How to build an APK with Expo and React Native without paying for EAS

If you’re learning React Native with Expo, sooner or later you’ll want an APK to install your app on a phone or share it with someone. The official route is EAS Build, Expo’s cloud service, but the free plan has a queue and a monthly build limit.

The good news: you can build the APK on your own computer, for free. In this note I’ll show you three ways, from the simplest to the most complete.

What you need #

• An Expo project (SDK 50 or later works the same).
• Android Studio, which includes the Android SDK: download it here.
• Java 17 (the JDK bundled with Android Studio works).
• The ANDROID_HOME variable pointing to the SDK. On macOS it’s usually ~/Library/Android/sdk.

Step 1: generate the native code with expo prebuild #

Expo creates the native Android folders from your app.json:

npx expo prebuild --platform android

This creates an android/ folder with a regular Android project. If you also want iOS, run npx expo prebuild without --platform.

Before you do, check that android.package in app.json has your app’s identifier (for example com.yourcompany.yourapp). More details in the prebuild docs.

Step 2: build the APK #

Option A: with Gradle from the terminal (the fastest) #

Go into the android/ folder and run Gradle:

cd android
./gradlew assembleRelease

On Windows, use gradlew.bat assembleRelease.

When it finishes, your APK is at:

android/app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk

You can install that file on any Android device. By default, the project Expo generates signs the release build with a test (debug) key, so it’s fine for testing and sharing, but not for publishing on Google Play (see below).

If you only want a development build, use ./gradlew assembleDebug. The APK ends up in apk/debug/app-debug.apk, but it needs the Metro server running to load the JavaScript.

Option B: with Android Studio #

1. Open the android/ folder in Android Studio (File → Open).
2. Wait for the Gradle sync to finish.
3. Go to Build → Generate App Bundles or APKs → Generate APKs.
4. When it’s done, click locate in the notification to open the APK’s folder.

To switch between debug and release, use Build → Select Build Variant.

Option C: EAS Build on your own computer #

If you already use EAS, you can run the same build on your machine, with no queue and without using up your plan’s builds:

npm install -g eas-cli
eas build --platform android --profile preview --local

To get an APK instead of an AAB, the profile in your eas.json needs:

{
  "build": {
    "preview": {
      "android": { "buildType": "apk" }
    }
  }
}

To publish on Google Play #

Google Play doesn’t accept APKs signed with the test key, and it asks for the AAB format. You need to:

1. Create your own key (keystore):

keytool -genkeypair -v -storetype PKCS12 -keystore my-app.keystore -alias my-app -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

2. Set it up in android/app/build.gradle, under signingConfigs, and use it for the release build. The exact steps are in the React Native guide.
3. Build the bundle:

./gradlew bundleRelease

Keep the keystore and its passwords somewhere safe. If you lose it, you can’t publish updates to your app with the same key.

Common errors #

• “SDK location not found”: create android/local.properties with the line sdk.dir=/path/to/your/Android/sdk.
• Java version error: Gradle needs Java 17. Check with java -version.
• I changed app.json and nothing changed: run npx expo prebuild --platform android --clean again. Careful: --clean deletes any changes you made by hand in android/.

Summary #