33 articles on expo for app builders shipping to the App Store and Google Play.
App Store phased release rolls a version update out to a random sample of users with automatic updates on over 7 days: 1 percent on day one, then 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. You can pause it for up to 30 days in total, or release to everyone with one button. Here is exactly what Apple says it does, what it does not do, and how I decide when an Expo app update should use it.
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How to add haptic feedback to your Expo app: install expo-haptics, then call the right method for the moment - selectionAsync for pickers, impactAsync for taps and gestures, notificationAsync for outcomes. Here is the exact mapping, the reason the simulator stays silent, and the one rule that keeps haptics from feeling cheap.
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How to add a splash screen to your Expo app: install expo-splash-screen, point the config plugin at a centered logo image with a background color, hold the splash with preventAutoHideAsync until your first screen is ready, then hide it. Here is the exact setup - plus the Android 12 rule and the white-flash fix most builders miss.
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How to add Google Sign-In to your Expo app: create OAuth client IDs in Google Cloud, install the auth module, trigger the sign-in flow, and exchange the token for your own session. Here is the exact flow - plus the Guideline 4.8 rule that means adding Google login forces you to add Apple login too.
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How to add Sign in with Apple to your Expo app: install expo-apple-authentication, enable the capability in app.json, render the native button, and exchange the identity token for your own session. Here is the exact flow - and the Guideline 4.8 rule that forces you to offer it whenever you use a third-party login.
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How to request permissions in your Expo app: install the right permission module, write a clear purpose string for every permission you ask for, request access at the moment the user needs it, and handle a denial gracefully. Here is the exact flow - and the missing purpose string that gets first-time apps rejected.
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Adding dark mode to your Expo app means detecting the system color scheme, theming every component from one central palette, and handling the edge cases that trip up first-time builders. Here is the exact setup - useColorScheme, a typed theme object, styled components, and how Claude Code wires it all in one pass.
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How to set up Supabase with Expo: install the JS client, store the session with Expo SecureStore, enable Row-Level Security on every table, and let Claude Code write the repetitive boilerplate. Here is the exact setup that keeps your app store submission clean and your user data locked down.
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How to add a widget to your Expo app: widgets are native extensions that live outside your JavaScript bundle, so they need a config plugin and a small Swift or Kotlin target. Here is the exact setup for iOS WidgetKit and Android App Widgets using Expo Modules, plus how Claude Code handles the boilerplate.
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How to make an app icon for the App Store: export one 1024x1024 pixel PNG with no transparency and no rounded corners, point Expo at it, and let the system round it. Here is the exact size, the format rule that rejects most first icons, the Android adaptive version, and how I get all of it done fast with Claude Code.
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Environment variables in an Expo app split into two kinds, and treating them the same is how a secret ends up shipped inside your bundle. Here is the one distinction that decides everything, how to wire public values through app config and private ones through EAS, and the safe way to read each in a production build.
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Shipping the first version is one thing. Shipping the second, tenth and fiftieth update without breaking anything is the part nobody explains. Here is the exact update loop I run for an Expo app: bump the version, build, upload, write the release notes, submit, and roll it out with a phased release so a bad build never reaches everyone at once.
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An Expo app that runs fine in development but crashes on launch the moment it is a TestFlight or App Store build is almost never a code bug you can see. It is a difference between how the dev client and a release build load your app. Here is the short list of causes, in the order I check them, and how to read the crash log that names the real one.
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Automating your App Store screenshots means scripting the capture, framing, and export so a new build produces store-ready images without you opening a design tool. Here is the three-layer pipeline I run with Claude Code and Maestro, plus the exact sizes Apple asks for in 2026.
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A Guideline 5.1.2 rejection means Apple thinks your app is tracking, sharing, or repurposing user data without the permission it requires, most often because App Tracking Transparency is missing or a new AI feature is quietly sending data to a third party. Here is what the guideline actually covers and how to fix it in an Expo app.
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A bloated Expo app rarely gets rejected for its size, but it does sit behind Apple's cellular download prompt while a smaller competitor doesn't. Here is where the bloat actually comes from, how to measure what users really download, and the fixes worth doing before you submit.
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Expo Go and a development build look the same until you add one native module. Here is the exact list of features that force a development build, how to tell before you start wiring one up, and how to fold that build step into a Claude Code and Expo workflow without slowing down early development.
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A Guideline 5.1.1 rejection means your app lets someone create an account but does not let them delete it from inside the app. Here is what Apple actually requires, what counts as deletion versus deactivation, and how to add it to an Expo app backed by Supabase or Firebase.
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A CLAUDE.md file is the project memory Claude Code reads automatically every time you open your Expo app, in the terminal or the desktop app, so it stops guessing at your stack and conventions. Here is what I actually put in mine, why an Expo app needs its own instead of a generic one, and where it goes so Claude Code finds it without being told.
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Missing Compliance in App Store Connect means your build is waiting on an export compliance answer, and it will not reach TestFlight testers or App Review until you give one. Here is what Apple is actually asking, the one config line that answers it for every future Expo build, and when false is the wrong answer.
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SDK upgrades are the maintenance job everyone puts off until Apple forces it, which is exactly when it is most painful. Here is the one-version-at-a-time process that keeps an upgrade to an afternoon.
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Most apps break the moment the connection drops, and reviewers notice. Here is the smallest amount of offline support that makes an app feel solid, and why full sync is almost always the wrong first step.
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Pick the simplest auth method your app can survive on, store the token in encrypted storage rather than plain storage, and test the redirect in a real build. That last step is where most Expo auth work quietly falls apart.
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Most indie apps lose more users in the first three screens than in the following three months. Here is the onboarding structure I use to get a new user to their first real result before they have a reason to bounce.
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ITMS-91053 shows up the first time a dependency in your Expo app touches an API Apple now requires you to explain. Here is where the declaration actually lives, how to find the dependency causing it, and the loop I run before every submission so it never surprises me at review.
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A crash on a user's phone that you never hear about is a lost user, and often a 1-star review. Here is the Sentry setup I add to every Expo app before it goes to TestFlight, and what to do with the crash reports once they start coming in.
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Shipping an app without analytics means guessing at what users do after they open it. Here is the simple analytics setup I add to every Expo app before launch, and the handful of events that actually matter.
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TestFlight is the step between eas build and the App Store where you find out if your app actually works on hardware you do not control. Here is how internal and external testing work, and how to get an Expo build into TestFlight without the process stalling.
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A push notification or shared link that dumps a user on your home screen wastes the whole reason you sent it. Here is how custom URL schemes and universal links actually work in Expo, and how to wire them so a link opens the exact screen it was about.
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Expo apps behave differently on a real device than in the simulator. Here is how to debug your Expo app when something works in development but breaks on a physical iPhone or Android phone.
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Push notifications are the highest-retention feature you can add to a mobile app. Here is how to set them up in Expo without getting lost in the documentation.
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Expo Router brings file-based navigation to React Native. Here is how it works, how to set it up, and how to avoid the common mistakes that trip up new app builders.
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You do not need to learn Swift or hire a $10K developer to get a real app on your phone. Here is the week-one plan I use with Claude Code and Expo to go from a plain-English idea to a working app you can hold in your hand.
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David