Hi there! I'm Robin. As a web developer with over 7 years of experience, particularly in React, I built and published two mobile apps this year with zero prior app development knowledge. I thought transitioning into React Native would be easy. But I was wrong.

Challenges

1. So many tools: You need so many tools and platforms for mobile app development. Xcode, Android Studio, Expo, EAS, TestFlight, App Store Connect, Google Play Console, and more.
2. Performance: Mobile devices have limited resources compared to web. Optimization is therefore super important.
3. Payment: Understanding RevenueCat, setting up your products, ... super confusing at first.
4. Store Submissions: Preparing metadata, screenshots and assets, and the whole review process... was frustrating and time-consuming.
5. Testing: You need to test on different devices!! It's better to test thoroughly than face app store rejections. Saves a lot of time.

My Key Learnings

1. It can take super long for your app to be approved. Plan for it.
2. Features trivial on web can be complex on mobile.
3. Once you grasp the tools and processes, it's similar to web development.
4. Expo has its own challenges compared to bare workflow.
5. Be careful with native dependencies in Expo.
6. Expo Go is only useful for basic apps. You'll need development builds very soon. And these require Development accounts.

I realized that other developers face the same issues. So I compiled all my learnings and experiences into a React Native boilerplate for web developers transitioning to mobile. It includes comprehensive documentation, video guides, payment integration, submission guides, Figma asset templates, and more.