EXPO: How to genarate a Mobile apk app for Android

Apk app generating is an essential activity, during mobile app building, especially for android app environments.

There are 4 steps that are needed to get this apk app generating process completed.

Step 1: Preparation

1/ Install expo CLI

For exporting purposes, expo CLI is a crucial step to make sure you got this installed already.

To check whether you\’re already got it on your project or not please use this command:

expo -V

In the command line, If you get a version number that indicates you have expo installed.

In case you don\’t. You can install it using npm.

npm install -g expo-cli

2/ Create expo account and login

For any app exporting using Expo you need to have an Expo account and log in to it.

Here is the link for registration: https://expo.dev/signup

Next, to log in into your project please use this command below:

expo login

To check which user you are logged in with, use the command

expo whoami

3/ Configuration and installation

Currently EAS is the best way to build apk apps so i assume we will follow that way. Thus, you need to install eas to create eas file and config, use this comma

npm install -g eas-cli

Next, To configure an iOS or an Android project for EAS Build, run the following command:

eas build:configure

If you\’d like to learn more about what happens behind the scenes, you can read the build configuration process reference.

Additional configuration may be required for some scenarios:

• Are you migrating an Expo managed app from \"expo build\"? Learn about the differences.
• Does your app code depend on environment variables? Add them to your build configuration.
• Is your project inside of a monorepo? Follow these instructions.
• Do you use private npm packages? Add your npm token.
• Does your app depend on specific versions of tools like Node, Yarn, npm, CocoaPods, or Xcode? Specify these versions in your build configuration.

Additional information about eas you can find it here:

https://blog.expo.dev/expo-application-services-eas-build-and-submit-fc1d1476aa2e

Step 2: Start build

To start the build process you just simply use this command below:

eas build --profile preview --platform all

Make sure everything fits your eas.json configuration.

Next, wait for the building process to finish their work, it will take from 8-15 mins to finish all tasks.

After the build is completed the apk app will appear on your Expo \”Builds\” part.

Download the app to your device, for any android device you just simply need to click on the file and then start install it. For android studio you need to download it to your computer and then drag it into your emulator device it will automatically be installed inside your device.

Here are almost everything that you need to generate your first mobile apk app. thanks for reading my article, have fun with code.