{"slug": "expo", "name": "Expo", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 8, "warners": 0, "score": 4.657, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2025-12-02", "latest": "2026-09-11", "why": "I used Expo recently and loved the development experience.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 4, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I used Expo recently and loved the development experience.", "icon": true, "domain": "expo.dev", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://expo.dev", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Expo"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 794504801, "item_id": 49656550, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49656550", "by": "wouldbecouldbe", "date": "2026-09-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "switched web, ios, android all back to expo/rn. I love that testing is only (almost) only thing now", "excerpt": "I thought the same, but then I build a few complicated apps and thought I could keep the different codebases stable but still was a headache, so switched web, ios, android all back to expo/rn. I love that testing is only (almost) only thing now, instead of 3 platforms.", "context": "", "use_case": "cross-platform mobile apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin"}, {"id": 782437713, "item_id": 48902357, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48902357", "by": "chrisvenum", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "React Native + Expo is also a good option", "excerpt": "React Native + Expo is also a good option if you want to touch the iOS/Android IDEs as little as possible. You use Xcode and Android studio to install the device sims and then expos tool chain handles the rest, even for deploying to stores. If you are on a windows computer and can\u2019t install Xcode, you can even run your iOS app directly on an iPhone with their managed app. Ignite is a great starter using RN and Expo. ", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile builds and deployment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building and Shipping Mac and iOS Apps Without Ever Opening Xcode"}, {"id": 773436561, "item_id": 48339785, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48339785", "by": "qrush", "date": "2026-05-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I got most of this done with Claude and expo.dev", "excerpt": "I've been dipping my toes back in after nearly 10 years away from native development. I finally just got an Android app shipped to the Play Store for https://wordtrak.com, after several weeks of back and forth with what I am assuming are mostly robots managing the Google side of this. I was stunned to see how far Android distribution has come (and especially that all changes are now reviewed). What I was most surpris", "context": "", "use_case": "shipping Android app", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Is the State of App Development in 2026?"}, {"id": 747361856, "item_id": 46710116, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46710116", "by": "bbx", "date": "2026-01-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used Expo recently and loved the development experience.", "excerpt": "Interesting. I used Expo recently and loved the development experience. I also built a simple iPhone app with Swift, and it was a decent experience. I have plans of building another iPhone app and was considering Swift again, which would make me miss building an Android app, but maybe Skip would allow me to do it anyways.", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile app development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Skip Is Now Free and Open Source"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "denizcakiroglu", "context": "full-stack engineer specializing in production LLM systems", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502797", "date": "2026-06-12"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["cross-platform mobile apps", "mobile builds and deployment", "mobile apps", "shipping android app", "mobile app development", "app frontend"], "compared": [{"slug": "react-native", "name": "React Native", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 789097441, "item_id": 49318590, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49318590", "by": "shubham_sinha", "date": "2026-08-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've built something similar using Expo. That's the stack that I'm most familiar with and surprisingly the performance of the app is pretty good.", "excerpt": "GPUI is going to be react for Rust ecosystem. Everyone seems to be on Rust & GPUI bandwagon these days. I've built something similar using Expo. That's the stack that I'm most familiar with and surprisingly the performance of the app is pretty good. Still ironing our few edge cases, but would like to benchmark again Waku. https://github.com/pounce-ai/pounce", "context": "", "use_case": "coding agent app", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: I built a native app for coding agents with Rust and GPUI"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49643982", "title": "Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49315709", "title": "Show HN: I built a native app for coding agents with Rust and GPUI", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48896665", "title": "Building and Shipping Mac and iOS Apps Without Ever Opening Xcode", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48357724", "title": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (June 2026)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48337409", "title": "Ask HN: What Is the State of App Development in 2026?