The Expo Revolution: A Guide to Building Cross-Platform Mobile Apps

n today’s mobile-first world, having a presence on both iOS and Android is almost mandatory for any ambitious app idea. There are over 6.3 billion smartphone users globally, and people spend 88% of their mobile time in apps​ (buildfire.com​buildfire.com). The mobile app industry is enormous (generating $935 billion in revenue in 2024 alone (​buildfire.com) and still growing. However, developing native apps for each platform separately has traditionally been costly, time-consuming, and required maintaining two codebases in parallel. This is where cross-platform development has emerged as a game-changer – and at the forefront of this revolution is Expo, a framework that is transforming how apps are built and deployed across platforms.

Expo, together with React Native, enables businesses to build high-quality mobile apps for iOS and Android from a single codebase, dramatically reducing development headaches. In this guide, we’ll explore why Expo is considered revolutionary for cross-platform mobile app development. We’ll dive into what Expo is and how it works, the key benefits it offers, real-world use cases across industries, cost savings and ROI considerations, performance aspects, and how our team at Quick Brown Fox leverages Expo to deliver successful projects for clients. By the end, you’ll understand how Expo can accelerate your mobile strategy – and why partnering with an experienced development team can help you unlock its full potential.

The Rise of Cross-Platform Development and Expo’s Role

Building two separate native apps (one in Swift/Objective-C for iOS and one in Kotlin/Java for Android) often doubles the effort and expense. Cross-platform frameworks address this by allowing developers to write code once and deploy it on both platforms. This approach has rapidly gained popularity in recent years – in fact, roughly one-third of mobile developers worldwide use cross-platform tools today - ​newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. Frameworks like React Native (created by Meta/Facebook) and Flutter (by Google) are leading the charge, with a 2023 survey showing 46% of developers using Flutter and 35% using React Native​ - newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. This trend indicates that businesses are increasingly trusting cross-platform technologies for production apps.

Expo sits on top of React Native and has been a pivotal force in this movement. Expo is an open-source toolkit and platform that makes React Native development easier and more accessible. In fact, React Native’s own documentation recommends starting with Expo, calling it “a production-grade React Native framework,” because without Expo the setup can be several times more complex​ - newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. Expo abstracts the messy parts of native mobile development – things like configuring Xcode and Android Studio projects, managing device drivers or build signing – and provides a streamlined environment where developers can focus on writing JavaScript/TypeScript code.

The impact of Expo on the developer community has been significant. Today, the Expo framework is used in over 1 million public GitHub repositories and sees 800,000+ downloads per week, reflecting its wide adoption and trust among developers​- newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. By simplifying mobile app creation, Expo has arguably helped React Native grow to rival Google’s Flutter in popularity​ - newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. Many companies that build React Native apps “almost always use Expo, too” because of the tooling and efficiencies it provides​ - newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com.

So, what exactly is Expo? Expo is essentially a robust toolchain and ecosystem for React Native. It includes a comprehensive SDK (Software Development Kit) of pre-built native modules (for things like camera, sensors, push notifications, etc.), a development runtime (the Expo Go app) for live testing on devices, and services for building and publishing apps (Expo’s EAS Build and Submit). At its core, Expo wraps around React Native to provide a “batteries-included” development experience​ - rootstrap.com​rootstrap.com. With Expo, you get a development server, hot-reloading (now Fast Refresh) for instant code updates, and one-click cloud builds for app store binaries – all without needing to touch the native iOS/Android configuration.

Expo’s philosophy is to make mobile app development as seamless as web development​ - newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. For example, a small startup team at Partiful (a social event app) wanted to go from a web app to mobile. They evaluated native iOS, Flutter, Ionic, etc., but those required either more people or abandoning their JavaScript/TypeScript skillset. Expo, on the other hand, had them “up and running on a phone in seconds” and allowed their web developers to feel immediately comfortable building a mobile app - ​expo.dev​ expo.dev. The Partiful team transitioned from web to publishing a polished mobile app in just 6 months using Expo. As Partiful’s CTO put it, they expected to ship a basic MVP, but “what they didn't realize was how much more Expo would help them do” – the process was so smooth that they delivered a richer app than planned​ - expo.dev​expo.dev.

In short, Expo has revolutionized cross-platform development by enabling faster setup, unified workflows, and the ability for even small teams (or solo developers) to build production-ready apps for both iOS and Android. It offers a level of efficiency and simplicity in mobile app creation that simply didn’t exist a few years ago. Next, let’s break down the key benefits of using Expo and why CTOs and product leaders are increasingly opting for this approach.

