expo-dev-client

Topics in the source

• Important: When Development Clients Are Needed
• EAS Configuration
• Building for TestFlight
• Building Locally
• Installing Local Builds
• Building for Specific Platform
• Checking Build Status
• Using the Dev Client

Use EAS Build to create development clients for testing native code changes on physical devices. Use this for creating custom Expo Go clients for testing branches of your app. Free locally; cloud builds are paid. expo-dev-client itself is open source and building locally is free. Building or distributing via EAS Build/TestFlight uses your EAS plan's build minutes and needs a paid Apple Developer account for device/TestFlight distribution. See https://expo.dev/pricing. Development clients are the recommended setup for any real or production app. Expo Go is a playground for learning and quick experiments with the native libraries it bundles; most apps outgrow it and move to a development client. See Expo Go vs. development builds for the full reasoning. You need a dev client ONLY when using: Local Expo modules (custom native code) Apple targets (widgets, app clips, extensions) Third-party native modules not in Expo Go Config plugins, or testing remote push notifications and App/Universal Links Ensure eas.json has a development profile: Key settings: developmentClient: true - Bundles expo-dev-client for development builds autoIncrement: true - Automatically increments build numbers ap

This is an excerpt. Refer to the complete source and its current requirements.