[seanperez29]

Description

Important

Do not merge yet. This is stacked on #10461, which must merge first, and waits for the clerk-ios release with clerk/clerk-ios#742 and the clerk-android release with clerk/clerk-android#1160. Before merging, set clerk_ios_version in ClerkExpo.podspec and clerkAndroidApiVersion/clerkAndroidUiVersion in android/build.gradle to those releases, in place of the automatic Expo iOS SDK bump PR, which can then be closed.

Native app force update lets an instance set a minimum version for each of its apps in the Clerk Dashboard. FAPI rejects requests from an older build with a 403 unsupported_app_version until the user updates. This PR is the Expo side. The backend is in clerk/clerk_go#23226, the edge check in clerk/cloudflare-workers#3048, the Dashboard in clerk/dashboard#10502, iOS in clerk/clerk-ios#742 and Android in clerk/clerk-android#1160.

Requests

• Requests send the app's identity, read with expo-application, a new optional peer:
  • iOS: X-Bundle-Id and X-App-Version (CFBundleShortVersionString).
  • Android: X-Package-Name and X-App-Version (versionCode).
• Without expo-application, in Expo Go, and on the web, requests carry no identity, so FAPI never blocks them.
• In development, a one-time warning appears when the instance sets minimum versions but expo-application is missing.

Status

• New useAppVersionSupport() returns isSupported, currentVersion, minimumVersion and updateUrl. It reads the responses @clerk/expo already sees in its request hooks, so clerk-js doesn't change. It follows the same rules as the native SDKs:
  • A 403 unsupported_app_version blocks the app, falling back to the environment's minimum and update URL for anything its meta leaves out.
  • The X-Clerk-App-Version-Status: supported header lifts a block.
  • The environment decides only until FAPI answers. After that it only updates the minimum and update URL the screen shows, because it can be served from the edge cache.
  • The answer to the most recently sent request wins: each request takes a number in beforeRequest, and an answer to an older request that arrives late is ignored, as are answers for a replaced Clerk instance.
• A rejected version can't sign anyone out: isUnauthenticatedError only matches 401, 422, and 403 with user_banned or user_deactivated.

Checking on foreground

• The native SDKs refresh on every foreground, but @clerk/expo turns that off to avoid racing SSO, so a supported Expo app used to learn about a new minimum only on its next Clerk request, or never while signed out.
• Now, when a supported app returns to the foreground, it sends GET /v1/, at most every 30 seconds. That endpoint only passes FAPI's app version check: it returns 403 unsupported_app_version or an empty 200 with the supported header. It never reads or creates a client or returns a token, so it can't race SSO, and it works signed in or out. A failed request leaves the current answer alone.
• clerk-js used to fail parsing that empty 200 body, so fix(clerk-js,react): finish a failed headless load on the same instance #10461 now accepts an empty successful response, as it already did for a 204.

Lifting a block

• While the app is unsupported, it reloads the environment and client each time it returns to the foreground, as the native SDKs do. The client request reaches FAPI, whose supported header lifts the block. Token responses minted at the edge carry no X-Clerk-App-Version-Status, so they can't.
• A blocked app that starts cold can't load clerk-js, because its client request is rejected, so clerk-js ends in its error state. The foreground reload that lifts the block then finishes loading that same instance (fix(clerk-js,react): finish a failed headless load on the same instance #10461). It restores the signed-in session from the token cache without remounting the app, so app state and saved getClerkInstance() references survive. A test renders the real <ClerkProvider> over a failed instance and checks that component state survives the recovery.

Screen

• <ClerkProvider> shows an update screen in a modal over the app while it's unsupported. It shows even when clerk-js fails to load, which happens because a blocked app's client request is rejected. Android's Back button can't dismiss it.
• The layout follows each platform's native screen. iOS shows "Your version / Required" and "Go to App Store". Android shows only "Your version" with the version name, and "Go to Google Play" ("Update app" for other stores). Both have a "Can't update? Get help" link when the instance has a support email.
• It uses the Dashboard logo and the native SDKs' default colors, in light and dark mode.
• updateRequiredViewEnabled={false} turns it off, for apps that build their own screen from the hook. The screen's component is internal, so @clerk/expo exports only the hook and the prop.