Key Benefits of Using Expo for Cross-Platform Mobile Apps

Expo brings a host of benefits that address common challenges in mobile app development. Below are some of the most compelling advantages of using Expo when building cross-platform apps:

• One Codebase, Multiple Platforms: With Expo and React Native, you write your app in one codebase (JavaScript/TypeScript + React) and deploy it to both iOS and Android (and even the web)​. This unified approach means you don’t need separate development teams for each platform, drastically reducing development effort. Feature parity is easier to maintain since the same code runs everywhere, and any changes or bug fixes are applied across platforms simultaneously.

• Faster Development & Iteration: Expo provides a streamlined, integrated development workflow that speeds up building and testing. You can initialize a new project in minutes, and use fast refresh to see code changes live on your device within seconds​expo.dev. The Expo Go app lets you preview your app on a phone or emulator by scanning a QR code – no lengthy build process required. This tight feedback loop accelerates development. Moreover, Expo comes with a rich set of UI components and libraries out-of-the-box, so you can add features without having to reinvent the wheel. For a team of web developers, Expo’s environment feels familiar, which means rapid onboarding and productivity when transitioning to mobile​ - expo.dev.

• Over-the-Air Updates (Instant Publishing): One of Expo’s killer features is the ability to push updates to your app over-the-air (OTA), without going through the App Store/Play Store review process for every small change. Expo’s Updates module allows you to deploy JavaScript bundles directly to users’ devices when they open the app​ - reactnativeschool.com. In practice, this means you can fix minor bugs or tweak content and have users receive the update immediately – a web-like update experience where you “publish and the users have it, no waiting” - ​reactnativeschool.com. This is incredibly valuable for moving fast and responding to user feedback or critical issues. (Of course, major changes that alter native code still require a store release, but many updates can be done OTA.) For businesses, OTA updates reduce downtime and ensure your users are always on the latest version, without the friction of app store updates.

• Rich Ecosystem of APIs and Modules: Expo’s SDK includes a broad range of pre-built modules for common mobile functionalities – camera, location, sensors, notifications, haptics, and more. Instead of spending time writing or integrating native plugins for these features, you can tap into Expo’s APIs with a simple JavaScript import. This not only saves development time but also ensures these features work consistently across devices. Expo also supports hundreds of community libraries and even allows using any React Native compatible library. With the latest versions, you’re not limited by Expo – you can eject or add custom native code if truly needed, but for most needs the provided libraries are more than sufficient​ - expo.dev.

• Simplified Building and Deployment: Expo automates the complex steps of compiling apps and submitting to app stores. Using Expo Application Services (EAS), developers can compile production-ready binaries in the cloud for both iOS and Android, without maintaining separate native projects or dealing with Apple/Google’s build tools. Expo handles code signing, asset optimization, and generates the .apk/.ipa files for you. It even has commands to submit your app to the App Store and Play Store with ease​. For teams, Expo’s build system and development tools also support collaboration – you can invite team members to test the app via QR code, use predefined roles, and track build status. All of this means faster release cycles and fewer headaches with DevOps. As the Expo team puts it, “App store submission a pain? We’ve got you”​ - expo.dev – letting you focus on building features rather than wrestling with deployment.

• Consistent Performance and Native Feel: (We’ll dive deeper into performance later, but it’s worth noting here.) Apps built with Expo and React Native render using native UI components, so the end-user experience is virtually indistinguishable from fully native apps. You can achieve smooth animations and gestures (Expo even has tools to optimize animations). From the user’s perspective, an Expo app feels like any other native app in terms of look and responsiveness. Meanwhile, developers get the benefit of using React, a technology they know, to produce that native UI. It’s the best of both worlds for many applications.

• Large Community and Support: Expo is backed by a robust community and a dedicated team. There are extensive docs, forums, Slack/Discord groups with tens of thousands of developers, and frequent updates (Expo releases new SDK versions regularly to support the latest React Native and OS features). If you run into issues, chances are someone has encountered it before or the Expo team has written about it. This community support reduces technical risk. Expo is also open-source, with over 1,300 contributors and a transparent development process​ - newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com, so it’s not a proprietary tool that might disappear – it’s here to stay and evolve.

In summary, Expo dramatically reduces the friction in developing, deploying, and maintaining cross-platform apps. By leveraging these benefits, companies can go from idea to App Store/Play Store much faster and with fewer resources. Now, let’s look at how these advantages play out in real-world scenarios by exploring some use cases across different industries.

