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Kelvin Chidothi
Kelvin Chidothi

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Generating an APK in React Native CLI

React Native

has gained popularity over the years, with the whole concept of cross-platform development developer has flocked to it. l am one of the developers. l started React Native about 2 years ago and l did a bit of CLI before loving Expo

Debate is still on about what is better CLI or Expo.

After a while not using CLI, l ended up wanting to use it for some project. l settled my Android environment and everything but everytime l wanted to generate a stand alone debug apk using gradlew assembleDebug it would build an apk that still required the Metro server. l mean how absurd. l tried building it in Android Studio and same issue came up.

l discovered that they now commented some build features in /android/app/build.gradlefile. They are now optional and everytime you want a standalone apk you need to uncomment some few lines.

For example these lines preceeding the hemes engine use in build:

bundleInDebug: true,
bundleAssetName: "index.android.bundle
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So l thought of sharing this, if anyone ever get confused to as what's happening. Thank you for reading!

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