some may never update, meaning bad releases have lasting consequences.

Because of these constraints, a strong mobile CI/CD process must support multiple workflows.

There are some other differences to be aware of:

1. iOS requires macOS to build - this affects where you can run builds, which CI/CD services you can use, and makes it more expensive than other CI/CD.
2. Automated UI testing runs on mobile hardware - whether on real devices, simulators, or emulators, it needs integrating into your CI/CD pipelines.
3. Mobile builds require provisioning, certificates, and code signing - these add specific configuration steps, API calls, and complexities that don't exist in other CI/CD pipelines.
4. Mobile CI/CD can't fully automate releases - instead of continuous deployment, you need multiple workflows to deliver to internal testers, promote to beta, and release to app stores.
5. iOS and Android have separate CI/CD flows - even with cross-platform frameworks like React Native or Flutter, each platform runs its own build process.
6. Mobile tooling, especially iOS requires frequent updates - new versions of iOS, Xcode, etc. are interdependent, meaning you must keep them up to date to ship updates. Managing this yourself is complex, so using a mobile-specific SaaS tool is often the best option.

Is your mobile CI/CD performing well?

If you're not a mobile specialist, it can be hard to assess whether your CI/CD setup is working. Here's a quick checklist:

Signs of a strong mobile CI/CD process

1. Frequent releases - you ship to app stores every 1-2 weeks (or after every significant change).
2. On-demand builds – if a bug is found, your team can quickly create and distribute a fix.
3. Immediate internal testing - every code change is automatically shared with internal testers.
4. Minimal maintenance overhead - your CI/CD system runs on up-to-date platforms without your team manually maintaining it.
5. Build tracking - you always know which version is in testing, beta, or live.
6. Error-free releases - you can promote builds without the risk of publishing the wrong version.

Red flags: signs your CI/CD needs improvement

1. You release once a month or less.
2. It's difficult to create release builds on demand. For example if you needed to fix a bug, it would be difficult for the team.
3. Builds are run on a developer machine rather than on a CI/CD platform.
4. Builds are manually uploaded to test and live app store environments.
5. You spend a lot of time keeping your build environments up to date.
6. You don't continuously deliver all code changes to an internal test environment.
7. You are running iOS and Android builds on different platforms and finding it hard to manage.
8. You put off releases because they are time consuming.
9. You find it difficult to manage which builds are at which stage of test / production
10. You sometimes make mistakes when promoting builds and release the wrong version.

If any of these red flags sound familiar, improving your CI/CD will enable smoother delivery, and free up more capacity in your team to focus on product development.

Choosing the right CI/CD approach

There are different options for CI/CD, with mobile-specific SaaS solutions at one end, to self-managed options at the other. Because of the added complexities of mobile, my default recommendation is mobile-specific SaaS. For most teams, the benefits of easier management and more frequent builds will far outweigh the cost of the service.

Mobile-Specific CI/CD platforms

🟢 Best choice

Recommended for: Small to mid-sized teams, startups, and companies focused on speed and reliability.

Examples: Codemagic, Bitrise, Expo Application Services (EAS), Xcode Cloud

Pros:

• Manages provisioning, certificates, signing and store uploads for you.
• Automatic updates to tooling (Xcode, Android SDKs, etc.).
• Reliable, repeatable builds.
• Widely used, proven and dependable.

Cons:

• Subscription cost (though often cheaper than maintaining in-house infrastructure)
• Service outages can temporarily block builds.

Tips:

• Embrace mobile-specific CI/CD tools - they handle the unique challenges of mobile CI/CD and will save time and reduce complexity in the long run.
• Choose a platform with transparent pricing and looked for capped monthly fees - this gives you cost certainty and make it easier to justify the investment.
• Use the same platform for all builds within a team - managing both iOS and Android in a single CI/CD tool simplifies workflows, reduces maintenance, and improves consistency.

💡 Ideal for: teams that want a plug-and-play CI/CD setup without maintenance overhead.

GitHub Actions with built-in runners

🟡 Use with caution

Recommended for: teams with large budgets who use GitHub Actions in their wider organisation.

Pros:

GitHub actions has the same pros as mobile-specific CI/CD platforms, i.e.

• Manages provisioning, certificates, signing and store uploads for you.
• Automatic updates to tooling (Xcode, Android SDKs, etc.).
• Reliable, repeatable builds.
• Widely used, proven and dependable.

Cons:

• Runners required for building iOS are EXTREMELY expensive (10x more than other platforms at time of writing).
• Teams often have to migrate soon after implementing due to high cost.

Tips:

• If you have to migrate your iOS builds away from GitHub Actions, move your Android builds at the same time. Supporting multiple build systems in a team adds complexity and cost.

General CI/CD platforms (GitHub Actions, CircleCI, Azure DevOps) with custom runners

🟠 Use with caution

Examples: GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps

Pros:

• Familiarity for engineers who already use these tools.
• Consistent with tools used in your wider organisation.

Cons:

• Using a virtual mac is expensive and requires expertise to set up and maintain.
• Using a physical mac brings challenges around availability, redundancy and remote access.
• Difficult to maintain - requires managing Xcode, Android SDKs, and build dependencies manually.

Tips:

• Avoid this approach unless you have a dedicated DevOps to manage the complexity.

Developer machine builds

🔴 Avoid

Not recommended for any team that needs scalable, repeatable releases. If your team is still running builds on developer laptops, it's time to upgrade.

Cons:

• Wastes developer time and decrease productivity.
• Inconsistent builds and risk of machine unavailability.
• Not scalable.

Next steps: improve your mobile CI/CD

If your team is struggling with mobile builds, or you're not sure if you're using the best approach, feel free to ask me anything to get pointed in the right direction.

Commonly asked questions about mobile CI/CD

Should my iOS and Android builds use the same CI/CD tool

If you are building with cross-platform frameworks such as React Native or Flutter, yes.

If you are building mobile apps natively within a single team, using the same tool to make it easier to manage.

If you are building mobile apps natively in different teams for iOS and Android, they can each choose their own tooling.

Can I use my existing pipelines for mobile CI/CD

Yes, technically you can do that, but I'd recommend using a mobile-specific tool for smaller teams.

Can I use GitHub Actions for mobile CI/CD

Yes, you can use GitHub Actions, but it's very expensive to build iOS apps with built-in runners.

Using custom runners is also possible, but that introduces time-consuming set-up and maintenance.

I'd recommend using a mobile-specific tool for smaller teams.

If I choose a mobile-specific SaaS am I locked in?

You are tied to that service, but the barrier to switching is relatively low. You would need to replicate your workflows in a new system, which is typically less than 1 day's effort per platform.