March 2026 Summaries

Fig, an app designed to assist individuals with dietary restrictions in finding safe food options, leverages the Expo SDK and EAS Update to efficiently maintain and enhance its functionality with a small team of five engineers. Initially developed as a React Native app, Fig transitioned to using Expo due to its reliability and the ease it brings to development, especially after facing issues with unmaintained community packages. The app employs Expo modules such as expo-image for efficient image rendering, expo-location for location data in restaurant searches, and expo-store-review for gathering user feedback, ensuring compatibility and reducing maintenance complexity. Additionally, Fig adopted Expo EAS Updates for seamless over-the-air updates, ensuring fast delivery of critical patches and experimental features. This strategic integration has made React Native version upgrades more manageable and has allowed Fig to maintain a robust app experience for its users, ensuring confidence in food choices for those with complex dietary needs.

Fieldy, a company developing an AI wearable assistant that relies heavily on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connections and background processes, transitioned to using Expo to streamline app development and deployment. Initially skeptical about Expo due to concerns over potential overhead and limitations, the company was persuaded by Tomasz Sapeta, who demonstrated the benefits of Expo, such as reducing app size by 25% and automating deployments. The migration process involved auditing and optimizing their codebase, which included eliminating redundant packages, optimizing imports to reduce JavaScript bundle size, and removing unnecessary native assets. Expo's Continuous Native Generation (CNG) and EAS Workflows facilitated automation and efficient handling of continuous integration and delivery processes, allowing for quick updates without app store delays. Moreover, Expo Modules enabled Fieldy to integrate native Swift and Kotlin code to enhance BLE reliability and manage app termination notifications, illustrating that Expo does not restrict access to native code as commonly perceived. Despite initial challenges, Fieldy successfully embraced Expo, highlighting its advantages in building scalable and maintainable React Native applications.

Increasing the adoption of B2B mobile apps requires a strategic approach distinct from consumer apps, focusing on trust, ROI, and demonstrable value rather than traditional advertising. Enterprises prioritize apps that prove their worth quickly, typically within the first 60 seconds of use, underscoring the importance of an effective onboarding process that delivers immediate utility. Case studies and ROI calculators are crucial for providing evidence and justifying purchases internally, while targeted marketing on platforms like LinkedIn and industry-specific communities can reach decision-makers effectively. Pilot programs and soft launches allow enterprises to test apps in real-world scenarios, helping to secure full rollouts by demonstrating value and addressing any issues early. Furthermore, optimizing for search intent with specific, problem-based keywords enhances visibility and discoverability, ensuring that the app meets the precise needs of potential users.

Expo UI in SDK 55 enhances React Native development by introducing Jetpack Compose to beta, aligning SwiftUI APIs with Apple's conventions, and allowing developers to utilize native framework components directly, thereby eliminating the need to reimplement them in JavaScript. This update builds on SDK 54, which first introduced Expo UI with SwiftUI support and an early alpha for Jetpack Compose, and has been validated through the creation of a complete app called WikiReader using Expo UI components. Jetpack Compose now includes sufficient Material Design 3 components for building comprehensive apps, while SwiftUI components have been renamed and restructured to match Apple's naming conventions, enabling easier transitions for developers familiar with these frameworks. Expo UI's alignment with native frameworks also facilitates AI integration, allowing AI tools to generate accurate Expo UI code based on existing knowledge of SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose patterns. The SDK encourages feedback from developers to refine and expand its component offerings, aiming for a universal component API across platforms in the future.

Expo's SDK 55 introduces significant updates to its MediaLibrary and Contacts APIs, transforming how developers interact with native data by utilizing Shared Objects and Shared Refs for deeper module integration without unnecessary coupling. The MediaLibrary@Next API now uses Album and Asset classes as proxies for native data, allowing more intuitive management of assets with granular getters for specific metadata access and a new Query class for sophisticated media filtering. The Contacts@Next API simplifies contact management by enabling updates and queries with granular getters and the patch() method for partial modifications, reducing the complexity of handling large JavaScript objects. These enhancements aim to streamline workflows, improve performance, and offer a more user-friendly experience for developers managing media and contacts, with the promise of similar updates to other libraries in future SDK releases.

Expo Agent, introduced in beta by the Expo Team, is an AI-driven tool designed to simplify the development of native apps for iOS, Android, and the web by transforming user-described app ideas into fully functional, production-quality applications without the need for extensive technical knowledge. This innovative tool utilizes Claude Code and is fine-tuned by the Expo Team to ensure seamless integration with the Expo ecosystem, including native build pipelines and platform APIs, while supporting SwiftUI, Jetpack Compose, and React. Unlike many AI tools that require users to compromise on their vision, Expo Agent is committed to preserving the original concept of the app, providing not only app builds for platforms like the Apple Watch but also enabling real-time testing and deployment through companion desktop apps. Expo Agent aims to function as a proactive developer, continuously maintaining and upgrading the app’s codebase, and ultimately seeks to minimize the gap between ideation and the delivery of a well-maintained app, with a vision to become an integral, always-on contributor rather than just a tool.

Expo's brownfield integration offers developers the ability to incorporate React Native features into existing native iOS and Android apps without a full rewrite, using either the integrated or isolated approach. The isolated approach, newly introduced in Expo SDK 55, allows Expo apps to be embedded as native dependencies, similar to adding a library, making it less disruptive to existing codebases. This method involves building Expo components in isolation and integrating them as compiled frameworks, which simplifies the process for teams familiar with React but less so with native development. Despite some limitations, such as supporting only a single embedded app per native project, this approach maintains the architectural integrity of the native app while enabling gradual adoption of React Native. The use of Expo's APIs and tooling facilitates communication between the native and embedded apps, and although there are trade-offs in build times and library compatibility, the approach aims to minimize friction and accommodate business needs without overhauling existing app structures.

The expo-widgets library, introduced by Jakub Grzywacz, allows developers to create home screen widgets and Live Activities using Expo UI components without requiring native setup, thus enhancing user retention and engagement for iOS apps. This library streamlines the process by eliminating the need for separate Xcode targets and SwiftUI layout code, enabling widgets to be defined as React components, with all native setup handled automatically. Widgets are small UI elements that appear on the home or Lock Screen and can be interactive, while Live Activities provide real-time updates for events like deliveries or sports scores on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. The library uses @expo/ui components, which map to SwiftUI primitives, ensuring the native rendering of the UI, and allows for props-driven updates without launching the app. Currently in alpha, expo-widgets plans to add features such as timeline readback and refresh policies to further enhance functionality and integrate images.

Expo Router v55 introduces significant updates to enhance the native feel and web capabilities of applications built with React Native, incorporating a new Stack API, native tabs, dynamic colors, toolbars, and experimental server-side rendering (SSR) and data loaders. This version aims to unify app development by allowing developers to write code once and have it function seamlessly across both mobile and web platforms. The new Stack API offers declarative control over native UI elements like headers and toolbars, while native tabs and dynamic colors enhance user interface customization. The update also advances web capabilities with the integration of expo-server for runtime server APIs, configurable server headers, and experimental features such as SSR for improved SEO and dynamic content delivery. Furthermore, the introduction of a split view feature expands the app's usability on larger screens, such as iPads. Despite some APIs being experimental, Expo Router v55 represents a step forward in creating cohesive, native-like experiences across diverse platforms.