Convert from Expo Go to a development build

Install the expo-dev-client

The Expo Dev Client library includes the launcher UI (shown in the screenshots below), dev menu, extensions to test over-the-air updates, and more. The Expo Go app has the dev menu built in, and that's why you need to install it separately for a development build.

We recommend using the expo-dev-client for the best development experience, but it is possible to use development builds without installing this library. If not using the dev client, in Step 3, start the bundler with --dev-client. Otherwise, it will default to opening in Expo Go.

Build your native app

With Expo Go, you only needed to build the JavaScript bundle, but with development builds you also need to compile the native app. With Expo, there are two parts to building your native app:

1. Generate the native android and/or ios directories (read more on when and how you'll need to do this)
2. Use native build tools to compile the native app(s)

Once you've built your native app, you won't need to build it again unless you add or update a library with native code, or change any native code or configuration, such as the app name.

After generating your android and/or ios directories, make sure you add them to .gitignore instead of checking them into Git. This ensures you can always regenerate the code locally or on CI when needed and never have to edit native code manually.

Option 1: Build on your local machine

To build a native app on your local machine, follow the setup your environment guides for Android and iOS platforms. This involves setting up and configuring native build tools like Android Studio for Android and Xcode for iOS.

Once you have everything set up, run the following command:

By default, this will build and install the app on an Android Emulator/iOS Simulator. If you need to run the build on your phone, plug it into your computer (on Android, select trust device and allow USB debugging if prompted, and on iOS, enable developer mode) and run the above commands with the --device flag.

Option 2: Build on EAS

Building on EAS servers is useful when:

• You can't or don't want to set up your local development environment
• You want to build an iOS app but don't own a Mac
• You want to share the development builds with your team

Start the bundler

After building locally, npx expo run:android|ios will start the bundler automatically. But if you closed the bundler or are working on a dev client you built earlier, (re)start the Metro bundler with:

When your project has expo-dev-client installed, the bundler will print out Using development build, and the QR code it shows will link into the development build you created instead of Expo Go.