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46706906", "title": "Skip Is Now Free and Open Source", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 794504801, "item_id": 49656550, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49656550", "by": "wouldbecouldbe", "date": "2026-09-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "switched web, ios, android all back to expo/rn. I love that testing is only (almost) only thing now", "excerpt": "I thought the same, but then I build a few complicated apps and thought I could keep the different codebases stable but still was a headache, so switched web, ios, android all back to expo/rn. I love that testing is only (almost) only thing now, instead of 3 platforms.", "context": "", "use_case": "cross-platform mobile apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin"}, {"id": 782437713, "item_id": 48902357, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48902357", "by": "chrisvenum", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "React Native + Expo is also a good option", "excerpt": "React Native + Expo is also a good option if you want to touch the iOS/Android IDEs as little as possible. You use Xcode and Android studio to install the device sims and then expos tool chain handles the rest, even for deploying to stores. If you are on a windows computer and can\u2019t install Xcode, you can even run your iOS app directly on an iPhone with their managed app. Ignite is a great starter using RN and Expo. ", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile builds and deployment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building and Shipping Mac and iOS Apps Without Ever Opening Xcode"}, {"id": 776044757, "item_id": 48502797, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502797", "by": "denizcakiroglu", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Location: Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye (relocating to Guildford, UK in Sept 2026) Remote: Yes \u2014 full EU overlap; US-East evenings (UTC+3, moving to UTC+0) Willing to relocate: No Technologies: TypeScript, Node.js, NestJS, Fastify, Next.js, React, React Native/Expo, PostgreSQL/Prisma, Redis/BullMQ, Claude API, RAG, tool-calling/MCP, pgvector, Playwright R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https://github.com/denizcakiroglu322 Email: denizcakiroglu322@gma", "context": "full-stack engineer specializing in production LLM systems", "use_case": "mobile apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (June 2026)"}, {"id": 773436561, "item_id": 48339785, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48339785", "by": "qrush", "date": "2026-05-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I got most of this done with Claude and expo.dev", "excerpt": "I've been dipping my toes back in after nearly 10 years away from native development. I finally just got an Android app shipped to the Play Store for https://wordtrak.com, after several weeks of back and forth with what I am assuming are mostly robots managing the Google side of this. I was stunned to see how far Android distribution has come (and especially that all changes are now reviewed). What I was most surpris", "context": "", "use_case": "shipping Android app", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Is the State of App Development in 2026?"}, {"id": 747361856, "item_id": 46710116, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46710116", "by": "bbx", "date": "2026-01-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used Expo recently and loved the development experience.", "excerpt": "Interesting. I used Expo recently and loved the development experience. I also built a simple iPhone app with Swift, and it was a decent experience. I have plans of building another iPhone app and was considering Swift again, which would make me miss building an Android app, but maybe Skip would allow me to do it anyways.", "context": "", "use_case": "mobile app development", "switched_from": "", "story": "Skip Is Now Free and Open Source"}, {"id": 746119857, "item_id": 46632491, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46632491", "by": "agentvivi", "date": "2026-01-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "React Native + Expo (running on react-native-web)", "excerpt": "Hello HN, I built a daily deduction game for history nerds called Witness Archives. The Concept: It\u2019s similar to Wordle or Redacted. You get 5 clues (diary entries, telegrams, confidential files) and have to deduce the specific historical event. You start with 5 \"lives\" and lose one for every wrong guess. The Tech Stack: Frontend: React Native + Expo (running on react-native-web). Hosting: Netlify (static export). Ba", "context": "", "use_case": "app frontend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Witness Archives \u2013 A daily history puzzle built with React Native Web"}, {"id": 739816932, "item_id": 46238558, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46238558", "by": "BenjaminHarris", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "The app is built with React Native (Expo SDK 54).", "excerpt": "Hi HN, I\u2019m the developer of Sunset Compass, a free iOS navigation tool for photographers and hikers. The Problem: The current market leaders for ephemeris data (Sun Surveyor, PhotoPills) are incredible engineering feats, but they suffer from two issues: They are complex and expensive ($10-$15), targeting the top 5% of professional photographers. They largely ignore non-English markets, leaving a massive gap for casua", "context": "", "use_case": "building the app", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Sunset Compass \u2013 Privacy-first sun/moon tracker in 50 languages"}, {"id": 738089057, "item_id": 46130566, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46130566", "by": "garyhtou", "date": "2025-12-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It's built with Expo by a 17-year-old!", "excerpt": "It's time! Take a look at the new mobile app for HCB. It's built with Expo by a 17-year-old! https://hackclub.com/fiscal-sponsorship/mobile-app/", "context": "", "use_case": "building mobile app", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HCB \u2013 Nonprofit financial app processing $6M/month"}]}