In addition to loading updates from remote servers, apps with expo-updates installed also include the necessary capability to load updates embedded in the app binary at build-time. This is critical to ensure that your app can load for all users immediately upon installation, without needing to talk to a server first.
If you're running expo-updates@0.2.x or above, you no longer have to worry about this. expo-updates will take care of embedding your JS bundle and all requisite assets as part of the included build steps.
If you're still running expo-updates@0.1.x, we recommend you upgrade to 0.2.x or later as soon as possible! More information here.
When you run expo export or expo publish with expo-updates installed, Expo CLI will make local copies of the update's manifest (app.manifest) and JavaScript bundle (app.bundle) so they can be included in the Xcode and Android Studio projects and embedded in release-mode application binaries.
For iOS, these files are created by default in the ios/<your-project-name>/Supporting directory. You must add these files to your Xcode project if they are not already added.
For Android, these files are created by default in the android/app/src/main/assets directory. Simply putting them in this directory is sufficient for Gradle to include them in the APK; no further action is needed on your part.