Launching Desktop Apps to Orbit with React Native
summary
Expo launches a desktop utility called Expo Orbit that ships in under three months and cuts launch time from ~50s to ~5s by managing iOS simulators, Android emulators and physical devices from a menu bar app. Implementation uses a bundled JS CLI via PKG binary on macOS, a local HTTP server for browser-to-app handoff, native macOS UI via Expo modules, and Windows builds via Electron plus react-native-electron-modules; the prototypes work and are open source.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Introduction to Expo Orbit
- 1:46Challenges with simulator management
- 3:10Building the React Native utility app
- 6:20Overcoming React Native for Desktop limitations
- 8:47App-website communication solution
- 10:15Demo and developer experience improvement
- 12:02Expanding to Windows with Electron
- 15:32React Native Electron Modules
- 16:59Future plans and Linux support
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