A local development environment ready for native iOS and Android React Native / Expo development, capable of running the npx expo run:ios and npx expo run:android, including recent versions of:
- Xcode (version 15+)
- Watchman
- Cocoapods
- JDK 17
- Android Studio
- iOS simulator
- Android emulator
- If you're not sure if you have all of these or if you have the right versions, check the Expo Local App Development requirements for details on how to install these tools in order to enable local native development with the Expo CLI.
Other general development tools:
- Node 20+
- Visual Studio Code
- Git (Github Desktop works great)
Hardware:
- A Mac is highly recommended for the full experience (though all exercises have an Android-only track, so it's possible to do most of the exercises without a Mac).
Online accounts:
- An Expo account (go to https://expo.dev to sign up)

Test your setup before the workshop

Do these steps to ensure you'll be able to complete the workshop exercises.

Fork and clone this repo.
Install dependencies with

yarn install

Install EAS CLI globally with

npm install -g eas-cli

eas login

Configure your EAS project to use EAS Build and EAS Update

eas build:configure # Choose the option to configure all platforms
eas update:configure

Run and install the appropriate build command based on your setup:

Option 1: You have an iOS device and an active Apple Developer account ($99/year membership)

→ Build a development version for your iOS device:

Change the iOS bundle identifier in app.json to something unique (e.g. com.expo.appjs25-update-workshop-code.your-name) and run:

eas build --platform ios --profile development

Once the build is complete, follow the instructions on the website to install the app.

Option 2: You have a Mac

→ Build for the iOS Simulator:

eas build --platform ios --profile simulator

Option 3: You have an Android device

→ Build a development version for your Android device:

eas build --platform android --profile development

Option 4: None of the above

→ Build for the Android Emulator:

eas build --platform android --profile simulator

About the demo app

The app is a concept for a guide for an art museum, where you can virtually tour the available exhibits and "favorite" the exhibits you would like to see in person.

The works of art themselves are pulled from the Cleveland Museum of Art Open Access API, retrieved using TanStack query. You could use the API directly, but for reliability's sake, it's pulling the data from local files, though the images themselves are still pulled from the museum's CDN.

The demo is based off the Expo Router tabs starter (npx create-expo-app --template tabs), and also includes Nativewind v4 for most of the styling.

README.md

App.js 2025: "Production-ready Patterns for EAS Update" starter project

Prerequisites