If You Want to Simplify Your Life as a Mobile App Developer, Expo is a Great Choice

"Femi, should I use Expo for my React Native project?"

This is one of the most common questions I hear during mentorship sessions, especially from people transitioning into mobile development. My response is almost always the same: it depends on your project needs. However, if you want to simplify your life as a mobile app developer, Expo is a great choice.

For the benefit of those who might not have heard of the word “Expo”. Expo is a production-grade React Native Framework. Expo provides developer tooling that makes developing apps easier, such as file-based routing, a standard library of native modules, and much more. The Expo framework is free and open-source. The team works closely with the React Native team at Meta to bring the latest feature to Expo SDK. Today, the only recommended community framework for React Native is Expo.

So why Expo? The first question is why developers generally opt for frameworks. Frameworks make your life easier. I will try to break this down in the steps below:

Starting Is Hard But Expo Makes It Easier

When I transitioned into tech, one of the difficult learning curves I faced was configuring environments for mobile development. Between setting up Xcode for iOS, Android Studio for Android, and managing dependencies, it felt like I was fighting battles on multiple fronts. Expo eliminates a huge chunk of this complexity.

With just a command, npx create-expo-app@latest,  you can initialize a project and start coding.

A Developer’s Dream Toolkit

Expo is packed with tools that make development smoother and faster:

• Expo Go: Imagine this, you have made changes to your app, and instead of waiting to recompile, you just scan a QR code with your phone. Boom! Your app updates in real-time. Expo Go has been a lifesaver in that regard. Expo Go also ensures you do not have to possess a Macbook for you to be able to build and test for iOS devices, you can simply download Expo Go on your iPhone and be able to see the look and feel of your app on iOS devices
• Over-The-Air (OTA) Updates: Ever wanted to fix a bug after releasing your app without going through the lengthy app store review process? Expo’s OTA updates allow you to do just that. Push updates instantly, and your users get the changes the next time they open the app. With React Native bare app, you would need to rely on third-party packages like Microsoft App Center (Codepush) or Fastlane to achieve this but with Expo, you get this easily.
• EAS Build: While the managed workflow (Expo’s default) is great, sometimes you need more control. Suppose you want to use a payment gateway, not supported by Expo, you have the flexibility to eject your app back to the bare app   EAS Build lets you customize your app without leaving the Expo ecosystem, giving you the best of both worlds.

Access to Native Features Without the Hassle

I remember when I first needed to implement a camera feature in an app. The process of configuring it for both iOS and Android was overwhelming. With Expo, you can access features like the camera, location, notifications, and even haptics using simple and well-documented APIs. No native code or complex setup is required.

Perfect for Prototypes and MVPs

In my experience, startups often need to ship quickly, whether it's an MVP to test an idea or a prototype to present to stakeholders. Expo excels a lot in this. The speed of development and deployment is unmatched.

Vibrant Community and Support

Expo boasts a large and active community. They also have good documentations that is easy to understand even for a beginner. Whether through the Expo forum or their GitHub issues page, you can be most assured that you will find answers to your issues. Furthermore, new issues are quickly attended to in little time which will save you the stress of hours of debugging as a developer.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you are on the fence about using Expo, my advice is simple: give it a shot. Whether you are building a portfolio project, a startup MVP, or just trying to learn the ropes of mobile development, Expo might be exactly what you need to focus on what matters which is delivering value.