How I Built ExpoLaunch and Why It Solves Real Developer Pain

In early 2024, I was working on a mobile app MVP using Expo. It was my third or fourth project with React Native, and by then I already knew the routine: setting up auth flows, onboarding screens, theme switching, error tracking, payments, and more. Every time, I rebuilt the same components from scratch — and lost days or weeks on things that had nothing to do with my actual product.

So I asked myself: Why am I doing this over and over again?

That’s when I decided to build ExpoLaunch — a production-ready Expo template that includes all the essential features indie developers need, without the noise.

What Problems Was I Solving?

Before diving into specific pain points, it’s worth mentioning: I’m primarily a React (web) developer. Every time I return to mobile development with Expo, I find myself having to re-learn how things work — from authentication quirks to build pipelines. That context switch costs time.

Expo is powerful, but many of its key workflows (like EAS Build, updates, native config, etc.) aren’t part of the average web developer’s daily experience. So part of my goal with ExpoLaunch was to make it easier to jump back into mobile with a working setup, clear structure, and ready-to-go tools.

1. Authentication is always tricky

Setting up Google Sign-In that works on both iOS and Android is still a pain. Supabase makes auth easy — but getting @react-native-google-signin/google-signin to play nice with Expo requires trial and error.

ExpoLaunch comes preconfigured with Supabase auth, including Google Sign-In with iosClientId, session handling, and redirect logic that respects platform quirks.

2. Onboarding and theming are always an afterthought

Most templates skip onboarding. Or make it boring. ExpoLaunch includes a slick, animated onboarding screen (with one-time persistence), and full dark/light theme switching using a custom hook — all out of the box.

3. Bottom sheets, modals, transitions — they break things

iOS modals in ExpoRouter + BottomSheetModal? They often render in the background, break state, or flicker. I dug deep into this and made it work cleanly. You don’t have to.

4. Most templates are either bloated or bare

Before building ExpoLaunch, I reviewed several popular templates. Many of them looked promising at first, but turned out to be too empty:

• Only basic auth and payment setup — often just a copy of the RevenueCat example project
• No UI components, no example screens, no real app structure
• No project architecture, no file conventions, no guides on structure
• No explanation of how to handle versioning — which is critical if you're shipping a real app and maintaining it over time

I didn’t want 15 screens of filler content. But I also didn’t want a “hello world” template that left me to figure out deep linking, push notifications, or paywall setup. ExpoLaunch includes a carefully chosen stack:

• expo-router
• Supabase Auth
• RevenueCat
• Google Sign-In
• Error tracking via Sentry
• Google Analytics (or Firebase Analytics)
• Reanimated + bottom sheets

And each piece is fully integrated — not just “installed”.

What Makes ExpoLaunch Different?

• ✅ It uses realistic project structure (src folder, hooks, types, lib, etc.)
• ✅ All features are ready to use, no boilerplate
• ✅ Design is clean and minimal, but easy to customize
• ✅ Docs explain everything — with step-by-step config

Speaking of documentation: I noticed that many templates either have very basic documentation or none at all. For example, configuring payments or setting authentication often requires digging through multiple unrelated articles or GitHub issues. So I spent extra time writing clear, complete, and structured documentation, covering everything from authentication to production builds — to save you hours of frustration.

ExpoLaunch is the template I wanted every time I started a new app.

For Indie Founders, Time Is Everything

I built this template for:

• Solo makers launching MVPs
• Developers building client projects on tight timelines
• Indie hackers looking to test and validate mobile ideas fast

If you’ve launched more than one app, you know the pain of repeating setup. If you haven’t — this template saves you weeks.

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Thanks for reading. You can view the template and docs here.