Server-Provided Animations in iOS Apps

Valerii Che from Badoo solved a problem every mobile team dreads: waiting days for App Store approval just to update animations. His solution? Move them to the server.

When Badoo launched live streaming with animated gifts that needed frequent updates, they faced a bottleneck. Coordinating iOS and Android releases plus App Store review times meant days of delay for each animation change. The team built a server-side animation delivery system instead.

Key Takeaways

• Export After Effects animations to JSON using Lottie and Bodymovin plugin
• Store animations on server, fetch on demand without app updates
• Same approach works across iOS, Android, and Web platforms
• Designers can ship new animations without involving mobile developers

The article includes specific technical gotchas about asset types and vector graphics that could save you debugging time.