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Discussion on: I've released over 100 apps in React Native since 2015, Ask Me Anything!

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kylessg profile image
Kyle Johnson

No, I would never use Expo for a serious project. I imagine what ends up happening in most projects is they reach a point where they have to ultimately eject the app (e.g. needing a native module) which sounds very painful.

The majority of the apps I've wrote have definitely reached that point, for the individual benefits expo provide (e.g. code push) I've considered trying out using just expo kit but I'd rather just uses a tool specifically for that purpose. Above all, I always like to reduce the level of magic in any application, mobile or not.

Regarding "What package do you recommend for UX", I guess it really depends what you mean. But hopefully this gives you everything you need to know:

  • For navigation I use react-native-navigation, can't recommend this enough as it adds a massive difference in fidelity vs using JavaScript based lib like react-navigation.
  • For interactive elements (drag drop, sliders, parallax etc) I use a forked version of react-native-interactable.
  • For custom vector animations e.g. button icons I use Lottie.
  • I do not use a framework for developing styles/grid layouts (e.g. glamourous), I've got my own base-layout of styles and components.
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rokkoo profile image
Alfonso

I'm very grateful for your answer, this is very helpful !! 😊

I use always expo because I'm starting programming in RN, but I think I will start starting project with react-native-cli.

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warns profile image
Mert Alnuaimi • Edited

"I would never use Expo for a serious project"

is such a radical decision that I didn't expect to hear from someone in your experience, knowing that Expo is greatly supported by the makers for React Native.

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Michael Stelly

I know this thread has aged. But I felt a need to respond in particular to this comment.

In my experience, Kyle's response is by far the norm among industry professionals I interact with. It's easy to confirm this. Simply post a comment on the Discord channel Reactiflux #react-native that states, "Expo should be the go-to choice for serious react-native projects. Discuss." Then wait for the comments to roll in.

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kylessg profile image
Kyle Johnson

lol! If I could like this comment twice I would.

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yannickk profile image
Yannick

This thread aged like crazy but this question could be relevant.
We know your thoughts regarding Expo Managed, but what about Expo Bare Workflow?

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snakecasesucks profile image
camelCase

This is true even in 2023, I recently had to eject from a pretty complicated app and waste about a week to get everything working as is in the bare workflow.