--- title: Announcing Our Official Partnership with Ionic description: Ionic officially recommends Capawesome as the preferred migration partner for Appflow, Auth Connect, Identity Vault and Secure Storage. One-command migration. date: created: 2026-09-22 updated: 2026-09-22 authors: - robingenz categories: - Announcements - Cloud - SDKs faq: true --- # Announcing Our Official Partnership with Ionic Ionic officially recommends Capawesome as its preferred migration partner for Appflow, Auth Connect, Identity Vault, and Secure Storage. We are thrilled about this partnership, and even more about what it means for teams moving off these products. Together with Ionic, we built an export and import flow that moves an entire Appflow organization into Capawesome Cloud with a single CLI command, and Capawesome Insiders provides the plugins that replace the discontinued Enterprise plugins. This post covers what Ionic announced, how the migration works, and where to get help. **Key takeaways:** - Ionic officially recommends Capawesome as its preferred migration partner for Appflow, Auth Connect, Identity Vault, and Secure Storage, all reaching end of life on December 31, 2027. - One CLI command imports a complete Appflow organization export into Capawesome Cloud, including apps, channels, environments, signing certificates, destinations, and automations. - The Live Update SDK keeps Appflow's `sync()` and `reload()` API, so most apps change one dependency, and many teams complete the core migration quickly. - The Capacitor OAuth, Vault, SQLite, and Secure Preferences plugins replace Auth Connect, Identity Vault, and Secure Storage with closely matching APIs. ## What Ionic announced In [February 2025](https://ionic.io/blog/important-announcement-the-future-of-ionics-commercial-products){:target="_blank"}, Ionic announced the wind-down of its commercial products after joining OutSystems: Ionic Appflow, Identity Vault, Auth Connect, Secure Storage, and Ionic Portals. New customer sales stopped that day, and the products reach end of life on December 31, 2027. From October 1, 2026, Appflow no longer allows creating new apps or changing plans. Ionic Framework and Capacitor are not affected and remain free, open source, and maintained. In September 2026, Ionic officially recommended Capawesome as its preferred migration partner for the customers of these products. ## Why Ionic chose Capawesome Teams searching for an Ionic Appflow replacement now have Ionic's own answer: Capawesome Cloud. It does the four jobs Appflow did for Capacitor, Cordova, and native iOS and Android apps: live updates, native builds, app store publishing, and automations. It connects to GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure DevOps. The Ionic Enterprise plugins have their replacements in Capawesome Insiders, mapped in the table below, and Ionic Portals apps keep their live updates through the Ionic Live Update Provider SDK. Ionic recommended a team it already knew. Capawesome maintains almost 200 Capacitor plugins with more than 5 million monthly downloads, its engineers hold the official Ionic Developer Expert title, and they have contributed to the official Capacitor Community for years. Capawesome Cloud is ISO 27001 certified, has a SOC 2 Type 2 report, backs every paid plan with a contractual SLA, and publishes its uptime on a public status page. We take that as a responsibility. Teams are migrating because a product was discontinued, and we don't intend to put them through that twice. ## Import your Appflow apps The most important piece of this partnership is the migration path for Appflow. Ionic added an organization export to the Appflow dashboard, and we built the matching import into the Capawesome CLI. Together they move an entire Appflow organization into Capawesome Cloud in three steps. 1. **Export your organization.** In the Appflow dashboard, open Settings, then Account, and click Export in the Organization export section. The download is a zip file with the configuration of every app in your organization. It includes environment secrets and signing certificates in plain text, so store it securely and delete it after the migration. 2. **Preview the import.** Run the [`apps:import`](../../cloud/cli/commands.md#appsimport) command with `--dry-run` to see what the CLI found without creating anything. 3. **Run the import.