Along with this feature request[1], I'd also like to block my app from syncing automatically. This way I can make sure the javascript loaded will indeed be supported by the native code of my detached app.
[1] https://expo.canny.io/feature-requests/p/add-a-exponentsync-api-to-manually-trigger-app-refresh
I found out that setting isRemoteJSEnabled to false is not working. I have filed an issue with details here: https://github.com/expo/expo/issues/292
There should be a way to remove the dependency of the Expo server because the First loading is always slow. Some users of my app have complained that they couldn't load our app (White Screen).
Yes, agree, syncing from remote is ok, but better like to have a progress bar saying its updating rather than just white screen.
In the Updates API we added in SDK 26, you can control when Expo looks for JS updates (including blocking it from fetching any automatic updates, if you want). You can also manually fetch JS updates and listen for when they're done downloading, then reload the app whenever you're ready.
Great and even necessary feature for detached projects.
@Omer: you can probably use release channels now for that usecase