Use Cases for Expo Across Industries

One of the best validations of a technology is seeing who uses it and what they accomplish. Expo has proven its versatility by powering apps in virtually every industry – from scrappy startups to large enterprises. Below are a few notable use cases and scenarios where Expo (and the React Native approach) shines:

• Finance & Fintech: In finance, security and reliability are paramount, but speed to market is also a huge advantage for fintech innovators. Expo’s cross-platform framework is used by fintech apps like DailyPay (an on-demand pay and financial wellness app) to deliver secure, feature-rich experiences on iOS and Android simultaneously. DailyPay’s app integrates with over 180 enterprise systems and maintains a 4.8★ rating on the App Store​ - pagepro.co​pagepro.co – a testament to the quality achievable with cross-platform tech. Even large financial services have embraced React Native: for example, Coinbase migrated its native apps to a unified React Native codebase when it had 56 million users and saw tangible performance improvements (cutting cold start time from 3.8s to 2.5s and boosting crash-free rate to 99.7% after the switch)​ - newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. This shows that even in heavily regulated and high-traffic financial apps, cross-platform solutions can meet the bar for performance and security. With Expo’s tooling, fintech startups can build their MVP for both platforms at once – crucial when trying to acquire users (and investors) rapidly – while ensuring things like biometric logins or encrypted storage use proven native modules.

• Social Media & Communication: When your user base is broad, you need your app to be available everywhere, and you need to iterate quickly based on feedback. Expo helps social and communication platforms achieve this. A great example is Bluesky, the new decentralized social network, which revealed its stack is React Native + Expo for their mobile app​. This allowed the small Bluesky team to launch on both iOS and Android early and update their app rapidly as they refine the product. On the larger end, consider Discord – while not built on Expo (Discord started using React Native before Expo was mature), it’s one of the most famous React Native apps, with hundreds of millions of users. Discord’s team rebuilt their iOS app in React Native and later unified their Android app as well, so now the same code serves both platforms​.

• The fact that a real-time chat app like Discord can run smoothly with cross-platform code speaks volumes. It’s worth noting that many social apps (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) use cross-platform frameworks for at least part of their features​. Expo further aids such apps by providing push notification integration, image handling, and continuous deployment – critical needs for social platforms – with minimal effort.

• Healthcare & Wellness: The healthcare industry often needs to get digital solutions out quickly – sometimes in response to urgent situations – and Expo has proven invaluable here. A striking case was the ZOE COVID Study app, a health research app built at the start of the pandemic. Using Expo, a small team built the COVID tracking app in just one week and scaled it to over 1 million users almost overnight - ​expo.dev. This simply wouldn’t have been possible with a slower, dual-track native development process. Expo enabled rapid development, testing, and deployment to both app stores in a race against time. Beyond crisis response, healthcare startups are using Expo to build wellness and telemedicine apps that work across devices, ensuring they can reach patients whether they carry an iPhone or an Android. The ability to push critical updates over-the-air is especially useful if, for example, a regulatory guideline changes or a bug affecting data collection is found – the fix can be rolled out to all users immediately. For wellness and fitness apps that often experiment with features, Expo’s quick iteration cycle is a perfect fit too.

• Retail & E-Commerce: In retail, delivering a smooth mobile shopping experience on both major platforms means reaching the widest customer base. Expo is helping retail brands and marketplaces launch consistent mobile apps faster and at lower cost. For instance, PrettyLittleThing, a popular fashion e-commerce brand, chose Expo for their mobile app (as noted by Expo’s showcase), allowing their relatively small tech team to maintain one app for all users. Legacy retail giants are on board as well – the Pizza Hut ordering app has been associated with Expo’s platform​expo.dev​expo.dev, indicating that even high-traffic consumer apps can trust this technology. The benefit here is clear: one inventory management or promotion feature coded in a cross-platform app rolls out to both iOS and Android customers at the same time, keeping the user experience and offerings in sync. In an industry where timing (flash sales, product drops, etc.) can affect revenue, the agility Expo provides is a big competitive advantage. Additionally, retail apps often have to integrate with myriad backend systems (payment gateways, CMS, analytics). Expo’s flexibility allows retail developers to use any JS libraries or native modules needed to tie into these systems, or even reuse web code via shared services, accelerating development of a full omnichannel experience.