** Run the same command without `--dry-run`. The CLI creates the apps in your Capawesome Cloud organization and prints a summary with any warnings. The preview and the import are the same command: ```bash npx @capawesome/cli apps:import --file appflow-export.zip --dry-run npx @capawesome/cli apps:import --file appflow-export.zip ``` Pass `--include` with app names or IDs to import only some of the apps. Here is what carries over: | Ionic Appflow | Capawesome Cloud | | ---------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------- | | Apps | Apps | | Live update channels | Channels | | Environments with variables and secrets | Environments | | Signing certificates, keystores, and provisioning profiles | Signing certificates | | Native configs | Configurations | | Destinations with store credentials | Destinations | | Native and web build automations | Automations | | Repository associations | Git repository links | | Latest build numbers | Next build numbers | New builds continue your Appflow build numbering, so store submissions don't collide. A few things need a one-time manual step because Appflow can't export them: connecting your Git provider, app-level webhooks, an App Store Connect API key for automated publishing, and API tokens for your CI/CD pipelines. The import leaves your Appflow apps untouched. The [Migrating from Ionic Appflow](../../cloud/migrations/ionic-appflow.md) guide walks through every step, including the manual ones. ## Near drop-in replacement Once the import has recreated your configuration, the rest of the migration happens in your app, and it is small: - **One dependency changes.** `@capacitor/live-updates` becomes `@capawesome/capacitor-live-update`; for Cordova, `cordova-plugin-ionic` becomes `@capawesome/cordova-live-update`. - **Your code mostly stays.** The Live Update SDK keeps Appflow's `sync()` and `reload()`, so call sites change their import and nothing else. The configuration maps option by option: `channel` becomes `defaultChannel`, `autoUpdateMethod` becomes `autoUpdateStrategy`. Many teams complete the core migration quickly. - **Your pipeline swaps a token.** Where CI/CD used an Appflow personal access token, it uses a Capawesome API token. - **You gain a safety net.** Set `readyTimeout` and `autoBlockRolledBackBundles`, call `ready()` at app start, and a bundle that fails to start is rolled back automatically. Delta updates cut what devices download. Nothing forces a cutover date. Ship one app release with the Capawesome Live Update SDK while older binaries keep receiving updates from Appflow, watch for a week, then retire Appflow. Build and deployment history stays in Appflow, since the import copies configuration, not logs, so keep a copy of anything you need before the shutdown. Ionic Portals teams follow the same pattern through the Ionic Live Update Provider SDK, and [Migrating Ionic Portals Live Updates to Capawesome Cloud](./migrating-ionic-portals-live-updates-from-appflow-to-capawesome.md) shows the setup on iOS and Android. ## Replacing the Enterprise SDKs Appflow is only half of the sunset. Apps built on Auth Connect, Identity Vault, or Secure Storage lose maintenance and support on the same date, and there is no cloud import for a plugin: the code in your app has to change. [Capawesome Insiders](../../insiders/index.md) has a plugin that maps closely to each of them. Insiders is a paid subscription, and every Platform plan includes a number of Insider SDKs. | Ionic Enterprise | Capawesome | Notes | | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Auth Connect | [Capacitor OAuth plugin](../../sdks/capacitor/oauth.md) | OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect with PKCE, provider discovery, and token refresh | | Identity Vault | [Capacitor Vault plugin](../../sdks/capacitor/vault.md) | Lockable, biometric-protected storage; imports Identity Vault data via [`importData(...)`](../../sdks/capacitor/vault.md#importdata) | | Secure Storage (database) | [Capacitor SQLite plugin](../../sdks/capacitor/sqlite.md) | SQLCipher-encrypted databases; an existing Secure Storage database can generally be opened with the same key | | Secure Storage (key-value) | [Capacitor Secure Preferences plugin](../../sdks/capacitor/secure-preferences.md) | Encrypted key-value storage | The APIs were designed to be similar to their Ionic counterparts, so most method calls map one to one. [Alternatives to the Ionic Enterprise plugins](./alternatives-to-ionic-enterprise-plugins.md) has the side-by-side code for each pair. ## AI-assisted migration Ionic's announcement mentions AI migration assistants. Those are our open source [agent skills](../../ai/skills/index.md), and two of them exist for this transition: `ionic-appflow-migration` detects which Appflow features a project uses and walks the agent through each replacement, and `ionic-enterprise-sdk-migration` maps Auth Connect, Identity Vault, and Secure Storage calls to their