--- description: Tutorials, guides, and updates for Capacitor development. Live Updates, plugins, Ionic, and cross-platform app development. title: Blog – Capacitor Tutorials, Guides, and Updates - Capawesome image: https://capawesome.io/docs/assets/images/social/blog/page/4/index.png --- [ Skip to content](#blog) [ πŸ” Introducing the **Capacitor Vault** plugin β€” store secrets behind biometrics or a device passcode.](/blog/announcing-the-capacitor-vault-plugin/) * [ Formbricks ](/docs/plugins/formbricks/) * [ Geocoder ](/docs/plugins/geocoder/) * [ Google Sign-In ](/docs/plugins/google-sign-in/) * [ Grafana Faro ](/docs/plugins/grafana-faro/) * [ libSQL ](/docs/plugins/libsql/) * [ Live Update ](/docs/plugins/live-update/) * [ Managed Configurations ](/docs/plugins/managed-configurations/) * [ Media Session ](/docs/plugins/media-session/) * [ ML Kit ](/docs/plugins/mlkit/) * [ Navigation Bar ](/docs/plugins/navigation-bar/) * [ NFC ](/docs/plugins/nfc/) * [ OAuth ](/docs/plugins/oauth/) * [ Pedometer ](/docs/plugins/pedometer/) * [ Photo Editor ](/docs/plugins/photo-editor/) * [ PostHog ](/docs/plugins/posthog/) * [ Printer ](/docs/plugins/printer/) * [ Purchases ](/docs/plugins/purchases/) * [ RealtimeKit ](/docs/plugins/realtimekit/) * [ Screen Orientation ](/docs/plugins/screen-orientation/) * [ Screenshot ](/docs/plugins/screenshot/) * [ Secure Preferences ](/docs/plugins/secure-preferences/) * [ Speech Recognition ](/docs/plugins/speech-recognition/) * [ Speech Synthesis ](/docs/plugins/speech-synthesis/) * [ Share Target ](/docs/plugins/share-target/) * [ Square Mobile Payments ](/docs/plugins/square-mobile-payments/) * [ SQLite ](/docs/plugins/sqlite/) * [ Superwall ](/docs/plugins/superwall/) * [ Torch ](/docs/plugins/torch/) * [ Vault ](/docs/plugins/vault/) * [ Wifi ](/docs/plugins/wifi/) * [ Zip ](/docs/plugins/zip/) * [ Cloud ](/docs/cloud/) * [ Live Updates ](/docs/cloud/live-updates/) * Advanced * Integrations * [ Native Builds ](/docs/cloud/native-builds/) * [ Configuration ](/docs/cloud/native-builds/configuration/) * [ Environments ](/docs/cloud/native-builds/environments/) * Guides * [ Sample Projects ](/docs/cloud/native-builds/sample-projects/) * [ Troubleshooting ](/docs/cloud/native-builds/troubleshooting/) * [ Automations ](/docs/cloud/automations/) * [ Assist ](/docs/cloud/assist/) * Account * Organizations * [ Organization and User Management ](/docs/cloud/organizations/memberships/) * [ Single Sign-On (SSO) ](/docs/cloud/organizations/sso/) * [ Teams ](/docs/cloud/organizations/teams/) * [ Two-Factor Authentication ](/docs/cloud/organizations/two-factor-authentication/) * [ Integrations ](/docs/cloud/integrations/) * [ License Keys ](/docs/cloud/license-keys/) * [ Webhooks ](/docs/cloud/webhooks/) * [ Pricing ](https://capawesome.io/pricing/) * [ FAQ ](/docs/cloud/faq/) * [ Support ](/docs/cloud/support/) * [ Contributing ](/docs/contributing/) * [ LLMs ](/docs/llms/) * [ Insiders ](/docs/insiders/) * [ License ](https://capawesome.io/legal/eula/) * [ Support ](/docs/insiders/support/) * [ FAQ ](/docs/insiders/faq/) * [ Blog ](/blog/) * Categories ## [How to Use SPM Package Traits in Capacitor 8](/blog/how-to-use-spm-package-traits-in-capacitor/) Capacitor 8 now supports Swift Package Manager (SPM) package traits, bringing feature-flag-like capabilities to your iOS plugin dependencies. If you've ever needed to toggle an optional dependency β€” like enabling SQLCipher encryption for a SQLite plugin β€” you can now do it directly from your Capacitor config. This was previously only possible with CocoaPods subspecs, and since SPM is the default package manager in Capacitor, this fills an important gap. ## [CI/CD for Capacitor: Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them](/blog/ci-cd-for-capacitor-common-pitfalls/) Getting CI/CD to work for a web app is usually painless. Getting it to work for a [Capacitor](/technologies/capacitor/) app? That's where things get interesting. Between code signing, native build environments, and app store submission quirks, teams run into the same problems again and again. The good