---
url: /install/updating.md
---
# Updating

camera.ui has two parts that update: the **server** and the **app** you installed it with. Both are handled on the **Updates** page, whichever way you installed.

## The Updates page

**Updates** in the navigation collects everything that can be updated, in three sections: **Server**, **Plugins** and **Workers**. A row with a newer version opens that version's release notes, **Check for updates** looks again. Admins only.

**Update all** installs workers first, then plugins, and the server last, because installing the server restarts it. A failed item can be retried on its own. Only one run happens at a time, so the button waits while a plugin or worker update you started by hand is running.

A row can also say why it cannot be updated from here. **Updates with the desktop app** means an app too old to install its own updates remotely, so update it on its machine.

camera.ui checks for new versions every 10 minutes and notifies you when the server, a plugin or a worker has one.

## Updating the server

How the server updates depends on the install method:

* **Docker or bare-metal.** The **Updates** page installs the new version and restarts the server. Pulling a new Docker image does not update the server (see [Updating the Docker image](#updating-the-docker-image)).
* **Desktop app.** The app and the server move together, so the **Server** row is the app itself. See [Updating the desktop app](#updating-the-desktop-app).

A pre-release notification is titled **Beta update**.

## Beta updates

With **Beta updates** on in **Settings → [System](/admin/system)**, the server offers pre-release versions, and **Manage** on that page lists them to install a specific one. The switch reaches everything that follows this server: the desktop app moves to the beta feed, a server on a beta pulls its desktop workers onto the matching beta, and on the mobile app it also turns on beta over-the-air updates of the interface. Pre-releases can be less stable. Once you are on a pre-release, the server keeps offering the next beta even if you turn the switch back off. Install a stable version from **Manage** to leave the beta track.

## Beta versions of plugins

Plugins have their own switch, and the server's **Beta updates** does not reach them. **Beta versions** in the gear menu next to the search on the [Plugins page](/plugins/) adds pre-releases to each plugin's version picker and offers them as updates. Turned off, an installed beta stays until you pick another version. See [Plugins](/plugins/).

## Updating the desktop app

The [desktop app](/install/desktop) installs updates at startup and keeps checking while it runs. A found update appears as the **Server** row on the **Updates** page: installing it downloads the update and relaunches the app, also from another device. Left alone, it installs on the next start.

One exception on Linux: only the `.AppImage` updates itself. The `.deb` is updated by installing the new `.deb` from the [download page](https://cameraui.com).

## Updating the Docker image

The server and the [Docker](/install/docker) image update separately. The launcher installs the server into the volume on first start and keeps that version across every later pull.

To update the **image** (base OS, GPU libraries, launcher):

```bash
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d
```

To update the **server**, use the **Updates** page, or run `cameraui update-server -H /data` in the container and restart it. The `-H /data` matters: without it the update lands outside the data volume and the restart boots the old version again.

## Updating the mobile apps

The [mobile apps](/install/mobile) update through the App Store and Google Play (during the beta: TestFlight on iOS, the Play Store testing track on Android), and also receive over-the-air updates to the interface.