Capawesome counterparts. Add them to your project and ask Claude Code, Cursor, or another AI coding agent to run the migration: ```bash npx skills add capawesome-team/skills --skill ionic-appflow-migration npx skills add capawesome-team/skills --skill ionic-enterprise-sdk-migration ``` ## FAQ ### What did Ionic announce about Capawesome? In September 2026, Ionic officially recommended Capawesome as its preferred migration partner for customers leaving Appflow, Auth Connect, Identity Vault, and Secure Storage, which reach end of life on December 31, 2027. The recommendation covers Appflow's live updates, native builds, app store publishing, and automations, and the capabilities of the three Enterprise plugins. ### Is Capawesome an official Ionic partner? Yes. Ionic named Capawesome its preferred migration partner in September 2026. Capawesome is not part of Ionic or OutSystems. It is an independent company, and Capawesome Cloud and the Capawesome plugins are provided by Capawesome under its own terms of service, so support, service levels, and availability are governed by those terms. ### What is the Ionic-recommended replacement for Appflow? Capawesome Cloud. Ionic officially recommends Capawesome as its preferred migration partner for Appflow, and Capawesome Cloud covers Appflow's live updates, native builds, app store publishing, and automations for Capacitor, Cordova, and native iOS and Android apps. ### Do I have to migrate before October 1, 2026? No. Existing Appflow apps keep working until December 31, 2027. From October 1, 2026, you can no longer create new apps or change your plan in Appflow, so teams that expect to add apps or adjust their capacity should plan around that date. A full migration, including a gradual rollout, typically takes two to four weeks. ### Does the import work for Cordova and native apps? Yes. The import handles Capacitor, Cordova, and native iOS and Android apps. Apps that Appflow exported with the app type `ionic` prompt you once to choose between Capacitor and Cordova. React Native and Flutter apps are skipped for now. ### What happens to my Ionic contract? Ionic has told its customers that teams which complete their migration before their contract renewal can request early termination of their Ionic agreement and a prorated refund of unused, prepaid service. Contact [support@ionic.io](mailto:support@ionic.io) once your migration is done. Capawesome can't process Ionic contract changes. ### What about Ionic Portals? Ionic Portals was discontinued in the same announcement. Capawesome Cloud delivers live updates to Portals through the Ionic Live Update Provider SDK, so you keep your portals and swap the update provider. The [Portals migration guide](./migrating-ionic-portals-live-updates-from-appflow-to-capawesome.md) covers the setup for iOS and Android. ## Get started Every Capawesome Cloud plan comes with a 14-day free trial, so you can import your Appflow export, ship a live update, and run a native build before you pay anything. Plans start at $9 per month for Live Updates and $19 per month for the full platform (as of September 2026), and the [pricing page](https://capawesome.io/pricing/){:target="_blank"} has the details. [Start Free Trial](https://console.cloud.capawesome.io){ .md-button .md-button--primary } If you have questions about the migration, write to [support@capawesome.de](mailto:support@capawesome.de) or use the [contact form](https://capawesome.io/contact/){:target="_blank"}. For sales requests, such as enterprise agreements, volume pricing, or a migration carried out by our team, reach [sales@capawesome.io](mailto:sales@capawesome.io) or [contact sales](https://capawesome.io/contact-sales/){:target="_blank"}. You can also [book an Ionic Appflow migration demo](https://cal.com/team/capawesome/ionic-appflow-migration){:target="_blank"}, and we walk through your setup together. ## Final thoughts If you run Appflow, export your organization today and run the import with `--dry-run`. It takes a few minutes, creates nothing, and shows you exactly what your migration will look like. For the full plan, including the SDK swap and the rollout, read [Ionic Appflow Is Shutting Down: Here's Your Migration Plan](./migrating-from-ionic-appflow-to-capawesome-cloud.md). Thank you to the Ionic team for the trust and for the cooperation on the export and import flow, and to everyone who migrated early and told us what was missing. For questions, join the [Capawesome Discord server](https://discord.gg/VCXxSVjefW){:target="_blank"}, and [subscribe to the Capawesome newsletter](https://capawesome.io/newsletter/){:target="_blank"} to hear about what comes next first.