Custom Dev Clients for Simulator
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R
Raamiz Abbasi
Hi! I am developing an app with a bare workflow, since I am using native code. I have to use EAS build as a result. However, the issue with this is that I now cannot experience Fast Refresh on my simulator. I have tried many things, including using the command
eas build --profile simulator --platform ios
, and following the steps of extracting the .app file from the tar.gz file, and dragging it into the simulator. I have also did npm run start
and pressed i
to open the iOS simulator, but all of these attempts results in simulator simply running my app prebuilt. There is no way I can connect to metro, thus making it so that I cannot make quick changes to my JS code and see the changes reflected on the simulator immediately, which is what I can do with my iPhone. I am able to do this on my iPhone because I have an Expo Dev Client installed, so I would really appreciate it if the Expo team could add Expo Dev Clients in the simulator. This would be good since I need to test my app on various screen sizes. I used to work on the simulator before I migrated to the bare workflow, and everything was fine because I could simply use Expo Go, but I can't do this now since my native code does not show on Expo Go, and I get an error.Wodin
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This is already possible as explained by andrew smith
Wodin
marked this post as
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This is already possible as explained by andrew smith
R
Raamiz Abbasi
Wodin: Yeah I posted this on StackOverflow but I didn't get the right answer on there so I didn't know that this was possible, but I am glad it is :)
Wodin
Raamiz Abbasi: No problem. My message was intended for other people who come across this feature request. Not for you :)
andrew smith
Are you able to share your
eas.json
with us? If you had a repo we could look at that would be great!R
Raamiz Abbasi
andrew smith: Thanks for your response! I have attached an image of my eas.json file below. If you really need to see the repository then I can also share that with you later, since right now it is private and I would like to keep it that way. I believe I would need your email though to send the invite link if you desire. All I really want to know is if I can connect my iOS simulator build with Metro so that I can see live changes. This used to work before I migrated to a bare workflow and started using EAS build, but now I don't see a way to install a custom development client on the simulator. Thanks for your help!
andrew smith
Raamiz Abbasi: from my first impression, it looks like the build profile "simulator" isn't a thing - I would update either development or preview build profiles in your
eas.json
to include both "developmentClient": true
and "ios": { "simulator": true }
and then run eas build --profile preview
the workflow you are describing is definitely possible, i think we just need to fix your configuration! Let me know if that helps
R
Raamiz Abbasi
andrew smith: Thank you so much! I was able to successfully follow the steps and install my development client on my simulator, and I was able to connect to Metro to see live changes. Thanks again this is going to make my development much more easier and effective!