Create a development build

Learn how to create development builds for a project.

When you create a new Expo app with npx create-expo-app, you start off with a project where you update the JavaScript code on your local machine and view the changes in the Expo Go app. A development build is essentially your own version of Expo Go where you are free to use any native libraries and change any native config. In this guide, you will learn how to convert your project that runs on Expo Go into a development build, which will make the native side of your app fully customizable.

How to create a development build

Prerequisites

The instructions assume you already have an existing Expo project that runs on Expo Go.

The requirements for building the native app depend on which platform you are using, which platform you are building for, and whether you want to build on EAS or on your local machine.

Build on EAS

This is the easiest way to build your native app, as it requires no native build tools on your side. The builds happen on the EAS servers, which makes it possible to trigger iOS builds from non-macOS platforms.

(*) All builds that run on an iPhone device require a paid Apple Developer account for build signing.

Build locally using the EAS CLI

Any EAS CLI command can be built on your local machine with the --local flag. This requires your local development environment to be set up with native build tools. Read more about local app development.

(*) All builds that run on an iPhone device require a paid Apple Developer account for build signing.

(**) No first-class support, but possible with WSL.

Build on locally without EAS

To build locally without EAS requires your local development environment to be set up with native build tools. This is the only way to test your iOS build on an iPhone device without a paid Apple Developer Account (only possible on macOS). Read more about local app compilation.

Get started

For detailed, step-by-step instructions, see our EAS Tutorial. Available also as a tutorial series on YouTube.

{
  "build": {
    "development": {
      "ios": {
        "simulator": true
      }
    }
  }
}

Video walkthroughs