How do I change which screens open as modals in the native app?
Edit the path configuration your server returns at /configurations/:platform. The shells fetch it at launch, so changing which URLs open as modals, which replace the current screen and which are handled natively is a deploy, not a new binary and not a review.
Where it lives
bin/rails routes | grep configurations
The route is declared in config/routes.rb, constrained to ios or android, and handled by a
controller that returns the rules as JSON. Because it is served rather than compiled in, it is
changeable at the same speed as everything else on your server.
What the rules do
Each rule matches a URL pattern and sets a presentation. The common ones:
- Modal for anything that is a task rather than a place: a new record form, a confirmation.
- Replace for a screen that should not add to the back stack, such as a post-submit result.
- Native for the marker paths the shell must intercept rather than load, which is how the in-app purchase sheet appears.
Per platform, deliberately
The route takes a platform because iOS and Android have different navigation conventions, and pretending otherwise produces an app that feels wrong on one of them. A sheet that is right on iOS may want to be a full screen on Android.
Test the back behavior
The failure this causes is not a crash, it is a back button that goes somewhere unexpected. After changing a rule, walk the flow forwards and backwards on a device. A modal that pushes instead of presenting leaves users on a screen with no way out, and that is a rejection as well as a bug.
Do not put logic here
Path configuration decides presentation, not permissions. A screen that should be hidden from
unentitled accounts is gated in the controller with the concern in
app/controllers/concerns/require_entitlement.rb, not by omitting a navigation rule. The URL is
still reachable, and a rule is not a gate.
Changing it is instant, within reason
The shells fetch the configuration at launch, so a change lands on the next cold start rather than mid-session. That is fast enough to fix a navigation bug the same day, which is the whole point of serving it.