diff --git a/ci/common.groovy b/ci/common.groovy
index 80101144f2..4402c7ed13 100644
--- a/ci/common.groovy
+++ b/ci/common.groovy
@@ -7,29 +7,30 @@ def getBuildType() {
   if (jobName.startsWith('status-react/pull requests')) {
       return 'pr'
   }
-
   if (jobName.startsWith('status-react/nightly')) {
       return 'nightly'
   }
-
   if (jobName.startsWith('status-react/release')) {
       return 'release'
   }
-
   return params.BUILD_TYPE
 }
   
-
 def buildBranch(name = null, buildType) {
   /* need to drop origin/ to match definitions of child jobs */
   def branchName = env.GIT_BRANCH.replace('origin/', '')
   /* always pass the BRANCH and BUILD_TYPE params with current branch */
-  return build(
+  def b = build(
     job: name,
+    /* this allows us to analize the job even after failure */
+    propagate: false,
     parameters: [
       [name: 'BRANCH',     value: branchName, $class: 'StringParameterValue'],
       [name: 'BUILD_TYPE', value: buildType,  $class: 'StringParameterValue'],
   ])
+  /* BlueOcean seems to not show child-build links */
+  print "URL: ${b.getAbsoluteUrl()}"
+  return b
 }
 
 def copyArts(projectName, buildNo) {
diff --git a/ci/mobile.groovy b/ci/mobile.groovy
index 8ad8a3dc56..81c239d544 100644
--- a/ci/mobile.groovy
+++ b/ci/mobile.groovy
@@ -2,6 +2,36 @@ common = load 'ci/common.groovy'
 ios = load 'ci/ios.groovy'
 android = load 'ci/android.groovy'
 
+def podLockExists() {
+  def lockFile = (
+    env.HOME+
+    '/.cocoapods/repos/master/.git/refs/remotes/origin/master.lock'
+  )
+  return fileExists(lockFile)
+}
+
+def podUpdate() {
+  /**
+   * This is awful BUT multiple jobs running on the same host can
+   * clash when trying to update the CocoaPods maste repo.
+   * We could set CP_REPOS_DIR, but the would result in
+   * multiple ~3GB directories all over the place and would be slow.
+   **/
+  def maxAttempts = 10
+  def success = false
+  for (i = 0; i <= maxAttempts; i++) {
+    if (!podLockExists()) {
+      success = true
+      break
+    }
+    sleep 10
+  }
+  if (!success) {
+    error('Another pod proc. is preventing us from updating!')
+  }
+  sh 'pod update --silent'
+}
+
 def prep(type = 'nightly') {
   /* select type of build */
   switch (type) {
@@ -19,7 +49,8 @@ def prep(type = 'nightly') {
   sh 'mvn -f modules/react-native-status/ios/RCTStatus dependency:unpack'
   /* generate ios/StatusIm.xcworkspace */
   dir('ios') {
-    sh 'pod install --silent --repo-update'
+    podUpdate()
+    sh 'pod install --silent'
   }
 }