Automating iOS App Release Process with CircleCI

 

Automating your iOS app release process can save valuable time, reduce the risk of errors, and improve consistency. With CircleCI, Fastlane, App Center, and TestFlight, you can streamline the release process to automatically build, test, and distribute your iOS app on a regular schedule. In this article, we’ll walk through how to set up a CircleCI pipeline that kicks off a build every Friday via a cron job and sends the build to App Center and TestFlight using Fastlane and CircleCI triggers.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following tools and accounts set up:

  1. CircleCI: Sign up for CircleCI and create a project linked to your iOS app repository.
  2. Fastlane: Install and configure Fastlane on your macOS machine. Fastlane will help automate the building, testing, and deployment process.
  3. App Center: Set up an App Center account for distributing apps to testers.
  4. TestFlight: Create an Apple Developer account and set up TestFlight for app distribution to external testers.
  5. GitHub/GitLab Repository: Ensure your iOS project is in a repository that CircleCI can access.

Once you’ve set up these tools, you’re ready to automate your release process.

Step 1: Configure Fastlane for iOS App

Fastlane is a powerful tool for automating your iOS app release process. You’ll configure Fastlane to handle tasks such as building the app, generating IPA files, and uploading to App Center and TestFlight.

  1. Install Fastlane:
    If you haven’t already, install Fastlane by running the following command in your terminal:

    gem install fastlane -NV
    
  2. Set Up Fastlane for Your Project:
    Navigate to your iOS app project directory and run:

    fastlane init
    

    Choose the appropriate options for your project (most likely 2 for manual setup if you don’t want to use pre-built lanes). This will create a Fastfile in your project, where you’ll define the lanes for building and distributing the app.

  3. Configure Lanes in Fastfile:
    In your Fastfile, you’ll define lanes for building and distributing your app to both App Center and TestFlight. Here’s an example of how you might configure these lanes:

    default_platform(:ios)
    
    platform :ios do
      desc "Build and release the iOS app to App Center"
      lane :release_to_appcenter do
        build_app(scheme: "MyApp")
        upload_to_appcenter(api_token: "your_appcenter_api_token", app_name: "your_appcenter_app_name")
      end
    
      desc "Build and upload the iOS app to TestFlight"
      lane :release_to_testflight do
        build_app(scheme: "MyApp")
        upload_to_testflight(username: "your_apple_id", app_identifier: "com.yourcompany.MyApp")
      end
    end
    
    • build_app: This command will build the app using the provided scheme.
    • upload_to_appcenter: Uploads the IPA to App Center.
    • upload_to_testflight: Uploads the IPA to TestFlight.
  4. Configure Credentials:
    Ensure that your credentials (App Center API token and Apple Developer credentials) are stored securely, either using environment variables or in CircleCI’s secret management system.

Step 2: Set Up CircleCI Configuration

CircleCI will manage the pipeline that automates your iOS app release. Here’s how to set up the CircleCI pipeline configuration.

  1. Create a .circleci/config.yml File:
    In your project’s root directory, create a .circleci directory and inside it, create a config.yml file. This file will define the steps for building and deploying your app.

  2. CircleCI Configuration for iOS:
    Here’s a basic example of a CircleCI configuration that automates the build and deployment process:

    version: 2.1
    
    jobs:
      build:
        docker:
          - image: circleci/python:3.8
        working_directory: ~/repo
    
        steps:
          - checkout
          - run:
              name: Install Fastlane
              command: gem install fastlane -NV
          - run:
              name: Build and Upload to App Center and TestFlight
              command: |
                fastlane release_to_appcenter
                fastlane release_to_testflight
    
    workflows:
      version: 2
      build_and_release:
        triggers:
          - schedule:
              cron: "0 0 * * 5"  # Runs every Friday at midnight UTC
              filters:
                branches:
                  only:
                    - main
        jobs:
          - build
    

    In this configuration:

    • jobs: Defines the steps CircleCI will take during the pipeline. The build job installs Fastlane, builds the app, and uploads it to App Center and TestFlight.
    • workflows: Defines how and when the jobs are triggered. The schedule trigger with the cron syntax 0 0 * * 5 ensures that the build job runs every Friday at midnight UTC. The job only runs for the main branch.

    Cron Syntax Explanation:

    • 0 0 * * 5: This means “run at midnight UTC every Friday.” You can adjust the time or day as per your requirements.
  3. Secure Your Secrets:
    CircleCI provides a secure way to store sensitive information such as API tokens. Go to your project’s CircleCI dashboard, navigate to Project Settings > Environment Variables, and add your environment variables such as:

    • APP_CENTER_API_TOKEN
    • APPLE_ID
    • APP_IDENTIFIER
    • FASTLANE_PASSWORD

Step 3: Test and Monitor Your Pipeline

Once you’ve committed and pushed your .circleci/config.yml file to your repository, CircleCI will automatically pick up the configuration and start running the pipeline based on the schedule you’ve set.

  1. Test the Pipeline:

    • You can manually trigger the pipeline from the CircleCI dashboard to ensure everything works correctly before relying on the cron job.
    • Make sure Fastlane successfully builds and uploads the app to both App Center and TestFlight.
  2. Monitor the Cron Job:

    • Every Friday, CircleCI will automatically trigger the pipeline and execute the build and deployment process.
    • You can monitor the status of the pipeline on CircleCI and review the logs to check if the build and deployment were successful.

Step 4: Review the Release Process

Once the pipeline completes, you can check:

  1. App Center: Ensure the IPA file is uploaded and distributed to the testers.
  2. TestFlight: Ensure the IPA is available for external testers on TestFlight.

Conclusion

By automating your iOS app release process with CircleCI, Fastlane, App Center, and TestFlight, you can ensure consistent and timely releases with minimal manual intervention. Setting up a cron job to kick off the build every Friday makes the process reliable and predictable, allowing your team to focus on more important tasks.

 

With CircleCI managing your build and Fastlane handling the deployment, you’ll have an efficient, automated process to ship your app on time, every week.

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