Showing App's Build Date

Question

I am able to display the build date for my app in the simulator, but whenever I archive the app, and upload it to TestFlight, and then install it on a device, the build date doesn't show.

Here is what I'm doing to display the build date.

First, I added CFBuildDate as a string to myproject-info.plist

Next, I added the following script to Edit Scheme -> Build -> Pre-Actions -> Run Script Action :

infoplist="$BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR/$INFOPLIST_PATH"
builddate=`date`
if [[ -n "$builddate" ]]; then
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add :CFBuildDate $builddate" ${infoplist}
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :CFBuildDate $builddate" ${infoplist}
fi

Finally, used the following code to get the build date from the plist file :

NSString *build_date = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] infoDictionary] objectForKey:@"CFBuildDate"];

This displays the build date in simulator (though occasionally it doesn't), but when deploying the app through TestFlight, the build date never displays. Any ideas ?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You might consider using the built-in __DATE__ and __TIME__ macros which will return a string representation of the date and time the app was built. Perhaps they will be of more help to you:

NSString *dateStr = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:__DATE__];
NSString *timeStr = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:__TIME__];

Answer 2

To get build date with format 'yyMMddHHmm' you could try this:

+ (NSString *)GetBuildDate {
    NSString *buildDate;

    // Get build date and time, format to 'yyMMddHHmm'
    NSString *dateStr = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ %@", [NSString stringWithUTF8String:__DATE__], [NSString stringWithUTF8String:__TIME__]];

    // Convert to date
    NSDateFormatter *dateFormat = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [dateFormat setDateFormat:@"LLL d yyyy HH:mm:ss"];
    NSDate *date = [dateFormat dateFromString:dateStr];

    // Set output format and convert to string
    [dateFormat setDateFormat:@"yyMMddHHmm"];
    buildDate = [dateFormat stringFromDate:date];

    [dateFormat release];

    return buildDate;
}

Answer 3

Try running the script as a build phase step, rather than a scheme pre-action step, so it's run all the time, regardless of the type of build you are producing.

Answer 4

If you redefine __DATE__ and __TIME__ it will make the time update every time you build your app. you won´t need to clean or archive to update the time, just need run the project.

  #define DATE [NSString stringWithUTF8String:__DATE__]
  #define TIME [NSString stringWithUTF8String:__TIME__]


- (NSString *)getBuildDate {
    NSString *buildDate;

    // Get build date and time, format to 'yyMMddHHmm'
    NSString *dateStr = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ %@", DATE , TIME ];

    // Convert to date
    NSDateFormatter *dateFormat = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [dateFormat setDateFormat:@"LLL d yyyy HH:mm:ss"];
    NSLocale *usLocale = [[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:@"en_US"];
    [dateFormat setLocale:usLocale];
    NSDate *date = [dateFormat dateFromString:dateStr];

    // Set output format and convert to string
    [dateFormat setDateFormat:@"dd/MM/yyyy-HH:mm"];
    buildDate = [dateFormat stringFromDate:date];

    return buildDate;
}

Answer 5

Swift3

static var buildDate: Date? {
    guard let infoPath = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Info.plist", ofType: nil) else {
        return nil
    }
    guard let infoAttr = try? FileManager.default.attributesOfItem(atPath: infoPath) else {
        return nil
    }
    let key = FileAttributeKey(rawValue: "NSFileCreationDate")
    guard let infoDate = infoAttr[key] as? Date else {
        return nil
    }
    return infoDate
}

static var prettyBuildDate: String {
    guard let date = buildDate else {
        return "Unknown"
    }
    let formatter = DateFormatter()
    formatter.dateFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss ZZZ"
    formatter.timeZone = TimeZone(abbreviation: "UTC")
    return formatter.string(from: date)
}

Answer 6

On macOS, I use this code, which fetches the build date from the app's Info.plist content. Might also work on iOS, I haven't checked:

+ (NSDate *)buildDate {
    static NSDate *result = nil;
    if (result == nil) { 
        NSDictionary *infoDictionary = NSBundle.mainBundle.infoDictionary;
        NSString *s = [infoDictionary valueForKey:@"BuildDateString"];
        NSISO8601DateFormatter *formatter = [[NSISO8601DateFormatter alloc] init];
        NSDate *d = [formatter dateFromString:s];
        result = d;
    }
    return result;
}

Answer 7

Swift5

let compileDate = String(Date())
let df = DateFormatter()
df.dateFormat = "MMM-dd-yyyy"
let usLocale = NSLocale(localeIdentifier: "en_US")
df.locale = usLocale
let aDate: Date? = df.date(from: compileDate)