• Startups and SaaS Platforms: Beyond specific verticals, Expo is a boon to startups and SaaS companies that need to deliver mobile companion apps. Many modern SaaS products start with a web app and later decide to offer mobile apps for better user engagement. Expo makes this transition far easier. The Partiful story we discussed is one example – a web startup moving to mobile seamlessly with Expo​expo.dev​expo.dev. Another example is internal tools: imagine a SaaS that provides an admin dashboard and now wants a mobile app for on-the-go usage by clients. With Expo, the development team (already fluent in React for the web) can build the mobile app without hiring separate mobile specialists. Expo’s support for web (Expo can compile to a web app as well) even opens the possibility of universal apps that run on web, mobile, and desktop from one codebase. This “write once, run anywhere” dream is closer than ever to reality. For startup founders and CTOs, using Expo means you can target a wider user base from day one, which is crucial for scaling and attracting investors. We at Quick Brown Fox have seen startups significantly cut down their MVP development time using this approach, allowing them to launch months sooner than if they pursued two native apps separately.

• Enterprise & Internal Applications: Large enterprises often require internal mobile apps for their employees or B2B apps for clients, and Expo is increasingly popular in this arena too. The reasons are similar – faster development and easier maintenance – but with the added twist that enterprises value stability and long-term support. Expo’s stability (with companies like Microsoft and Amazon contributing to React Native’s core​newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com) gives confidence that cross-platform apps can be enterprise-grade. Companies like TriNet (HR services) and Long Island Railroad (public transport) are featured Expo users​expo.dev, illustrating enterprise adoption. An internal corporate app built with Expo can be delivered through enterprise mobile management without an app store, and OTA updates allow IT teams to keep the app updated without forcing every employee to manually install new versions. Maintenance is far easier when there’s one codebase – which is maintained in a familiar language (JS/TS) that many enterprise developers already know. And if a particular native capability is needed (say, an integration with a proprietary device or an AR module), the enterprise dev team can extend the Expo app with native code or native modules as needed, thanks to Expo’s flexibility​expo.dev. The bottom line is that enterprises can be more agile with their internal development by using cross-platform tools, delivering solutions to their workforce faster while keeping costs in check.

These examples scratch the surface, but they demonstrate a clear pattern: Expo is being used successfully in diverse domains, powering everything from banking apps to social networks to healthcare tools. This cross-industry adoption shows that Expo’s benefits are not theoretical – they translate into real-world results like faster launch times, broader reach, and lower development costs.

Cost Savings and ROI of Using Expo

One of the most appealing aspects of adopting Expo for cross-platform development is the potential for substantial cost savings and a higher return on investment (ROI) for your project. For executives and decision-makers, this directly impacts the bottom line and the feasibility of building a mobile app in the first place. Let’s break down how using Expo can save costs and accelerate ROI:

• Lower Development Costs: By using a single codebase to target both iOS and Android, you can cut development costs by 30–50% on average compared to building two separate native apps​linkedin.com. Instead of paying for two teams of developers (each with specialized skills) or doubling the development hours to implement features twice, you pay for one unified team writing one set of features. Industry experts note that cross-platform development “requires just one team” versus multiple teams for native, which directly translates to lower personnel and project management costs​expeed.com​expeed.com. Maintenance is also cheaper – any update or bug fix is done once, not twice. Over the lifespan of an app, this can save a tremendous amount of money.

• Faster Time to Market: In the fast-paced digital market, being early can be everything. Expo enables you to launch on both major platforms simultaneously or very close together, whereas a native approach might force a staggered launch (one platform first, then the other much later) unless you have two full teams working in parallel. Even with parallel teams, coordinating feature development can slow you down. Cross-platform development has been shown to allow companies to go to market roughly 1.5× faster than native development​topflightapps.com. A quicker launch means you start acquiring users and generating revenue sooner. It also means you can outpace competitors or respond faster to market demands. For startups, shaving even a few months off development can be the difference in securing a first-mover advantage. For enterprises, faster development means hitting strategic deadlines (for example, releasing an app in time for a big event or season) without compromising quality.

Figure: A comparison of estimated development cost and timeline for building two separate native apps vs. one Expo cross-platform app. Cross-platform development typically requires a single team and codebase, which can significantly reduce costs (by consolidating effort) and accelerate time-to-market. In this illustrative scenario, a native approach might cost ~$200k and 12 months for dual-platform coverage, whereas an Expo-based approach could deliver both apps for ~$120k in 8 months. Actual results vary, but many companies report 30-50% cost savings and substantially faster delivery with cross-platform frameworks​linkedin.com​topflightapps.com.

