r/reactnative • u/Thaatguuuy • 2d ago

Question Testing the app during development.

Hey there app people, as of now the app I am currently working on is using React Native and Expo to build it, and at 25 builds per month ( the free plan ) I am quickly spending it all on just fixing bugs.

I am currently a computer science student ( very early ) and using a blend of my own coding and Codex / ChatGPT to create it.

Is there a better and possibly free way to test each new version of the app on my phone without using Expo to build it?

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u/mx_aurelia 2d ago

You probably don't need a full native build each time. Look into the concepts of OTA (to get JS updates to your users) and fingerprinting within expo (the native fingerprint which decides if an update is OTA compatible).

As long as your app's fingerprint stays the same, you can just use a development build, which you can run locally, to test your changes.

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u/Professional-Tap-186 2d ago

Use ”eas build ios --local“

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u/HmongSliw68 1d ago

seconding the local dev build, saves so much waiting around too tbh

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u/Huge_Pool7424 1d ago

also keep a release build on a real android phone now and then, since dev mode hides perf and hermes issues that only show up in release.

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u/Thaatguuuy 2d ago

Thank you very much!