---
title: How to gradually roll out Live Updates for Capacitor apps
description: Learn how to gradually roll out Live Updates for your Capacitor app using the Capawesome Cloud and the Capawesome CLI.
date: 
  created: 2024-05-29
  updated: 2026-07-17
authors:
  - robingenz
categories:
  - Capacitor
  - Cloud
  - Guides
  - SDKs
links:
  - Capacitor Live Update: sdks/capacitor/live-update.md
faq: true
---

# How to gradually roll out Capacitor Live Updates

[Live Updates](../../cloud/live-updates/index.md) are a powerful feature that allows you to deliver updates to your Capacitor app in real-time without having to resubmit your app to the app stores.
In order to ensure a smooth rollout of updates, it is recommended to gradually roll out updates to your users.
This way you can minimize potential issues and collect feedback from a smaller group of users before rolling out the update to all users.

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???+ warning "Deprecated"

    This guide is deprecated. Please refer to the [Rollouts](../../cloud/live-updates/rollouts.md) guide for the latest information.

## Introduction

In this guide, we will show you how to gradually roll out updates to your users using the [Capawesome Cloud](../../cloud/index.md).
First, we will roll out a new bundle to a small percentage of users and then gradually increase the percentage of users that receive the update.
For this, we will use the [Capawesome CLI](../../cloud/cli/index.md).

## Create a bundle

To create a new bundle, you need to use the [`apps:liveupdates:upload`](../../cloud/cli/commands.md/#appsliveupdatesupload) command of the Capawesome CLI.
Once the bundle is created, it is immediately available to all users.
To roll out the bundle to only 10% of users, for example, you can use the `--rollout-percentage` option as follows:

```bash
npx @capawesome/cli apps:liveupdates:upload --rollout-percentage 10
```

Note that the `--rollout-percentage` option accepts a value between 0 and 100, where 0 means that the bundle is not rolled out to any users and 100 means that the bundle is rolled out to all users.

## Update a bundle

To update an existing bundle, you can use the [`apps:liveupdates:rollout`](../../cloud/cli/commands.md/#appsliveupdatesrollout) command of the Capawesome CLI.
In order to increase the rollout percentage, you can use the `--percentage` option as follows:

```bash
npx @capawesome/cli apps:liveupdates:rollout --percentage 30
```

In this example, the bundle is now rolled out to 30% of users. You can always see the current rollout percentage of a bundle in the [Capawesome Cloud Console](https://console.cloud.capawesome.io/){:target="_blank"}.

## FAQ

### What does a 10% rollout percentage actually mean for existing users?

It determines what share of devices on that channel are eligible to receive the new bundle when they check in — it's not a random one-time draw across your whole user base at upload time. Devices outside the current percentage simply keep running their existing bundle until you raise the percentage or complete the rollout to 100%.

### Can I roll back a rollout that's already at 30% if something looks wrong?

Yes — you can stop or reduce the rollout at any point by adjusting the percentage, and Capawesome Cloud's automatic rollback (built-in bundle fallback on a failed start) still applies independently to any device that already downloaded the problematic bundle. The two mechanisms work together: reducing the rollout percentage stops new devices from picking up the bad bundle, while automatic rollback protects devices that already have it.

### Is this guide still the current way to configure rollouts?

No — this guide is marked deprecated in favor of the [Rollouts](../../cloud/live-updates/rollouts.md) documentation, which reflects the current CLI commands and options. The core concept (start small, watch for issues, increase gradually) is unchanged, but check the current docs for exact flag names before scripting a rollout.

## Related Posts

- [Announcing the Live Update Plugin for Capacitor](./announcing-the-capacitor-live-update-plugin.md)
- [Capacitor App Updates: The Complete Guide](./capacitor-app-update-guide.md)
- [Channel Pausing for Capawesome Cloud Live Updates](./capawesome-cloud-channel-pausing.md)

## Conclusion

By gradually rolling out updates to your users, you can minimize potential issues and gather valuable feedback from your users.
For the bigger picture, see [Capacitor Live Updates: A Complete Guide to OTA Updates](./capacitor-live-updates-guide.md), and to understand the mechanics behind it, read [How Live Updates for Capacitor Work](./how-live-updates-for-capacitor-work.md).
If you have any questions, just [create a discussion](https://github.com/capawesome-team/capacitor-plugins/discussions/new/choose){:target="_blank"} in the GitHub repository. 
Make sure you follow [Capawesome](https://twitter.com/capawesomeio){:target="_blank"} on X so you don't miss any future updates.