• Unified Development and Maintenance: Maintaining a mobile app is a long-term investment – you’ll have OS updates, new feature requests, and ongoing improvements. With native apps, you not only spend more to build initially, but you also bear higher ongoing costs. Studies have found that annual maintenance for a single native app can be 15-20% of its initial build cost, per platform. A cross-platform app consolidates those maintenance efforts​linkedin.com. For example, if a new iOS update requires a tweak to keep the app running smoothly, your team fixes it once in the shared code, and it’s resolved for Android as well (if applicable). There’s also less downtime coordinating releases – you can ship updates to both platforms at once, meaning your development and QA cycles are streamlined. This unified approach reduces the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of the app over its lifetime.

• Maximizing Market Reach = Higher ROI: Choosing cross-platform isn’t just about saving money on development – it’s also about not leaving money on the table in terms of users. If you launch only on one platform (say, iOS) because that’s all your budget or timeline allowed, you are automatically capping your potential user base (for instance, in many markets Android has a larger share). With Expo, you can capture both iOS and Android user segments from day one, effectively doubling your addressable market. More users can translate to more revenue – whether your app monetizes via purchases, subscriptions, ads, or driving business conversions. Even for an internal enterprise app, supporting both major mobile OS means more employees can benefit from the tool, improving productivity gains (your ROI for internal tools is measured in efficiency). In short, a single cross-platform app can yield returns from multiple channels compared to a single-platform app.

• Opportunity Cost and Focus: From a business perspective, using Expo can lower the opportunity cost of building a mobile app. Because development is faster and cheaper, your team (or your development partner, like Quick Brown Fox) can spend more time focusing on core product features, innovation, and user experience rather than duplicating efforts. Also, the money saved can be invested in other areas – marketing the app, building backend services, or starting that next project sooner. When you can do more with the same budget, the overall ROI of your product portfolio increases.

Consider a scenario: A startup is deciding whether it can afford to build both an iOS and Android app. Native development quotes might double their budget, so they consider launching on a single platform first – but that means missing half the market initially. By choosing Expo, they find they can deliver both for nearly the cost of one, saving maybe 40% of the budget that can then go into a marketing campaign to acquire users. They launch on both platforms and gain users twice as fast, positioning themselves strongly against competitors. This domino effect – cost saving -> reinvest in growth -> faster user acquisition -> faster revenue – highlights how cross-platform development can positively influence business outcomes.

To put numbers to it, a development agency TopFlight Apps noted that cross-platform tools like React Native (which Expo leverages) can “trim down app development costs up to 50% and allow you to go to market 1.5× faster.”​topflightapps.com. Another source states it plainly: developing cross-platform apps instead of native can cut your development cost by at least 30-40%​expeed.com. These are significant differences that directly feed into ROI calculations and justify the strategy.

Finally, we should mention that Expo itself offers a free plan for developers and is open-source​expo.dev. Aside from very nominal costs for certain advanced services or build server usage, you’re not paying licensing fees for the framework. This is unlike some enterprise development platforms that might charge subscription fees. The cost of Expo is essentially the cost of the development effort, which we’ve illustrated is more efficient. All these factors combined mean that for many app projects, using Expo can make the difference between an app being financially viable or not. It’s a path to achieve more with less.

Performance Considerations: How Does Expo Stack Up?

A common question when considering cross-platform development is: Will the app be as fast and performant as a native app? It’s an important consideration, since user experience is paramount. The good news is that modern cross-platform frameworks like React Native (and by extension, Expo) have closed the gap significantly on native performance, to the point that for the vast majority of applications there is no noticeable difference to the end user. Still, performance is a nuanced topic, so let’s explore it in the context of Expo-built apps.

Native UI and Near-Native Performance: Apps built with Expo are essentially React Native apps, which means the UI is rendered using native components. Unlike older “hybrid” approaches (e.g., Cordova/PhoneGap) that just showed a web page in a webview, Expo apps use the actual native buttons, text, lists, etc., under the hood. For example, when you create a <Button> in React Native, it becomes a UIButton on iOS and a MaterialButton on Android. This yields a performance and fluidity very close to apps written in Swift or Kotlin, since the heavy lifting of UI rendering is done by the native engine. The JavaScript code you write acts as the orchestrator, using a bridge to communicate with native modules. In recent years, React Native introduced a new architecture with a JSI (JavaScript Interface) that makes this communication even faster by removing the old bridge bottleneck – improvements that Expo fully supports as it stays up-to-date with RN changes.

Real-World Performance Successes: Some of the earlier use cases we discussed provide strong evidence that cross-platform apps can deliver high performance at scale:

• Coinbase, after switching to React Native, reported their app’s launch performance improved – cold start time dropped by ~34% and stability increased to a 99.7% crash-free rate​newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. It’s telling that moving from fully native to cross-platform enhanced certain performance metrics; this is likely due to codebase unification allowing more focus on optimization and fewer inconsistencies.

