Native mobile apps
A native project is an Expo / React Native application for iOS and Android. Cadrant generates the app with full access to native device APIs and opens the preview in a phone frame by default.
Use this mode when you need camera, push notifications, sensors, or other native capabilities — and when you want to ship a true native app on the App Store and Google Play.
Prerequisites to publish: an Expo account (free), an Apple Developer account ($99/year) for the App Store and a Google Play developer account ($25 one-off) for Google Play.
What you get
- Expo / React Native stack targeting iOS and Android.
- Full native APIs: camera, push notifications, sensors, and more — prefer expo-* packages.
- Phone-frame preview in Cadrant via Metro + react-native-web.
- Expo Go QR code to test on a real device — most expo-* APIs (camera, location, sensors) run in it.
- Supabase data tab: auth, database, storage and Edge Functions.
- GitHub sync and version history.
- Builds on your own Expo account — the free plan includes 15 iOS and 15 Android builds per month — and App Store and Google Play publishing through guided flows.
Preview
Native preview uses Metro. Inside Cadrant, the app renders in a phone frame through react-native-web. You can also preview layout on a real device:
- Start the preview server from the project.
- Install Expo Go on your phone.
- Scan the QR code shown in Cadrant to open the live app.
Data and GitHub
Same as web projects: open the data tab for Supabase (auth, database, storage, Edge Functions), and connect GitHub for sync and version history.
Connect your Expo account
iOS and Android builds run on Expo's build service (EAS), under your own Expo account — without one connected, a publish cannot start. Creating it is free and takes a minute.
- The free Expo plan includes 15 iOS builds and 15 Android builds per month.
- You keep control of your builds: queue, logs and artifacts all live on your expo.dev account.
- Your project's environment variables stay in your own Expo workspace.
Connect it once — every project in your workspace then uses it:
- Create a free account on expo.dev.
- Generate an access token at expo.dev/settings/access-tokens.
- Paste it into Cadrant, in Integrations → Expo.
Publish
There is no Cadrant slug or custom domain for a native app: it reaches users through the App Store and Google Play. Cadrant builds a true native Expo binary — not a WebView shell — runs that build on your Expo account, and Expo submits it to your store account: App Store Connect on iOS, Google Play Console (Internal testing track) on Android. Ownership stays with you, under your own Apple and Google developer accounts.
Step-by-step, per platform — iOS: Publish to App Store Connect then Test with TestFlight. Android: Publish to Google Play.
Recommended workflow
Build and preview the UI
Iterate in the phone frame, and use Expo Go on a real device to test most expo-* APIs. Libraries with native code outside the Expo SDK need a real build.Connect your Expo account
Create a free Expo account and paste an access token into Integrations. The free plan covers 15 iOS and 15 Android builds a month, and the builds run on your account.Publish: the build runs on your Expo account
Cadrant guides the store setup — Apple sign-in and certificate on iOS, app creation and service-account invite on Google Play — launches the build on your Expo account, then Expo submits it to App Store Connect or to your Play Console.Test on a real device
On iOS, install that exact binary through TestFlight. On Android, roll the draft release out to internal testers from Play Console. This is where you check the app as your users will get it — not as a preview.Publish on the stores
Finish the listings in App Store Connect and Play Console — screenshots, description, privacy — then submit the version for Apple review and roll out the Android release from Internal testing.
Related
- Mobile applications — Native, PWA or WebView.
- PWA mobile apps — shareable URL and home-screen install, no store needed.
- WebView apps for the stores — the same app, wrapped and submitted to the store.
- Publish to Google Play — upload the Android app bundle from Cadrant.
- Test with TestFlight — validate native features on a real device.