Getting Started

This page will help you install and build your first React Native app. If you already have React Native installed, you can skip ahead to the Tutorial.

Quick Start

Create React Native App is the easiest way to start building a new React Native application. It allows you to start a project without installing or configuring any tools to build native code - no Xcode or Android Studio installation required (see Caveats).

Assuming that you have Node installed, you can use npm to install the create-react-native-app command line utility:

npm install -g create-react-native-app

Then run the following commands to create a new React Native project called "AwesomeProject":

create-react-native-app AwesomeProject

	cd AwesomeProject

	npm start

This will start a development server for you, and print a QR code in your terminal.

Running your React Native application

Install the Expo client app on your iOS or Android phone and connect to the same wireless network as your computer. Using the Expo app, scan the QR code from your terminal to open your project.

Modifying your app

Now that you have successfully run the app, let's modify it. Open App.js in your text editor of choice and edit some lines. The application should reload automatically once you save your changes.

That's it!

Now what?

App also has a user guide you can reference if you have questions specific to the tool. If you can't get this to work, see Troubleshooting section in README.

If you're curious to learn more about React Native, continue on to the Tutorial.

Running your app on a simulator or virtual device

Create React Native App makes it really easy to run your React Native app on a physical device without setting up a development environment. If you want to run your app on the iOS Simulator or an Android Virtual Device, please refer to the instructions for building projects with native code to learn how to install Xcode and set up your Android development environment.

Once you've set these up, you can launch your app on an Android Virtual Device by running npm run android, or on the iOS Simulator by running npm run ios (macOS only).

Caveats

Because you don't build any native code when using Create React Native App to create a project, it's not possible to include custom native modules beyond the React Native APIs and components that are available in the Expo client app.

If you know that you'll eventually need to include your own native code, Create React Native App is still a good way to get started. In that case you'll just need to "eject" eventually to create your own native builds. If you do eject, the "Building Projects with Native Code" instructions will be required to continue working on your project.

Create React Native App configures your project to use the most recent React Native version that is supported by the Expo client app. The Expo client app usually gains support for a given React Native version about a week after the React Native version is released as stable. You can check this document to find out what versions are supported.

If you're integrating React Native into an existing project, you'll want to skip Create React Native App and go directly to setting up the native build environment. Select "Building Projects with Native Code" above for instructions on configuring a native build environment for React Native.