• Shopify, a large e-commerce company, went all-in on React Native for their customer-facing app and recently shared that all their app’s pages now load in under 500ms, with crash-free rates above 99.9%​newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com. These are world-class performance numbers, indicating that with proper engineering, a cross-platform app can meet the highest standards of speed and reliability. Shopify’s case is notable because they have millions of users and could have reverted to native if RN wasn’t meeting their needs – yet they stuck with it and succeeded.

• Many other high-traffic apps (Discord, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) rely on a cross-platform core. If there were inherent performance limitations, these companies would not continue with the approach. In fact, they often cite faster development without sacrificing performance as the reason for using these frameworks.

For typical business apps – those that display data, allow user interactions, maybe use the camera or location – an Expo app will feel as snappy as any native app. The animations can reach 60 FPS, lists scroll smoothly, and navigation transitions are native. It’s also worth noting that because Expo makes it easier to optimize (with profiling tools and a single codebase), you might end up with better performance than managing two separate codebases where one might get less attention.

When to Mind the Gaps: That said, there are some scenarios where native code might still have an edge:

• Extremely graphics-intensive applications (like 3D games or complex augmented reality experiences) might push the limits of what the React Native layer can handle efficiently. Such apps often use game engines (Unity, Unreal) or platform-specific APIs for maximum performance. Cross-platform frameworks continue to improve in this area, but if your project is, say, a high-end 3D game, a fully native or specialized approach might be warranted. Most typical apps are not in this category.

• Very low-level device interactions or cutting-edge platform features might not be immediately available in the Expo SDK. However, Expo is flexible – you can eject to a bare workflow or add native modules if needed for that one piece of functionality. And the ecosystem is quick to catch up; often a community package or an Expo update will provide access to new APIs (for instance, when new biometric sensors or widgets came out, support arrived shortly thereafter).

• App size: Historically, one trade-off with Expo’s managed apps was a slightly larger binary size, because the bundle includes support for various APIs whether you use them or not. This overhead has been reduced over time with EAS Build allowing configurable native modules. Still, a few MB of extra size might occur, which is usually negligible for users on modern app stores (where many apps are 100+ MB).

Good Enough for Enterprise: For enterprise and data-driven applications, the performance of cross-platform is more than sufficient. As one analysis noted, most enterprise mobile apps present or capture data and “don’t need their screens to be refreshed at a high frequency.” In such cases, cross-platform technologies with performance closely matching native are a wiser choice​expeed.com. Why over-invest in native performance you don’t need? The slight differences only come into play for certain use cases, and even then, techniques exist (like moving heavy computations off the JS thread, using native modules for critical tasks) to mitigate them.

Moreover, Expo keeps improving performance with each release. It adopts the latest React Native engine enhancements and JavaScript engine upgrades (for example, using the Hermes engine which is optimized for React Native). The fact that you can also profile and monitor performance on both platforms with the same tools means you can catch and fix any bottlenecks early. Quick Brown Fox’s developers use performance profiling on Expo apps to ensure we hit benchmarks for app launch time, screen rendering time, and smooth interactions, and we’ve been able to meet demanding requirements through tuning and leveraging native modules when appropriate.

In summary, Expo-based apps can deliver first-class performance for nearly all app categories. The fears of “slowness” that were associated with cross-platform tools in the past are no longer applicable in 2025’s state of the art. If you have specific high-performance needs, an experienced team will know how to address them within the Expo/React Native ecosystem. And if there ever is a case where part of the app should be truly native, Expo allows for that interoperability – but those cases are increasingly rare as the technology matures. We ensure that our clients’ apps are optimized to run fast and smooth, leveraging Expo’s capabilities to the fullest. The result is an app that delights users while still reaping all the development benefits of cross-platform.

Quick Brown Fox’s Expertise with Expo: Ensuring Your Project’s Success

Adopting a powerful technology like Expo is a great start, but to truly leverage it for business success, you need the right strategy and execution. This is where Quick Brown Fox comes in. Quick Brown Fox is a development company specializing in custom app and SaaS development, and we have embraced Expo as a key tool to deliver exceptional value to our clients. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs, CEOs, and CTOs turn their app ideas into reality faster and more cost-effectively – without compromising on quality or user experience. Here’s how we partner with you to make Expo-based projects succeed:

1. Strategic Planning and Guidance: Not every project is identical, and a tool is only as good as how you use it. Our team begins by understanding your business goals, target users, and technical requirements in depth. We help you determine if Expo and cross-platform development is the optimal choice for your scenario (in most cases it is, given its flexibility, but we ensure alignment with your needs). We draw on our experience across industries to advise on app features, architecture, and integration points. Early in the process, we map out a development plan that leverages Expo’s strengths – for example, planning for a simultaneous iOS/Android launch, or prioritizing features that give quick feedback via Expo’s rapid prototyping abilities.

