Hey, I'm building a dating app with a bit of a unique twist but I don't know how to market it, dating apps rely on other users in their area so on first release people might download it, see nothing then remove it, any advise please, it would be massively appreciated.
Just launched BookStreak, a reading habit tracker built entirely with Expo managed workflow. Figured I'd share what worked and what didn't in case it's useful for anyone considering Expo for a production app.
Stack: Expo SDK 52, expo-sqlite for offline-first storage, Supabase for cloud sync, RevenueCat for subscriptions, React Navigation with a 4-tab bottom bar.
What worked well:
What was harder than expected:
What I'd skip next time:
For the App Store preview video, I built a separate tool (AppShot) that generates videos and screenshots from React/Remotion components instead of screen recording. Saved me from learning CapCut, Canva and the output is pixel-perfect and reproducible. It's open source if anyone wants to try it: https://github.com/trunghaiy/appshot
Happy to answer questions about the architecture, Expo gotchas, or the App Store submission process.
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bookstreak-reading-tracker/id6767014813
Hi! I'm happy to share that I recently launched my first app on the app store. I've been developing it for about 6 months - on and off in the afternoons and weekends, after my full time SW job
The app is called PeerPause. It's a screen time control app with a social twist: instead of relying on pure self control, you rely on a Time Buddy. You can set time limits for apps, and when you reach those limits, in order to keep using it you have to ask your time buddy for a time extension. He can choose to deny or approve your requests.
It's my first experience with mobile app development - my background being more focused on web development. But coming from a JS dev stack (React, Node, etc.) it was quite easy to get up to speed with react native and expo.
The trickiest part was dealing with the native iOS screen time APIs. I used the react-native-device-activity but also had to write some custom native swift modules for my particular use case. Other than that things went pretty smooth. Of course, the apple review process was a bit tedious - especially for someone doing it for the first time, but still I wouldn't complain about that, it took me maybe 2-3 submits until it got approved (about 4-5 days)
Next steps:
- i'm focusing on bug fixing, polishing UIs and getting early feedback from users
- ASO: not much traffic right now as it's been 2 days since i launched it, but I'll have to keep working on improving the app store listing and optimizing it
- onboarding optimization - i'll maybe try to do some experiments, see where users drop off in order to improve conversion as much as possible
- start marketing: hardest part starts now - i'll start with TikTok and Instagram as that's where my main userbase would be and the target audience for the app
here's the app link:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/peerpause-screen-time-control/id6754638744
I'm open to your feedback and would welcome any constructive criticism you might have:D I'm also planning on sharing more progress on how the app is going in the future
Hey everyone, I’ve been building Logly, an AI food and progress tracker for iOS.
I recently redesigned the onboarding to make it feel smoother and less overwhelming for first-time users. The goal is to explain the value quickly: write what you ate, get calories/macros estimated, then track weight, measurements, water, and progress over time.
I’d really appreciate feedback on:
- does the onboarding feel too long?
- is the value clear in the first few seconds?
- would you show the paywall before or after the first AI food log?
- anything that feels too generic or not native enough?
Not trying to spam, just looking for honest feedback from other Expo devs.
During the last few months I built a website (nextjs) with a member dashboard, now I am building the mobile (expo) counterpart. The website changes all the time, and I do not have the time or the money to have a dedicated mobile codebase, therefore I am building it completely out of webviews.
Both website and mobile have the same file router structure, so each index.tsx just has a Webview with uri set to its current pathname and that correctly routes to the corresponding website page.
The problem is the navigation sucks. I dont want to just have a continuous webview with typical safari-like navigation, I want smooth inter-screen navigation.
Problems:
The tabs transition is ok but you cant swipe between them, additionally loading 4 webviews at once (4 tabs in the dashboard) worries me performance wise. I could just load one at a time, but then every new tab (even if you just visited it) will have to be reloaded.
The stack transition is terrible, the new screen swipes ~25% over the previous screen, pauses for a second, then disappears completely (probably due to new/old screen lagging the transition, the native header swipes just fine). Additionally, just as with tabs, you cant swipe between the two screens.
Thoughts:
I know there will be limitations due to webview's non-native nature, but I am positive something better is possible. I tested simply loading two webviews and animating their positions to mimic stack navigation and it works like a charm, but attempting to build out my own navigation system completely seems like a bad idea. It doesnt help that nested stack pages would have to all be loaded at a single time for smooth navigation too. What do you think?
Thanks.
Hey everyone,
I recently released a new iOS app called CineSync.
There are obviously a lot of tracker apps out there already, but I found that most of the big ones have become super bloated with ads, heavy social media feeds, and cluttered menus. I just wanted something fast and straight to the point, so I built this.
Here is what it actually does:
• Trakt Integration: Syncs directly with your existing Trakt.tv account so you don't lose your watch history.
• Release Calendar: A clean schedule so you know exactly when the next episode of your show drops.
• Native UI: Built specifically to feel fast and native to iOS.
