Expo · B2B · tools for building React Native apps
Let AI app builders show their apps on phones through your free app
Most AI app builders use it; npm weekly downloads tripled in a year
Workedintegrations-marketplacespartnerships
What they did
Expo Go is a free App Store app with most Expo SDK modules built in. AI app builders (Bolt, Replit, Lovable, v0) pop up a QR code; the user downloads Expo Go, scans it and has the generated app live on their phone in 30-40 seconds, with changes appearing as they prompt. Expo then offers npm testflight and cloud builds to take the app to TestFlight and the App Store.
What happened
Jacob says most AI app builders go through Expo; Expo's npm weekly downloads tripled in the past year (not attributed only to this).
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Building Apps Faster: How AI and React Native are Changing the Game – Charlie Cheever, Expo“So a lot of the new tools that are doing AI stuff with development, like they end up using Expo as their way to deliver that stuff because you can, you can download Expo Go on your phone, scan one of these QR codes that these AI tools are generating”
“You mentioned there's like Bolt and and Replit and Lovable and v0, there's a bunch of these, and most of them are going through you.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Bluesky: Have one developer build iOS, Android and web apps from one codebaseFirst version shipped in 4 months; about 3 people still run the app
- Replace separate iOS and Android apps with one React Native codebaseExpo CEO says teams ship faster and hire more easily; no numbers
- Expo: Give the framework away free and charge for cloud builds and hostingCloud builds are one of the main revenue sources; no numbers
- Expo: Download the top 100 apps in every category to see who uses your framework
- Expo: Let users put their app in TestFlight with one commandNo results given
- Bolt: Make one backend provider the default for every AI-generated appCalled a big step forward; no numbers