2. UI/UX Design Optimized for Cross-Platform: Designing for two platforms can be tricky if you’re not familiar with the subtle differences in user expectations on each. Our design team creates app designs that provide a consistent brand and experience across iOS and Android, while still respecting each platform’s guidelines. Using React Native’s adaptive capabilities, we can have things like automatically adjusted layouts or platform-specific UI tweaks where appropriate. The result is an interface that feels “at home” on any device. By prototyping designs with Expo, we can even test the look and feel on both platforms early and iterate quickly. This approach ensures the final app delivers a polished, native-quality experience that resonates with all users.

3. Expo-Centric Development Expertise: Quick Brown Fox’s engineers are seasoned in Expo and React Native development. We have internal best practices to maximize code reuse and performance. For instance, we use TypeScript to catch errors early and improve code maintainability (Shopify noted that TypeScript made it easy for their devs to switch between React web and React Native​newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com – we’ve found the same productivity boost). Our developers know how to structure a codebase for a cross-platform app, utilizing common core logic and separating any platform-specific modules cleanly. We also make full use of Expo’s ecosystem: from Expo Router for elegant navigation, to Expo Notifications for push messaging, to EAS for build automation. If your app needs a functionality outside the standard toolkit, we can integrate native SDKs or use Expo’s config plugins to extend the app – bridging the gap between Expo’s managed world and custom native when needed. This means you never hit a dead-end; any requirement can be fulfilled one way or another. Our team stays up-to-date with Expo’s frequent updates and the broader React Native community, so we’re always ready to use the latest and greatest features for your project’s benefit.

4. Quality Assurance on Multiple Platforms: Testing a cross-platform app involves covering many device types and OS versions. Quick Brown Fox has a rigorous QA process to ensure your Expo app works flawlessly across the board. We write automated tests where possible (including unit tests for logic and UI tests using tools like Jest and Detox/Maestro). Expo’s development and preview tools allow our QA engineers to easily test the app on different devices and even share builds with your team for feedback. We verify performance on low-end Android devices as well as the newest iPhones, ensuring a broad compatibility. One big advantage of Expo for QA is that if any issue is found, we can often apply an OTA update to fix it fast during testing, rather than rebuilding an entire new binary – this speeds up the QA cycle significantly. Our goal is a 99% crash-free launch (or better), and we utilize monitoring tools (often integrated with Expo apps, like Sentry for error tracking) to catch any edge-case issues early.

5. Integration with Backends and Services: Most mobile apps don’t stand alone – they connect to back-end services, third-party APIs, and other systems. Quick Brown Fox’s background in SaaS development means we excel at integrating Expo apps with robust backends. Whether your app needs to talk to a cloud database, a custom API, or use cloud functions, we ensure the communication is secure and efficient. We implement best practices for authentication (using tokens, OAuth, etc.), data caching for performance, and offline support when appropriate. If you have an existing platform (for example, a web SaaS product with its own backend), we can seamlessly hook your new Expo mobile app into it. Our full-stack knowledge ensures that the mobile front-end and server-side work in harmony. Additionally, we can incorporate services like analytics (to track user engagement), crash reporting, and A/B testing frameworks into your Expo app to give you insights post-launch. In past projects, we have integrated apps with everything from IoT device APIs to payment gateways – whatever your app needs, we’ll make sure it’s connected.

6. Deployment and Ongoing Support: When it comes time to launch, Quick Brown Fox handles the app store submissions and deployment process for you. We prepare all the necessary app store metadata, screenshots, and ensure compliance with Apple and Google’s guidelines (Expo’s build and submit tools help streamline this). Our experience with the app store review process means we can navigate any potential hiccups quickly. Post-launch, we don’t just hand over the app and disappear – we offer maintenance packages and support plans. This can include monitoring the app’s health (uptime, performance metrics), applying periodic updates (for new OS versions or Expo SDK updates), and adding improvements over time. With Expo’s OTA updates, we can often roll out minor enhancements continuously, keeping your app fresh without formal releases each time. When a major update or new feature is needed, we’ll plan and execute it with minimal disruption. Essentially, we become your long-term technical partner, ensuring your app adapts and grows with your business. Quick Brown Fox prides itself on building lasting relationships – our success is tied to your app’s success.