news is that most of these pitfalls are predictable β€” and avoidable if you know what to watch out for. ## [How to Upgrade Your Capacitor App to Capacitor 8](/blog/how-to-upgrade-your-capacitor-app-to-capacitor-8/) Capacitor 8 ships with Swift Package Manager as the default for iOS, targets Android SDK 36, and requires Node.js 22+. Whether you prefer an automated CLI migration, an AI-assisted upgrade, or full manual control, this guide walks you through all three approaches so you can pick the one that fits your project best. ## [How to Upgrade Your Capacitor Plugin to Capacitor 8](/blog/how-to-upgrade-your-capacitor-plugin-to-capacitor-8/) Capacitor 8 makes Swift Package Manager the default on iOS, bumps the Android target to SDK 36, and upgrades to Kotlin 2.2\. This guide covers three ways to bring your Capacitor plugin up to date β€” an automated CLI tool, AI-powered Capawesome Skills, or a fully manual upgrade. ## [How Live Updates Are Changing Mobile App Deployment](/blog/how-live-updates-are-changing-mobile-app-deployment/) If you've ever pushed a one-line bug fix and then waited days for app store approval, you know the frustration. Traditional mobile releases are slow, manual, and often out of sync with how fast your team actually ships code. Live updates β€” also known as Over-The-Air (OTA) updates β€” are changing that by letting Capacitor teams push web layer changes directly to users' devices, no app store submission required. In this post, we'll look at how live updates are reshaping mobile app deployment and why more teams are making the switch. ## [Using Environment Variables and Secrets in Capawesome Cloud Builds](/blog/using-environment-variables-and-secrets-in-capawesome-cloud-builds/) When building mobile apps in the cloud, it's common to need different configuration values depending on the environment. A staging build might use a different API endpoint than a production build, or you might need to inject API keys that shouldn't be committed to your repository. With [Capawesome Cloud](/), you can define environments, add environment variables and secrets, and customize the build stack using reserved variablesβ€”all without changing your source code. ## [Announcing Open Source AI Agent Skills for Capacitor](/blog/announcing-open-source-ai-agent-skills-for-capacitor/) AI coding agents are becoming an essential part of how developers build apps. But even the best agents struggle with framework-specific tasks like upgrading between Capacitor versions, configuring native plugins, or setting up cloud builds β€” there's just too much platform-specific knowledge involved. That's why we're releasing **7 open source agent skills** that teach AI assistants how to handle the most common Capacitor tasks, from plugin setup to full platform upgrades. ## [Capawesome CLI 4.5.0 Release](/blog/capawesome-cli-4-5-0-release/) Version 4.5.0 of the [Capawesome CLI](/docs/cloud/cli/) is here, and it's packed with new features that have been added since the [4.0.0 release](/blog/capawesome-cli-4-0-0-release/). The highlights include full command line management of signing certificates and app store destinations, a streamlined build workflow, and interactive prompts that make the CLI easier to use than ever. ## [Forced Channel Assignments for Capawesome Cloud Devices](/blog/capawesome-cloud-forced-channel-assignments/) Sometimes you need direct control over which Live Update channel a specific device uses. With forced channel assignments, you can now override the SDK-selected channel on any device β€” whether you're debugging an issue, testing a new release, or managing a customer's device manually. ## [How to Use CocoaPods Instead of SPM with Capacitor](/blog/how-to-use-cocoapods-with-capacitor/) Capacitor 8 made Swift Package Manager (SPM) the default dependency manager for new iOS projects. While SPM is the future of iOS dependency management, it still has some rough edges that can block real-world projects. In those cases, CocoaPods remains a solid alternative. This post covers when you might want to stick with CocoaPods and how to set it up. Back to top