Expo Application Services ([EAS](https://expo.dev/eas)) is a cloud build service used to build and publish React Native apps.

This course will show you how to create the common types of builds for iOS and Android on EAS. We'll cover Development builds for local development, Preview builds for internal testing, and Production builds for release.

Additionally, you'll learn about:
- app versioning
- automatic store uploads
- setting up store listing pages
- installing multiple app variants on the same device
- installing past builds with [Expo Orbit](https://docs.expo.dev/build/orbit/)

## iOS

An overview of build signing, and why an Apple Developer account needed in order to install builds on a real device.

How to create:
- an iOS simulator build
- a build to use on your device for local development
- a build to share with your team without uploading it to App Store Connect
- a release build to use on the App Store

You will also learn how to upload your build to App Store Connect, share it on TestFlight and create a Release.

## Android

How to create:
- a build to use for development on an emulator or a device
- a build to share with your team without uploading it to Google Play
- a release build to use ob Google Play

We'll cover what is needed to create a new Google Play account, and the current restrictions for individual accounts.

You will also learn how to set up auto-submit on Google Play.

Create a new React Native project using the Expo CLI.

You can use any of the supported package managers: **npm**, **yarn**, **pnpm** or **bun**. In the video (and throughout the course) we use **yarn**.

You can also choose a template to use for your project. In this video we choose the blank TypeScript template, but you can choose a different template if you prefer.

📝 [Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/get-started/installation/)

Create a React Native App With Expo CLI

Set up an existing Expo Go project to use Development Builds.

Expo Go is a Sandbox Environment designed for learning prototyping and getting started with mobile development quickly. The major limitation of Expo Go is that you are completely unable to add or edit any native code in your app. This might be a trivial limitation at the start of your project when you're prototyping and experimenting, but most production quality apps will eventually need to have more control over their native app bundles.

This is where development builds come in. A development build is basically your own customised version of Expo Go: you build the native side of your app yourself and get to have all the control over what libraries and configurations are included.

Thanks to CNG (with prebuild) the native projects are generated automatically based off of your app config and package.json.

📝 [Expo Go](https://docs.expo.dev/get-started/expo-go/)

📝 [Development Builds](https://docs.expo.dev/develop/development-builds/introduction/)

📝 [Continuous Native Generation (CNG)](https://docs.expo.dev/workflow/continuous-native-generation/)

Set Up Your Expo Go Project to Use Development Builds

Create an iOS build for developing locally on a Simulator.

This is the only native iOS build you can do on EAS without having an Apple Developer account and being enrolled in the Apple Developer Program.

It can be used for local development on an iOS simulator, so you can only do this on a Mac, because you must be able to install Xcode to get access to the iOS simulators.

⚙️ [Xcode](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xcode/id497799835)

🔗 [Expo Website](https://expo.dev/)

📝 [Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/build/introduction/)

Create a Development Build for iOS Simulator with EAS

Set up a Distribution certificate and an Ad Hoc provisioning profile for iOS internal distribution builds.

Here we learn how to sign Apple app builds to make them installable on Apple devices.

In order to install your own app on any Apple device, you need an Apple Developer account and a subscription to the Apple Developer Program.

🔗 [Apple Developer Program](https://developer.apple.com/programs/)

⚙️ [Code Signing Illustration](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kadi-kraman_an-illustration-of-what-code-signing-with-activity-7132420058076581888-s6TM)

Use the EAS CLI to Configure App Store Credentials for Internal Distribution Builds

Create a build to run on your physical iPhone device that can also be used for local development.

📝 [Enabling Developer Mode](https://docs.expo.dev/guides/ios-developer-mode/)

📖 Further reading: [Push Notifications Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/push-notifications/overview/)

Create a Development Build for iPhone With EAS

Create an Internal Distribution (Preview) build for sharing your app in internally in production mode.

This is the only way to share your iPhone app without submitting it to TestFlight and is often used for QA testing or internal demos.

📝 [Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/build/internal-distribution/)

Create an Internal Distribution Build for iPhone with EAS

Create an iOS Release build for distribution.

This build gets submitted to the Apple and can only be installed via TestFlight or the App Store.

Create an iOS Release Build for the Apple App Store with EAS

Submit your Production Build to the Apple App Store and install it via TestFlight.

