How to Install React Native with Expo - Quick & Easy

Hey there!, so you want to get into mobile development or you're already familier with mobile development and you want to install/set-up React Native on your machine, but your machine is slow😥 and or you live in a country where the cost of good internet data is quite expensive so you can’t afford to install Android studio or Xcode

Never say never!, after reading this you'll have React Native up and running on your machine without consuming ridiculous amount of space on your machine with the help of this life saver called Expo!, Lets get started.

STEP 1 - Install Node.js

If you have the Node 10 LTS or greater installed on your machine. kindly move to the next step!, If you dont, visit nodejs website to install the recommended version for your OS.

STEP 2 - Install the Expo CLI

We'll install Expo CLI with npm, npm comes along with Node, you can confirm this by running the following command.

npm -v

it will print the version of npm installed in your machine.

Now, we install Expo CLI by running the following command:

npm install -g expo-cli

STEP 3 - Create a new React Native project

Run the following commands to create a new React Native project called "NewProject":

expo init NewProject

cd NewProject
npm start # you can also use: expo start

Awesome!!, now you've successfully installed and set-up a new project, next step you'll learn how to run your app.

STEP 4 - Running your React Native application

Install the Expo client app on your iOS or Android phone and connect to the same wireless network as your computer. On Android, use the Expo app to scan the QR code from your terminal to open your project. On iOS, follow on-screen instructions to get a link.

Congratulations!!, You have successfully installed React Native, go forth and build!!!❤️❤️❤️

Comments

[Shuvohabib]

Thanks a lot for this article. Was working on developing a React Native app for my website buyelectronicsbd.com, This Article helps a lot!

[Muhammed Arshad]

bro this is the real command right npx create-expo-app my-app

[Tia Eastwood]

I just needed a quick reminder of how to get started again and this was exactly what I needed! Thanks!

[Makula Samuel]

How about installing using yarn because npm sometimes gives me issues

[danielangelo]

This post is completely useless as it is an 100% copy paste from the official documentation : reactnative.dev/docs/environment-s...

[Runo-saduwa]

My aim of writing articles is to make it more approachable and less frightening like the docs. You’re wrong, please reiterate and check, this is not 100% thesame with the official docs. Thanks for stopping by