Press Run on Phone in the studio header. The panel shows a code that stays live while it is open, plus the three steps below. The app on your phone picks up every rebuild.
What you need
- A ShipNative project on the sandbox engine (the Engine: v3 chip in the studio header)
- The free Expo Go app on your phone
- On iPhone: a free Expo account and an access token connected in ShipNative (steps 2–4)
Five steps (three on Android)
Install Expo Go
The official Expo app for running apps in development. Free, no account needed to install.
Create a free Expo account (iPhone only)
Sign up at expo.dev/signup. This is the account Expo Go will check. Android users can skip to step 5.
Email + password. The free plan is enough.Create an access token and connect it in ShipNative
In your Expo account open expo.dev/settings/access-tokens, create a token named ShipNative, and paste it into the Run on Phone panel under Connect your Expo account. ShipNative uses it only to serve your previews under your account. Revoke it at any time from the same page.
The panel shows your Expo username once connected, and restarts the preview under your account.Sign in to Expo Go on your iPhone
Open Expo Go, tap your avatar in the top-right corner, and sign in with the same Expo account.
Same account as the token. A different account will not open the app.Scan the code in the studio
Press Run on Phone in the studio header (or Expo Go under the phone preview). Scan with the Camera app on iPhone or with Scan QR code inside Expo Go on Android. The app opens on your phone and picks up each rebuild.
Camera app on iPhone · Scan QR code inside Expo Go on Android
iPhone needs an Expo account (since Expo SDK 57)
Expo Go on iPhone only opens apps served under an Expo account. Steps 2–4 make that happen: an Expo account, an access token connected in ShipNative, and the same account signed in inside Expo Go. Android does not require any of it.
iPhone vs Android
| Step | iPhone | Android |
|---|---|---|
| Install Expo Go | Yes | Yes |
| Expo account + access token | Yes | Not needed |
| How to scan | Camera app | Scan QR code inside Expo Go |
| Works on cellular | Yes — the preview runs in the cloud | Yes |
Good to know
Your phone and your laptop do not need to share a network
The preview runs in the cloud, not on your machine. Cellular works. Coffee-shop Wi-Fi works. Only the phone needs internet.
The preview pauses after a few minutes of inactivity
Keeping the Run on Phone panel open keeps it alive. If it pauses, press Start preview in the panel; the app rebuilds from your saved files in about a minute.
Every rebuild reaches the phone automatically
Edit in the chat, wait for the green checks, and the app on your phone reloads with the change. Shake the phone for the Expo Go menu if it ever gets stuck.
ShipNative uses your token for one thing
It serves your previews under your Expo account, in one project named shipnative-preview. It never publishes, builds, or submits anything. Revoke the token from your Expo account settings at any time.
Expo Go is for previews, not the App Store
Expo Go runs your app inside the Expo Go shell. To ship a real app, export the code from ShipNative and build it with EAS — see the App Store checklist below.
Ready? Open the studio and press Run on Phone.