It’s completely free to download and try out.
I’m currently planning out the next update, so I'm looking for honest feedback. If you test it out, let me know what feels clunky, what bugs you find, or what missing features I should prioritize next.
Promo code: REDDIT for premium.
I recently shipped my first mobile app built with React Native + Expo, and it’s now live on both the App Store and Google Play.
This was actually my first time properly touching React Native.
My background is mostly frontend React/Next.js, so a lot felt familiar at first — components, state, props, hooks — but I quickly realized mobile has its own learning curve.
Things that were new to me:
EAS builds
iOS certificates and provisioning profiles
TestFlight
Google Play testing/release tracks
native-feeling gestures
offline-first behavior
in-app purchases
testing on real devices
app store review/submission
I also leaned heavily on Claude/Codex while building, especially when understanding mobile-specific setup and debugging things I hadn’t dealt with before as a web developer.
Expo made the transition from web to mobile much less intimidating, but the whole release process still taught me a lot.
The app itself is called Kumustahan — a conversation card app — but the main milestone for me was going from “I only know React for web” to actually shipping a React Native app cross-platform.
For other frontend React devs here who are thinking about trying Expo: it’s very approachable, but expect the store/distribution side to be a separate learning curve.
Happy to share what I learned if anyone is going through the same path.
If you want to see, visit kumustahan.app
hey everyone, i’m building a food/progress tracking app and i’ve been working on the progress side of it.
the idea is that it shouldn’t only be about calories. users can also track their journey over time with weight, measurements, progress photos and timeline entries.
i’m trying to make it feel motivating without making it feel toxic or too focused on before/after photos.
would love some honest feedback on the flow/design:
does the timeline make sense?
would it be better to keep photos and measurements together or separate?
does anything feel cluttered?
would this kind of feature actually help users stay consistent?
screenshots use demo data/photos just to show the flow.
Llevo unos meses cuidando mis gastos más en serio. Pensé en una aplicación para ir registrando todos mis gastos y beneficios mensuales y saber a ciencia cierta cuánto ahorro cada mes. Sé que hay algunas apps similares en la store, pero quería hacerla por mí mismo y ajustarla a mis necesidades. Con ella puedo ver mi patrimonio total, en qué categoría gasto más, ajustar límites y visualizarlo todo con gráficos bonitos. No es una aplicación muy compleja pero estoy muy orgulloso de ella. Me gustaría escuchar alguna idea sobre cómo poder promocionarla, sobre todo para recibir feedback honesto y llegar a ser una herramienta realmente útil para otras personas como lo es para mí.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/biliore-finanzas-personales/id6757939242
👋📲
I'm building Mobile app builder and using Expo this are the paywalls.
Building a field service app and trying to pick a stack before going too deep. Would love recommendations from people who've shipped something similar.
What I'm building:
The hard constraint: Technicians regularly work in areas with zero connectivity. Offline isn't a degraded mode — it needs to feel fully functional, with changes syncing back when they reconnect.
What I've read so far:
Expo has a local-first guide (https://docs.expo.dev/guides/local-first/) that lists a bunch of tools — Legend-State, TinyBase, RxDB, LiveStore, Turso, Jazz, PowerSync, ElectricSQL — but it's more of a survey than a recommendation. It even notes that "the tools available today are still in their early stages" which isn't exactly reassuring.
What I'm trying to figure out:
Not looking for the perfect answer — just want to hear what's worked for people who've been through it.
I’ve been upgrading my project since expo 48. I always see YouTubers upgrade their projects in like 2 minutes. I’ve never had a clean upgrade. How long does it take y’all usually? Btw I’m on 52 now.
The numbers are uncomfortable: The App Store has over 2 million apps. Paid acquisition costs are up 30% year over year. And 65 to 70% of downloads still come from App Store search, not from ads, social, or influencers. That means your title, subtitle, keyword field, and screenshots are doing more for your install count than almost anything else.
A few things most mobile devs miss:
◆ Your title is your strongest ranking signal. A core keyword in the title can lift rankings by up to 10%.
◆ Apple now indexes the text inside your screenshots. Semantic search means captions are a ranking factor, not just a conversion tool.
◆ The iOS keyword field is 100 characters, hidden from users, and fully indexed. No spaces after commas, no duplicates from the title, no filler.
◆ Localization is the biggest untapped lever. Every locale gets its own title, keywords, and screenshots, and most teams ship English only.
◆ Ratings and reviews are a direct ranking factor. Prompt at the right moment, after a user finishes something meaningful, never on first launch.
Full repo of 20+ ASO Skills and best practices can be found in this new blog post from a community member: https://expo.dev/blog/aso-skills-aso-in-your-ai-workflow
Finally did it. RadiJar is live on the App Store as of today.
https://apps.apple.com/app/radijar/id6762513400
It’s a life skills and habit-building app for kids — kids get missions from parents, complete them, earn coins, and redeem for family-defined rewards.
