Expo Go and dev builds
Most designs run in Expo Go. What the badge means when one does not.
What the badge means
Every design carries an Expo Go ready badge or does not. It is not a judgement call: it is derived from the packages the design actually imports, checked against a table of which ones need native code. If a design imports something Expo Go does not bundle, the badge disappears, the detail page explains which package and why, and the prompt repeats the warning.
| Badge | What to run | When |
|---|---|---|
| Expo Go ready | npx expo start | Almost every design. Scan the QR code and it runs. |
| No badge | npx expo run:ios | The design needs a development build compiled once on your machine. |
Why most designs qualify
The libraries the designs are built on all ship inside Expo Go: Reanimated, gesture-handler, safe-area-context, svg, expo-image, the Google Fonts packages and Phosphor icons. Nothing in the house style needs a custom native module, so the common case is a scan and a run.
- Motion is Reanimated, which is bundled.
- Icons are Phosphor, which draws through react-native-svg, also bundled.
- Images are remote URLs through expo-image, so there are no bundled assets to build.
Making a development build
One command, once. After it completes you keep using npx expo start as normal; only the client app on the simulator or device changes.
npx expo run:ios
# or, without Xcode locally:
npx eas build --profile development --platform ios