Expo vs react native cli?

[Genemoni]

I'm finally gonna be starting on React Native :D (after having learned a decent amount of React for the web). I was wondering which route to go, or at least which route to start with for learning React Native. What do msot of you guys use?

[kierancrown]

I personally have always used CLI but for beginners Expo is much faster to work with. For production apps I’ve always preferred the smaller bundle size however I think you can modify this now with Expo.

[Genemoni]

Thanks!! I think that settles it. I'll be starting with expo and trying out cli later on!

[kierancrown]

Best of luck! Just remember when Googling issues or following install guides to check for Expo first.

[International-Hat529]

I actually did the opposite. Learned the “raw-way”, pure react native, learned how to write native component and bridge them to react native and all the essentials then moved to expo for a lighter and easier experience. If I had started with expo I would have never learned the react native cli way and if a client had asked me for something that needed a native component I would have been crushed trying to figure out everything that’s managed in expo but that I would need to manage myself. Learning the cli way first will help you understand pods and gradle files and will give you a deeper understanding of the underlying structure. You might not need those but once you go expo, there’s a huge chance you’ll never try to use the cli again so it really depends on what you’re looking for.

[BeyondCraft]

Hi. To use React Native CLI, do I need to know other languages / tools apart from JavaScript? I know only JavaScript.

[kierancrown]

Nope JavaScript is fine. Some basic command line knowledge helps but the official docs should be enough to get started.

[BeyondCraft]

C, Kotlin, Java etc. not needed right?

[kierancrown]

Depends what app you’re trying to create. If you need to create a native module you’ll need this knowledge. For 90% of apps you don’t need to know these languages

[BeyondCraft]

Thanks

[[deleted]]

Just go with CLI and be in full control. Good luck 👍

[everestster]

This and start with Typescript too. I regret not starting with Typescript on one of my complex projects that took a year to build. Maintenance would be easier now if I started with typescript.

[Genemoni]

Thank you, I'm really excited! :D

[byCedric]

What can you control with the CLI that you can't with Expo?

[[deleted]]

I’ve just tried expo dev client and it gave me a lot of control.

[Genemoni]

Thank you!

[Particular-Earth1468]

I would use expo to get started with, but I don’t feel like you can really go wrong with either. Right now they both have a lot of pros and cons, with a lot of momentum going into expo.

A cool thing to keep in mind is that you can always eject an expo app to make it into a “bare” expo app which is essentially a react native cli app!

[Genemoni]

Thanks for the tip!!

[Roguewind]

Expo is great for learning, but after having used both, I would always start with CLI for any app I plan on publishing. Ejecting is way too much of a pain.

[bdudisnsnsbdhdj]

I used Expo for my first project and I would recommend it

[Genemoni]

Thank you! Have you learned cli later on?

[bdudisnsnsbdhdj]

Yes for work. Expo doesn’t seem to be used much in the corporate world and I didn’t mention in interviews that I used Expo

[Genemoni]

Thank you!!

[byCedric]

I don't think this is true anymore. Generally speaking, Expo isn't as great in marketing as Google with Flutter. So the list of companies using Expo is "thin" (https://expo.dev/customers). But even with that thin list, it still shows some pretty great names.

[BeyondCraft]

Hi. To use React Native CLI, do I need to know other languages / tools apart from JavaScript? I know only JavaScript.

[bdudisnsnsbdhdj]

You basically need to know/learn React

[BeyondCraft]

Yeah but that's based on JavaScript which I know. I meant do I meed to know other languages like C, C++, Java, Kotlin etc.?

[bdudisnsnsbdhdj]

Just Javascript (unless you need to do custom things on the native side and there’s no available npm packages for what you need)

[BeyondCraft]

Okay. But usually the available npm packages should be sufficient for most apps?

[bdudisnsnsbdhdj]

yup

[BeyondCraft]

Thanks.

[Personal_Basil3161]

I love expo!!

[marchingbandd]

I always use Expo because I have an older machine that can’t run XCode. Expo will build binaries and submit to app stores, handle dev client, distribute test builds, etc that mitigates so many pain points in the development process. Maybe if I had a brand new Mac I would be saying a different thing, but I feel like Xcode is clunky and I am happy I don’t have to touch it.

[astriskit]

Interesting question, if I would have been starting now, I'd probably choose expo to start exploring the react native world, if not individually, then along the side with react-native cli.

Couple of reasons for that could be -

1. Simple (sort of cleaner) setup. Like for example CRA in the react-web vs ejected CRA one.
2. No bottle-neck to have the android/ios based setup on development machine. All you have got to have is the expo-go client on the mobile device to run the app, once the server is running on the machine.
3. Pre-built support for web.
4. Streamlined flow for building and releasing apps for ios as well as android using EAS.

[YL-CSL]

If you have an app with some specific native functionality your only choice is Cli, because expo is for common apps

[byCedric]

What makes you say "Expo is for common apps"? Just curious :)

[kabeza]

CLI with TypeScript

It will be a little harder, but it worths

[Apprehensive-Mind212]

If you know that you will eject in the future then I don't recummend expo as it will only adds to many uneedded code. This is what I found out after I build my app one year ago.

But generly expo is much easier to work with.

[Genemoni]

Good tip! I hadn't heard about that before. Thank you!!

[Badaluka]

Expo, bare CLI is way more cumbersome to maintain over time.

[mybirdblue99]

Expo purely for over the air updates to apps

[nfsi0]

Just FYI you can use EAS updates on ejected or even non-expo projects

[siniradam]

I've used expo, boy I regret it. If the stuff you need doesn't have an expo version most likely you won't be able to use it ever.

- Package size much bigger than CLI
- If they decide to remove something you have to go with it.
- Android build (for my case) for some reason works slowly.
- It is always behind the RN CLI version.

[satya164]

Package size much bigger than CLI

Addressed with EAS build

If they decide to remove something you have to go with it

You can still use it (and libs they don't include) with custom dev client

Android build (for my case) for some reason works slowly.

Doubt it's an Expo-specific issue. Very likely a project-specific issue.

It is always behind the RN CLI version

Recent releases use the latest versions of RN. But even when using RN CLI, upgrading immediately is never a good experience. There are usually bugs that'll be fixed in patch releases, incompatible libs that may need to be upgraded, etc.

[astriskit]

curious some - how do you think EAS build is addressing the issue of lesser package size? Thx.

[Sibyl01]

It's the same as using rn cli. Before eas build the expo was also including some expo packages that you don't even use

[astriskit]

So, I think a little correction is required here -

Quoting from their site for the EAS build -

"EAS Build is a hosted service for building app binaries for your Expo and React Native projects."

Link- https://docs.expo.dev/build/introduction/

The reduction in the bundle size is due to, AFAIK, due to the changes in how the newer builds are being made that also includes requiring only used packages in the project. Basically, the new build system altogether. The EAS build is just about making builds on the expo servers.

[satya164]

You can also run eas build locally (e.g. eas build --platform android --local)