Automating iOS and Android App Releases with Fastlane and the Applivery Plugin

Fastlane is an open-source automation tool for iOS and Android developers that handles building, testing, code signing, and releasing Apps. The Applivery Fastlane plugin extends Fastlane with an applivery action that uploads a built binary to Applivery, attaches CI metadata (commit, branch, tag, repository URL), and optionally sends notifications — all in one step.

Prerequisites

• Fastlane installed on your system or CI agent.
• An Applivery App API Token. Find it in App Settings → API Tokens in the Applivery dashboard, or see Apps API Token.
• A Fastfile in your project with at least one lane defined.

fastlane add_plugin applivery

platform :ios do
  lane :deploy do
    # Build the app
    gym(
      scheme: "MyApp",
      export_method: "enterprise"   # or "ad-hoc"
    )

    # Upload to Applivery
    applivery(
      app_token: ENV["APPLIVERY_TOKEN"],
      name: "v#{get_version_number} (#{last_git_commit[:abbreviated_commit_hash]})",
      changelog: last_git_commit[:message],
      notify_collaborators: true,
      notify_message: "New build ready for testing",
      tags: "ios, staging"
    )

    puts "Build uploaded. ID: #{lane_context[SharedValues::APPLIVERY_BUILD_ID]}"
  end
end

platform :android do
  lane :deploy do
    # Build the APK
    gradle(task: "assembleRelease")

    # Upload to Applivery
    applivery(
      app_token: ENV["APPLIVERY_TOKEN"],
      name: "v#{android_get_version_name}",
      changelog: last_git_commit[:message],
      notify_collaborators: true,
      notify_message: "New Android build available",
      tags: "android, staging"
    )
  end
end

fastlane ios deploy
fastlane android deploy

Plugin parameters

Shared values

After a successful upload, the plugin exposes the resulting build ID as a Fastlane shared value. You can use it in subsequent lane steps — for example, to trigger further automation, update a Publication, or log the result.

applivery(
  app_token: ENV["APPLIVERY_TOKEN"]
)

build_id = lane_context[SharedValues::APPLIVERY_BUILD_ID]
puts "Uploaded build ID: #{build_id}"

Storing the Token securely

Never hardcode your App Token directly in the Fastfile. Use one of the following approaches depending on your setup:

Environment variable (recommended for CI):

applivery(
  app_token: ENV["APPLIVERY_TOKEN"]
)

Set APPLIVERY_TOKEN as a secret environment variable in your CI platform (Bitrise, Azure Pipelines, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, etc.).

Fastlane .env file (recommended for local development):

Create a .env file in your fastlane/ directory (add it to .gitignore):

APPLIVERY_TOKEN=your_token_here

Fastlane automatically loads .env files. Reference the variable the same way: ENV["APPLIVERY_TOKEN"].

Complete Fastfile example

A real-world Fastfile with separate iOS and Android deploy lanes, using Git metadata for the changelog and build name:

# fastlane/Fastfile

default_platform(:ios)

platform :ios do
  desc "Build and deploy to Applivery"
  lane :deploy do
    increment_build_number(build_number: number_of_commits)

    gym(
      scheme: "MyApp-Staging",
      export_method: "enterprise",
      output_directory: "./build",
      output_name: "MyApp.ipa"
    )

    applivery(
      app_token: ENV["APPLIVERY_TOKEN"],
      name: "#{get_version_number} (#{last_git_commit[:abbreviated_commit_hash]})",
      changelog: last_git_commit[:message],
      notify_collaborators: true,
      notify_message: "New iOS build — #{git_branch}",
      tags: "ios, #{git_branch}"
    )

    puts "✅ Uploaded to Applivery. Build ID: #{lane_context[SharedValues::APPLIVERY_BUILD_ID]}"
  end
end

platform :android do
  desc "Build and deploy to Applivery"
  lane :deploy do
    gradle(
      task: "assemble",
      build_type: "Release"
    )

    applivery(
      app_token: ENV["APPLIVERY_TOKEN"],
      name: "#{android_get_version_name} (#{last_git_commit[:abbreviated_commit_hash]})",
      changelog: last_git_commit[:message],
      notify_collaborators: true,
      notify_message: "New Android build — #{git_branch}",
      tags: "android, #{git_branch}"
    )

    puts "✅ Uploaded to Applivery. Build ID: #{lane_context[SharedValues::APPLIVERY_BUILD_ID]}"
  end
end