PANEL: PUBLISH
The longest panel in the column: it takes a finished app to the stores. Builds happen either in Expo’s cloud or, in the desktop app, on your own machine. First the vocabulary, then the flow.
EASExpo Application Services — Expo’s cloud build service. It compiles your project into real store binaries on Expo’s servers: an AAB (Android App Bundle, the file Google Play accepts) and an iOS build for the App Store. Connect it once with an access token from expo.dev in Settings → Integrations.
LOCAL BUILDThe desktop app can build on your own computer instead, with no Expo account and no queue. Android produces an APK or an AAB; on a Mac, iOS produces either a Simulator app or a signed build installed on your iPhone over the cable. The first build takes a few minutes while dependencies download; later ones are much faster.
APK VS AABAn APK installs directly on a phone — the format for testing yourself or sending to a few people; Google Play does not accept it. An AAB is what Play expects, and it cannot be installed on a phone directly.
WHY A BUILT APP DIFFERSNative modules really run in a built app: reminder notifications, location and haptics behave as they will for your users — which the QR preview cannot show.
GOOGLE PLAY CONSOLEGoogle’s dashboard where Android apps are registered and managed. Publishing there requires a one-time $25 developer account.
SERVICE ACCOUNTA machine account you create in Google’s console and authorize for uploads. It is what lets the panel send builds to Google Play for you — without your personal Google password ever being involved.
APP STOREApple’s store. The panel collects your Apple developer account details (a $99/year Apple program membership) and EAS produces the iOS build against them. A free Apple ID is enough for a local build on your own iPhone, but that signature expires after 7 days.
The panel works top to bottom:
- GitHub — optionally push the code first, so the shipped version is recorded in your repository.
- Build app (EAS) — start a cloud build and watch its status from the panel; when it finishes you get the installable store binary. The same block is where you pick a dev build, the one the Open on phone panel asks for.
- Send to Google Play — Google requires the very first release of any app to be uploaded by hand in the Play Console (the panel gives you the file and the steps); every update after that is one click from here. The “Store submission” guide behind it spells out who submits and under which account.
- Local Android build and Local iOS build — the same job on your own machine, desktop app only (and iOS only on a Mac). Each step is named as it runs, so a slow build is never a blank wait.
- Store assets — icons, framed campaign screenshots, listing texts and the legal pages stores require are generated for you, ready to upload. This step publishes nothing and needs no Expo token.