Server-Provided Animations in iOS Apps
Article Summary
Valerii Che from Bumble solved a problem every mobile team faces: how do you ship new animations without waiting days for App Store approval? His solution decouples design updates from release cycles entirely.
When Bumble launched live streaming with animated gifts, they needed to update animations every few weeks. Traditional approaches required coordinated iOS/Android releases plus App Store review time. The team built a server-driven animation system using Lottie and Adobe After Effects exports.
Key Takeaways
- Animations stored as JSON on servers, fetched on demand via REST API
- Bodymovin plugin exports After Effects animations with embedded base64 assets
- Design updates ship instantly without app releases or platform coordination
- Same animation files work across iOS, Android, and web platforms
- LOTAnimationView renders server-provided animations with simple ViewModel integration
Critical Insight
Server-provided animations let designers ship updates independently while eliminating multi-day App Store approval delays and cross-platform coordination overhead.