Native SDK screens (@clerk/expo-native-components)

• The native SDKs' own update screens stay on by default. @clerk/expo turns them off through a new optional bridge method, setUpdateRequiredViewEnabled, which it calls just before configureNative (iOS updateRequiredViewEnabled: false, Android withUpdateRequiredViewDisabled()):
  • It turns them off when it shows its own screen, which needs expo-application to identify the app, or when the app sets updateRequiredViewEnabled={false}. Otherwise the native screen would show over this one, and the prop wouldn't turn it off.
  • Without expo-application, @clerk/expo can't identify the app and shows nothing, while native requests still identify it and get the 403. The native screen stays on there.
  • An older @clerk/expo, which has no update screen, never calls the method, so the native screen stays on. @clerk/expo skips the call on native components without the method, and configureNative keeps its signature.
  • Native Clerk reads the setting when it's configured, and only configureNative configures it, so it's in place from launch. A later change to the prop applies the next time native Clerk is configured: the next launch, or a new publishable key or proxy URL.
• Both options only exist in the native SDK releases with force update, so until they ship:
  • iOS is pinned to feat: show an update screen when the app is below its minimum version clerk-ios#742's commit (1e6edcbc) instead of a release.
  • Android stays on clerk-android 1.2.1, which doesn't have withUpdateRequiredViewDisabled(), so the Android native build fails here (Unresolved reference 'withUpdateRequiredViewDisabled').
  • Checked locally before the optional method was added: CI's Expo fixture (SDK 58) built a release APK against feat: block app versions older than the minimum set in the Clerk Dashboard clerk-android#1160 (8df2c843) published to Maven Local. The iOS native builds here run against feat: show an update screen when the app is below its minimum version clerk-ios#742's commit.

Known gaps

• The screen is English only, because @clerk/expo has no localization. The native screens have 15 languages.
• Without a Dashboard logo, the screen shows none, because React Native can't read the app icon without native code.

Screen recordings

Recorded on the iOS simulator (iPhone 17 Pro, Release build) against a local backend running clerk/clerk_go#23226, clerk/cloudflare-workers#3048 and clerk/dashboard#10502. The app is a minimal Expo SDK 55 app (version 1.0.0) that signs in a +clerk_test user through signIn.emailCode. "Before" is @clerk/expo@4.14.0 from npm; "after" is this branch, packed. In both, the app's minimum is raised to 2.0 in the Dashboard.

Before (@clerk/expo@4.14.0)	After (this PR)
expo-ios-before.mov	expo-ios-after.mov

• Before: the app sends no identity, so nothing blocks it. It stays signed in after a trip to the background and a cold relaunch.
• After:
  • The update screen covers the app within seconds, on the next session token refresh, which the edge sends to origin because the app is below its minimum.
  • Lowering the minimum to 1.0 lifts the block on the next foreground, and the user is still signed in.
  • Raising it again and relaunching the app cold shows the screen at launch, even though clerk-js can't load.

Blocked cold start, then the block lifts (this PR, with #10461)

expo-ios-cold-recover.mov

Recorded on 2026-10-27 at 74cd552c3d, against the same local backend, with @clerk/shared, @clerk/clerk-js, @clerk/react and @clerk/expo all packed from this branch. The test app also shows Clerk's status and the time its screen first mounted, so a remount would show a new time. It also has a diagnostic line that shows load()'s error, which only renders while Clerk's status is error, behind the update screen.

• The app is signed in, then relaunches cold with the minimum at 2.0. FAPI rejects its /v1/client request with a 403 (13:32:04 in the backend log), so load() fails and the update screen shows.
• The minimum is lowered to 1.0 in the Dashboard. When the app returns to the foreground, in the same process, the foreground reload gets 200s for /v1/environment and /v1/client (13:32:29) and finishes loading the same Clerk instance.
• The user is signed in, Clerk's status is ready, and the screen still says it mounted at 1:32:03 PM, at the cold launch, so nothing under <ClerkProvider> remounted.

Signed out, the minimum is raised while the app is in the background (this PR, with #10461)

expo-ios-foreground-check.mov

Recorded on 2026-10-27 at 1d05d27976, against the same local backend, with the four packages packed from this branch. The test app is signed out.

