Introduction

Expo is a set of tools, libraries and services you can use to build native iOS and Android apps faster than ever before. There are two ways to build a project with Expo, we call these workflows: you can use the "managed" workflow or the "bare" workflow. With the "managed" workflow, you only write JavaScript and lean on the Expo SDK to give you access to your device capabilities and the Expo services to handle the heavy lifting of building your app binary and uploading it to the store, all without you touching Xcode or Android Studio. With the "bare" workflow, we also speed up your development with the Expo SDK and React Native, and you have full control over your iOS and Android projects.

Expo also provides UI components to handle a variety of use-cases that almost all apps will cover but are not built into React Native core, e.g. icons, blur views, and more.

Getting Start Steps for Expo.io

1. Fall in Love See how quickly you can turn your ideas into performant cross-platform apps before installing a thing.

Try Snack

2. Download NodeJS Get started with Node to use everything in the JS ecosystem, including Expo and React Native. We recommend using the latest Node version.

Download Node.JS

3. Get the command line tool You will run this tool locally to package, serve, and publish your projects.

npm install expo-cli --global

4. Create your first project You will be asked to create an Expo account before proceeding.

expo init my-new-project

cd my-new-project

expo start

5. Preview your project Open Expo Client on your device. Use it to scan the QR code printed by expostart. You may have to wait a minute while your project bundles and loads for the first time.

IOS APP

ANDROID APP

6. Start coding!

Select your favorite editor, like Atom, VSCode, Sublime Text, Vim, or Emacs, open your-project/App.js, and start building! We recommend following the Up and Running tutorial.

Caveats

Because you don't build any native code when using Expo to create a project, it's not possible to include custom native modules beyond the React Native APIs and components that are available in the Expo client app.

If you know that you'll eventually need to include your own native code, Expo is still a good way to get started. In that case you'll just need to "eject" eventually to create your own native builds. If you do eject, the "Building Projects with Native Code" instructions will be required to continue working on your project.

Expo CLI configures your project to use the most recent React Native version that is supported by the Expo client app. The Expo client app usually gains support for a given React Native version about a week after the React Native version is released as stable. You can check this document to find out what versions are supported.

If you're integrating React Native into an existing project, you'll want to skip Expo CLI and go directly to setting up the native build environment. Select "Building Projects with Native Code" above for instructions on configuring a native build environment for React Native.