Automatic build number incrementing in Xcode

There are many ways to do automatic build version number incrementing in Xcode. I don’t know of any really easy universal way of doing it, so this is simply my preferred way of doing it. I just added it to a new project so thought I’d document if only for my own future reference!

1. Create a .xcconfig

• Add a file BuildNumber.xcconfig to your project
• Add that file to your .gitignore because it will change frequently
• Add a Pre-Action Script to your Scheme:
  • In Xcode, edit your scheme (Product > Scheme > Edit Scheme).
  • For both “Run” and “Archive” actions, add a Pre-action with a script like the one below
  • Here I’m using a reverse notation date and time format
  • Make sure to set “Provide build settings from” to your project

#!/bin/sh
BUILD_NUMBER=`date '+%y%m%d.%H%M'`

PROJECT_NAME=$(basename "$PROJECT_FILE_PATH" .xcodeproj)
echo "CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION = $BUILD_NUMBER" > "${PROJECT_DIR}/${PROJECT_NAME}/BuildNumber.xcconfig"

echo "Updated build number to: $BUILD_NUMBER"

2. Reference the .xcconfig in your project

• In your project set the base configuration file to your BuildNumber.xcconfig
  • In the main editor, you’ll see two sections: PROJECT and TARGETS
  • Click the name of your project and make sure Info tab is selected
  • You can set the base configuration at the project level (as here) or for each target individually

3. Set the version to use the config variable

In the target build settings, set: Current Project Version to: $(CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION)

• It will show the version number in place

4. Confirm by displaying the value in your app

• Use CFBundleVersion for the build version number