• The minimum is raised to 2.0 while the app is in the background. The first return to the foreground sends GET /v1/ five seconds after the save, before the local backend had applied the new minimum, so it gets 200 and nothing changes.
• On the next return, past the 30-second limit, GET /v1/ gets 403 and the update screen appears, without a relaunch or a sign-in attempt.
• The minimum is lowered to 1.0. On the next return, the blocked app reloads the client and environment instead of checking, and the block lifts. The screen's mount time is unchanged.

The Android emulator recording is still to come.

Simulator verification

Adds a launch recording at the current head (43eb2fd7f5), with the update screen's new wording ("Please update to continue", without the account-security reason). Before, the app opens to its signed-out screen; after, the update screen covers it as soon as the launch finishes, with the version comparison and Go to App Store.

Before c4fcf43deb (the PR's base; its @clerk/expo source is identical to the published 4.14.0, which the build uses), after 43eb2fd7f5 (this PR, through pkglab). Both are Release builds of the Expo playground (com.clerk.testing, version 1.0.0) on an iPhone 17 Pro simulator, iOS 26.5, in dark mode. Mocked backend: clerk/clerk_go#23226 isn't deployed, so both builds pass proxyUrl to <ClerkProvider> pointing at a local mock in front of the real dev instance. It serves the instance's real environment with an iOS minimum of 2.0 for com.clerk.testing, answers requests that identify as that bundle ID below 2.0 with the backend's 403 unsupported_app_version, and forwards everything else to the real instance. The base sends no identity headers, so all of its requests were forwarded. Both builds also patch one line of expo-modules-jsi 56.0.10 that Xcode 27's Swift compiler rejects; it doesn't touch Clerk. The instance has no logo or support email.

Before

before.mp4

After

after.mp4

Checklist

• pnpm test runs as expected.
• pnpm build runs as expected.
• (If applicable) JSDoc comments have been added or updated for any package exports
• (If applicable) Documentation has been updated

Type of change

• 🐛 Bug fix
• 🌟 New feature
• 🔨 Breaking change
• 📖 Refactoring / dependency upgrade / documentation
• other:

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[changeset-bot]

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: f02b5a6

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 2 packages

Name	Type
@clerk/expo	Minor
@clerk/expo-native-components	Patch

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Walkthrough

The Expo package adds native iOS and Android app identity detection and minimum-version policy evaluation. Native requests send app identity and update support state from server responses and environment data. The provider can display an update-required modal, and apps can use the public status hook or render the exported view. The changes also add optional expo-application support, Expo Go detection, and tests for support evaluation, request handling, provider behavior, and UI.

Priority: Normal

Estimated code review effort: 4 (Complex) | ~45 minutes

Suggested reviewers: mikepitre, wobsoriano

Merge Risk: High · previous review 7c125

Android builds remain blocked until the native dependency is updated. Changing the update-screen setting can also leave the native screen out of sync. Resolve these issues before merging; the blocked-screen link behavior still depends on an unverified server payload contract.

Pre-merge checks: 4

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check		The title clearly and concisely describes the primary change: blocking Expo app versions below the minimum configured in the Clerk Dashboard.
Linked Issues check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Description check		The pull request description directly explains the Expo app-version enforcement feature, including request identity headers, support status handling, update UI behavior, native integration, dependenci…

Full details: Description check

Explanation

The pull request description directly explains the Expo app-version enforcement feature, including request identity headers, support status handling, update UI behavior, native integration, dependencies, known gaps, and validation status. It matches the changeset.

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Review comments at @packages/expo/src/app-version/appVersionRequestHooks.ts:
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• packages/expo/src/hooks/index.ts
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• packages/expo/src/hooks/useHostedAuth.ts
• packages/expo/src/index.ts
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• packages/expo/src/provider/__tests__/nativeClientSyncBehavior/nativeClientSync.behavior.test.tsx
• packages/expo/src/provider/singleton/__tests__/createClerkInstance.test.ts
• packages/expo/src/provider/singleton/createClerkInstance.ts
• packages/expo/src/update-required/UpdateRequiredModal.tsx
• packages/expo/src/update-required/UpdateRequiredView.tsx
• packages/expo/src/update-required/__tests__/UpdateRequiredView.test.tsx
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