Really inspiring, interesting read, Jeff! Thank you for sharing. Would love some more detail on the Expo stage and how all of that went.
I’ve basically got a pretty reasonable app working well in Replit and discovered Expo after it was nearly finished (Replit has Expo templates and tutorials which would have made the creation/design part easier to incorporate any Expo requirements, had I known from the outset…).
So I’m now looking to use Expo retrospectively to get it App Store ‘ready’ in a similar way to what you’ve done — seemingly with reasonable ease.
Any advice would be gratefully received before I take the plunge, but I already massively appreciate the detail you’ve already offered here. 🙌
Oh this is interesting! I’m not sure how it would be using expo/React Native retroactively! Mine was “from scratch” so to speak. Is your app react native just without expo? I think expo made it really easy to get from local build to signed app for the App Store
I asked the Replit agent your question. Here’s its response 😬:
No, this app is not React Native - it's a Flask web application built with Python. It uses HTML templates, CSS (Bootstrap), and JavaScript for the frontend, with a Python Flask backend and SQLite database.
To turn this into an iPhone app, you have several options:
Option 1: Progressive Web App (PWA)
Add a web app manifest and service worker to the current Flask app
Users can "Add to Home Screen" on iOS
Easiest option, requires minimal changes
Option 2: Hybrid App with Capacitor/Cordova
Wrap the web app in a native container
Access to some native device features
Can be distributed through App Store
Option 3: Convert to React Native + Expo
Complete rewrite of the frontend in React Native
Keep the Flask backend as an API
Most native experience but requires significant development
Option 4: Flutter
Rewrite the entire app in Flutter
Single codebase for iOS and Android
Good performance but complete rebuild required
For your current Flask app, Option 1 (PWA) would be the quickest path to get an iPhone-installable version. The app would work well as a PWA since it's primarily focused on data entry, viewing progress, and charts.
Really impressed by how quickly you got through the App Store submission process! I’ve tried similar things with a few different apps, my first was a MacBook app, and figuring out certificates and provisioning profiles was a whole workout (even with help from Cursor).
Really inspiring, interesting read, Jeff! Thank you for sharing. Would love some more detail on the Expo stage and how all of that went.
I’ve basically got a pretty reasonable app working well in Replit and discovered Expo after it was nearly finished (Replit has Expo templates and tutorials which would have made the creation/design part easier to incorporate any Expo requirements, had I known from the outset…).
So I’m now looking to use Expo retrospectively to get it App Store ‘ready’ in a similar way to what you’ve done — seemingly with reasonable ease.
Any advice would be gratefully received before I take the plunge, but I already massively appreciate the detail you’ve already offered here. 🙌
Thanks again.
Oh this is interesting! I’m not sure how it would be using expo/React Native retroactively! Mine was “from scratch” so to speak. Is your app react native just without expo? I think expo made it really easy to get from local build to signed app for the App Store
Thanks loads for the reply, Jeff!
I asked the Replit agent your question. Here’s its response 😬:
No, this app is not React Native - it's a Flask web application built with Python. It uses HTML templates, CSS (Bootstrap), and JavaScript for the frontend, with a Python Flask backend and SQLite database.
To turn this into an iPhone app, you have several options:
Option 1: Progressive Web App (PWA)
Add a web app manifest and service worker to the current Flask app
Users can "Add to Home Screen" on iOS
Easiest option, requires minimal changes
Option 2: Hybrid App with Capacitor/Cordova
Wrap the web app in a native container
Access to some native device features
Can be distributed through App Store
Option 3: Convert to React Native + Expo
Complete rewrite of the frontend in React Native
Keep the Flask backend as an API
Most native experience but requires significant development
Option 4: Flutter
Rewrite the entire app in Flutter
Single codebase for iOS and Android
Good performance but complete rebuild required
For your current Flask app, Option 1 (PWA) would be the quickest path to get an iPhone-installable version. The app would work well as a PWA since it's primarily focused on data entry, viewing progress, and charts.
Ah I see! If you want my opinion, option 3 is probably the best but also most time consuming 🥲
I was afraid you might say that! Thanks so much for the response. Really appreciate it. I’ll let you know how it goes. 👍
I’d love to hear about it! Good luck!
Very inspiring! And written very clearly :) thank you
Thanks so much for the kinds words!
Really impressed by how quickly you got through the App Store submission process! I’ve tried similar things with a few different apps, my first was a MacBook app, and figuring out certificates and provisioning profiles was a whole workout (even with help from Cursor).
I’ve had that problem before! Using Expo made this A LOT easier
Loved this bro 🤜🤛. Opening a whole new world for non-engineers.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m pumped about what these tools are doing for both engineers and non engineers alike 😎