PANEL: OPEN ON PHONE
The browser preview is good; your real phone is better — real touch, real keyboard, real performance. Press Start and the panel draws a QR code. There are three ways to open it, on three tabs, and the panel steers you to the one your project can actually use.
BROWSERThe one with nothing to install: scan the QR with the phone’s own camera and the app opens in the phone’s browser. iPhone and Android alike. Screens that need a native feature (camera, notifications, purchases) show their web fallback here.
EXPO GOExpo’s test app, on Android. It has to match the SDK version your project uses and the panel links the right build. Not on iPhone: the App Store version only carries the newest SDK, so use the Browser or Dev build tab there.
DEV BUILDYour own app, installed on the phone once — the only path when the project uses native modules Expo Go cannot carry. You build it from the Publish panel; after it is installed, code changes still arrive instantly and no rebuild is needed per generation.
SAME NETWORKThe phone talks to your computer directly over Wi-Fi, so both must be on the same network — mobile data off, VPN off. If the computer sits on several networks, pick the phone’s one under “Network address”; it locks while the server runs, so stop the server to change it.
FIREWALLA firewall is the part of your computer that blocks incoming connections. If the phone cannot connect it is almost always that — and “Can’t connect?” in the panel walks through it per operating system, including the exact command to open the port range.
New generations reach the phone on their own; there is no need to scan again. The server stops itself after a long idle spell — the panel says so and starting it again is one press.