I just spent months getting an android/iOS mobile app up and running after it was abandoned by a previous dev group. What a pain. Just got it into the store last night.
Mobile apps are their own kinda beast. Docker would maybe be helpful if we could publish PWAs to the app stores. Even that sounds like a stretch though.
But Docker and current mobile app pipelines don't have any overlap. They're for different environments.
30 minutes ago, I was just complaining to a coworker how difficult it is to "package" an app and know that it will work, because so much of getting an app to build is outside the code base, outside the git repo. Things like keys, certificates, identities, provisioning profiles, freaking DUNS numbers, device IDs, IDE settings, build pipelines, anything involving push notifications, everything in Apple/Google Dev and store accounts, etc, etc. It's comical that it all even works.
Tracking down and deciphering the keys, certificates, and provisioning profiles has been the biggest hurdle for me. Code can always be tracked and changed.... But certificates are forever! Better not lose those, or their passwords, or you're sorry out of luck.
I imagine that's what you mean by a file of dependencies, because the app won't build until the provisioning profiles are squared away.
My best practice is to store EVERYTHING in a 1Password vault (keys, files, passwords, certificates) cause you never know when you'll need them again. Then I take lots of screenshots and write up a wiki in DevOps as I go along, because I will forget some setting or config by tomorrow. It's far too complex and layered to rely on my brain.