7. Proven Track Record and Trust: Quick Brown Fox has worked with a range of clients from startups to established enterprises. We are proud to be trusted by notable brands (as highlighted on our site, “Trusted by Ford, VML, DLF & more.”​quickbrownfox.io). While those engagements span various types of software, the common thread is our commitment to high performance, security, and scalability. When we apply that ethos to Expo projects, you get an app that is not only delivered fast, but is built with engineering rigor. We treat a cross-platform app with the same care as a mission-critical native app. Our clients have successfully launched apps that scaled to thousands of users from day one and grew to millions, and we have supported them each step of the way. By choosing us, you leverage not only Expo’s capabilities but also our hard-earned expertise in how to use it optimally in real-world projects.

In essence, Quick Brown Fox offers an end-to-end solution for cross-platform mobile app development. From conceptualization to design, development, testing, and deployment, we have you covered. Our fluency with Expo means we hit the ground running – we can often show a prototype in days, a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in a matter of a couple months, and a polished V1 product shortly after, depending on complexity. We also ensure that all along, you (as the CEO/CTO or product owner) have full transparency into progress. We use agile methodologies, provide frequent updates, and incorporate your feedback iteratively. Building an app is an exciting journey, and with Quick Brown Fox as your guide, you can be confident in the outcome.

Conclusion: Embrace the Expo Revolution for Your Next App

Mobile technology and consumer expectations are evolving rapidly. To stay ahead, businesses need to deliver high-quality mobile experiences to their users on every device without squandering time or resources. The old approach of maintaining separate iOS and Android teams, budgets, and timelines is increasingly giving way to smarter solutions. Expo represents the new wave – the “Expo revolution” – in cross-platform mobile app development, enabling companies to build once and deploy everywhere with confidence.

In this guide, we explored how Expo, built on React Native, has transformed the development landscape. We saw that cross-platform frameworks are now mainstream (used by a significant portion of developers worldwide) and that Expo has been instrumental in this shift, by simplifying the development workflow and empowering teams of all sizes. The benefits are clear and tangible: shorter development cycles, significant cost savings, easier maintenance, and the ability to reach a wider audience from day one. These translate directly into business advantages, from faster time-to-market to better ROI. Whether it’s a fintech startup cutting development costs by 40% or a healthcare app reaching a million users in a week, the examples across industries demonstrate that Expo is not just a developer’s delight – it’s a strategic asset for companies.

Performance, often a concern with cross-platform, has proven to be largely a non-issue in the hands of capable developers using Expo. With real apps achieving sub-second speeds and rock-solid stability, you can deliver an experience that rivals any native app. And you’ll do so with a leaner process that lets you iterate and improve continuously, which is crucial in today’s agile product environments.

At the end of the day, building a successful mobile app involves more than just choosing the right framework – it requires the right execution. That’s why partnering with an experienced team like Quick Brown Fox can make all the difference. We help you harness the full power of Expo while avoiding pitfalls, ensuring that your project not only launches on time and within budget, but also delights your users and supports your business goals. We bring technical excellence, industry insights, and a dedication to quality that de-risks the development journey for you.

Are you ready to capitalize on the Expo revolution? If you’re considering building a cross-platform mobile app – or looking to modernize an existing product – now is the perfect time to do it. By choosing Expo and the right development partner, you can leapfrog development hurdles and set your product up for success. Quick Brown Fox is here to help you every step of the way, from planning to coding to launch and beyond.

Call to Action: Let’s Build Your Vision Together

Don’t let the opportunity to reach all your customers, on all devices, pass you by. Quick Brown Fox has the expertise in Expo and custom app development to turn your vision into a robust, scalable, and beautiful mobile application. We invite you to get in touch with us for a free strategy consultation – let’s discuss your project requirements, answer any questions you have about Expo or the development process, and explore how we can bring value to your business.

With the Expo-powered approach, combined with Quick Brown Fox’s development prowess, you can achieve more in less time than you ever thought possible. Whether you’re a startup founder aiming to disrupt an industry or a corporate leader looking to streamline operations with a mobile solution, we’re ready to help you succeed. Contact Quick Brown Fox today to start the journey toward your cross-platform mobile app – and join the ranks of forward-thinking companies who have embraced the future of mobile development.

Let’s build something extraordinary together, and let’s do it with speed, efficiency, and the confidence that comes from using the right tools and the right team. The Expo revolution is here – make it part of your success story.

by neerajsohal