There’s also a virtual pet that evolves as they progress. The parent and child share one app but have completely separate dashboards.
Stack:
• Expo React Native (Expo Router for navigation)
• Supabase (Postgres, RLS, Edge Functions, Realtime)
• RevenueCat (subscriptions — CA$4.99/month, CA$39.99/year)
• EAS Build + TestFlight for distribution
iOS only for now. Android (same Expo codebase) coming in June.
Happy to answer questions about any part of the stack or the App Store submission process.
Hey guys, submitting an Expo app soon for a local yoga/wellness studio and trying to avoid Play Store rejection hell.
We built a "Wellness Assessment Dashboard". The user doesn't enter any data themselves. Instead, when they visit the studio, the staff does a physical assessment and uploads data (strength levels, flexibility, progress photos) via a web admin panel. The app is just a read-only dashboard for the user to view their progress.
Since it's labeled "Wellness" and "Strength" rather than a medical diagnosis, does Google still heavily scrutinize this under their strict Health Data policy?
We use Firebase, standard HTTPS, and have disclaimers. Is there any hidden trap or common rejection reason for one-way wellness tracking like this?
Thanks!
Hey everyone, I'm running into the classic Android FCM "app-killed / data-only message" problem and would love any insights or confirmation from folks who've solved this.
The setup:
What I think is happening:
setBackgroundMessageHandler can't run, so no notification is shownWhat I've searched:
What I'm considering:
notification block so Android displays it nativelytitle/body into notification, keeping routing metadata in dataandroid.priority: "high" for time-sensitive alertsMy question:
notification payload the right fix, or is there a manifest/Gradle setting I'm missing?If you've solved this, I'd really appreciate:
Thanks in advance!
I built an expo-module that lets you integrate CallKit / Core-Telecom with VoIP notifications (PushKit/FCM) into your React Native application easily without writing any native code.
Docs: https://expo-callkit-telecom.mfairley.com
In comparison with react-native-callkeep, the main differences are:
- Includes an Expo plugin that manages setting up entitlements, custom dial tones/ringtones and timeout durations for you
- No need to write any native code to get your app to work in the background or set up PushKit. Cold start is handled for you so a user can answer and speak on a call from the lock screen.
- Simpler and unified API across iOS/Android
- Uses Core-Telecom for Android, which supersedes the older ConnectionService
- Written using modern Swift/Kotlin and tested with the latest iOS/Android versions, Expo 55 and LiveKit. react-native-callkeep has not been updated in the past 2 years, and is written in Objective-C/Java.
I hope this makes your life easier: building native calling UI integration for React Native apps is one of the harder parts of building a VoIP app.
Am trying to build a local note taking app with speech to text functionality and local document processing app. I want to integrate small ai models into them and I've come across 3 packages that are promising
I was curious for anyone who has built a local ai app, which of these have you used and found success with. It should work for both Android and Apple, mostly Android
I’ve always loved cats. Whenever I see one outside, my first instinct is to try and make friends with it. That’s what inspired me to build an app that turns those random cat encounters into something collectible. You snap a photo of a cat you find, and the app automatically cuts it out, transforms it into a cute little 3D-style collectible, and assigns it attributes and a rarity level.
Right now, it’s mostly a fun way to keep a personal collection of all the cats you meet. But eventually, I want to expand it into a cat battler game, where your collected cats can go up against your friends’ cats. It’s not on the Play Store yet, but if you’d like to try it out, let me know and I’ll send you access. I’d really love to get feedback from fellow cat lovers.
Hey folks. Wanted to share what we've been working on around build speed, since it's the thing we hear most about and the thing that most directly impacts how fast you can iterate.
The short version: Mac Minis are scarce globally right now (AI automators, indies, enterprise teams all buying at once + long lead times), and that affects every cloud build service running on Apple silicon. We're addressing it head-on rather than letting queue times creep up.
What's actually happening:
◆ Dozens of new M4 Pro and Max Mac Minis added to our build fleet. More are being racked. More are on the way.
◆ Compiler-level caching is now live for SDK 54 and 55, speeding up fastlane and gradlew steps by up to 30%
◆ Gradle caching rolling out for Android
◆ Prebuilt binaries for react-native-reanimated and react-native-screens so you stop paying that compile cost
◆ SDK 56 will ship prebuilt XCFrameworks for our most complex iOS Expo modules
The other angle we're pushing: building less in the first place. If you haven't set up EAS Update + fingerprint workflows yet, this is the move. Most code changes are JS-only and don't need a full rebuild. Fingerprint workflows hash your native code, so commits that don't touch native just ship an update instead of triggering a new build.
And the Expo CLI can also build locally via your Xcode or Android Studio install if you need to debug native or work around network restrictions. npx expo run:ios and npx expo run:android both work and play nicely with development builds.
Full write-up with the workflow examples and local build guide: https://expo.dev/blog/build-fast-no-matter-what-how-expo-is-optimizing-for-speed
Happy to answer questions in the thread.