When submitting a build to Apple with EAS Submit (or otherwise), it will first get added to TestFlight which is essentially a pre-prod environment for Apple. This will allow you to install and share the actual production build to testers before releasing it to users.

App names on the Apple App Store must be globally unique. So if you've chosen a name for your app that is already taken - like Plants - you will have to choose a different name for the App Store Listing page. Note that this is only the case for the app name on the App Store listing page, and you can still use your preferred name elsewhere.

**TestFlight Internal Testing** - as soon as you upload your build to App Store Connect and it finished processing, it is available for internal testing. You can add users to the internal testing group by email, and the users must be registered on your Apple Developer account.

**TestFlight External Testing** - this is a separate testing group that allows you to share the build with anyone either by sending them an email invite or using an invite URL. Before you can share the build, you must first submit a build for external testing and wait for it to be approved by Apple, which usually takes a couple of hours.

**Release** - in order for the build to actually show up on the Apple App Store, you will need to create a Release on App Store connect and submit it for review. This review usually takes about a day.

🔗 [TestFlight](https://developer.apple.com/testflight/)

📝 [EAS Submit Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/submit/introduction/)

📝 [App Store Assets Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/guides/store-assets/)

Submit an iOS App to the Apple App Store and TestFlight using EAS

Create a Development Build that runs on Android Emulator or Device.

This build can be used for local development on Android. You can use the same apk (the build artifact) on both an Emulator (that you can install via Android Studio) or on a real android device.

🔗 [Expo Website](https://expo.dev/)

📝 [Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/build/introduction/)

🔗 [Android Studio](https://developer.android.com/studio)

Create a Development Build for Android with EAS

Create an Internal Distribution (Preview) build for sharing your app in internally in production mode.

This can be used to share your build with your team or testers without submitting it to Google Play.

📝 [Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/build/internal-distribution/)

Create an Internal Distribution Build for Android with EAS

Create the app on the Google Play Store, create the first production build on EAS, upload it to Google Play, and publish it to an internal testing group.

For sharing apps via Google Play, you will need a paid Google Play developer account. It is preferable to have an organisation account if you're looking to monetise your app (you'll need to verify your organisation before you can create apps). But if you you are building apps as an individual developer, you can use the individual developer account. 

When creating an individual developer account, you have some additional restrictions:
1. You must submit proof of ID and home address to create the account
2. If you want to monetise your apps, your home address will be shown on the Google Play developer page
3. You will need 20 testers to test your app for 14 days before you can apply for production access

🎮 [Google Play Console](https://play.google.com/console)

🔗  [Register for a Google Play Developer account](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6112435)

🔗 [Required information to create a Play Console developer account](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/13628312?hl=en-GB)

🔗 [QR Code Generator](https://www.qr-code-generator.com/)


Create an Android Release Build with EAS and Upload to Google Play Store

Set the build number to increment automatically and learn when to increment version numbers.

While you’re developing your app, when you submit an app with a specific version + version code to the App or Play Store, you cannot submit another app with the same values.

The best practice is to set the build number to increment automatically.

The version number can be incremented manually after each store release.

📖 [Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/build-reference/app-versions/)

Increment Version and Build Numbers for iOS and Android apps using EAS

Set up credentials to upload your Android build to Google Play automatically.

For automatic uploads, you'll need to set up all the app metadata on your Google Play account, including setting up app assets. You'll also need to configure and set up a Google Service Account.

📝 [Create a Google Service Account](https://github.com/expo/fyi/blob/main/creating-google-service-account.md) 
📝 [Store Assets](https://docs.expo.dev/guides/store-assets/)
📝 [EAS Submit Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/submit/introduction/)

Upload an Android App to the Google Play Store Automatically using Expo Publish

Reconfigure your eas.json and app.json so you can install the development, preview and production builds all on the same device.

An app on your phone is uniquely identified by the bundle identifier on iOS and the package on Android, so to make the builds unique we have to make these IDs different based on the build profile.

📖 [Docs](https://docs.expo.dev/build-reference/variants/)

Install Multiple Variants of Your iOS and Android Apps on the Same Device

Use Expo Orbit to install past builds from EAS as well as from your local machine.

You can also use Orbit to easily view and launch all your connected simulators, emulators and physical devices.

🔗 [Expo Orbit](https://docs.expo.dev/build/orbit/)

Build and Deploy React Native Apps with Expo EAS

Instructor

iOS

Android

Course Content