- Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
- Restart your computer when prompted.
Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
Answer from Khasky on Stack Overflow Top answer 1 of 3
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- Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux
- Restart your computer when prompted.
Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10
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Expo builds all the binaries on their servers, therefore you can do this on any OS (including Windows). Some of the Expo tools require the Linux subsystem on Windows, therefore you need to install that, but then everything works correctly.
Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev › develop › development-builds › create-a-build
Create a development build on EAS - Expo Documentation
This is the easiest way to build your native app, as it requires no native build tools on your side. The builds happen on the EAS servers, which makes it possible to trigger iOS builds from non-macOS platforms.
Videos
Reddit
reddit.com › r/reactnative › can i use windows + an iphone for ios development?
r/reactnative on Reddit: Can I use Windows + an Iphone for IOS development?
September 23, 2023 -
I've been developing an app for android using RN Expo through Windows, and would like to launch it for IOS in the future. I've heard most people say in here that a Mac is the way to if you're serious about mobile development, however, I noticed that some public npm packages for RN state in their docs that they might not work very well with Xcode (can't recall which ones right now), and that using a real iphone would be optimal.
So, is it even possible to develop for IOS using Windows and an iphone through Expo? For me it would be the most viable alternative since I'm really used to Windows and don't want to have issues while testing on an Xcode emulator.
Top answer 1 of 10
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You can’t compile iOS apps on anything other than macOS, because it requires Xcode which Apple only makes available on macOS. However, you can use Expo’s build servers by running: eas build --platform ios
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Yes you can. You can even use some native things with expo development build and if you use eas build you can build on the expo servers so you can build an ios app on windows and run it on an iphone device, and debug it on windows too
Rentamac
rentamac.io › react-native-ios-development-on-windows
React Native iOS Development on Windows
July 11, 2025 - Build iOS apps using React Native on Windows without going against Apple’s rules · Test your iOS apps without needing a physical Mac on your desk · Deploy to the App Store with a legit Apple Developer account · Skip the hassle of setting up Hackintosh or virtual machines that tend to crash · Whether using Expo CLI for quick tests or full React Native CLI with custom code, your RentAMac setup will handle everything, from initial builds to final App Store launch.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/expo › how to develop ios build on windows os.
r/expo on Reddit: How to develop ios build on windows os.
March 22, 2025 -
With emulators ? Can you? I have no clue. Care to share any methods?
Top answer 1 of 3
3
I don't think you can do that. You will have to use EAS build on expo.dev account. You can trigger the build from local cli. Once build is done remotely- you share the IPA files with testers or yourself distribute
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Newbie here, from what I know, only way is EAS build but your apple account has to be part of the apple developer program (99 usd annually). You can use expo go but when you use a package that uses something native it won’t work.
GitHub
github.com › expo › expo › discussions › 22273
Support for Windows and MacOs apps development · expo/expo · Discussion #22273
We're trying to keep a few of Expo ... in the official docs how to install Expo modules. Sadly, building the first-class support for macOS is a much larger scope of work. One of my ideas how to improve the current state is to decouple iOS-specific implementation in React ...
Author expo
Quora
quora.com › Is-there-any-way-to-develop-an-iOS-app-using-React-Native-and-Expo-on-windows-and-can-also-test-it-without-having-an-iPhone
Is there any way to develop an iOS app using React Native and Expo on windows, and can also test it without having an iPhone? - Quora
Answer (1 of 5): Short an Simple anwser is “No”. -You can create an app For IOS using React-Native , but without macOS (Xcode) you can not test it for IOS…Simple reason because React native code compile down to IOS native(Objective C api) code. And Only macOS have capabilites to test and run tha...
Expo
forums.expo.dev › expo sdk
https://forums.expo.dev/t/compile-for-ios-in-windo...
Expo brings together the best of the web and mobile for making apps that run on Android, iOS, and web. | 66513 members
Reddit
reddit.com › r/expo › can you no longer run ios development builds on windows?
Can you no longer run iOS development builds on Windows? : r/expo
May 16, 2024 - Share ... You never could, iOS builds are only buildable on a Mac. You can build on EAS and install a dev client on a physical iPhone and run the dev server locally since that'll only serve the JS layer, but you can not compile a development build on anything other than a Mac.
DEV Community
dev.to › milic128 › expo-build-with-windows-10n2
Expo APK build with Windows - DEV Community
April 11, 2024 - From expo docs you can see commands for local build: eas build --platform android --local eas build --platform ios --local · Now run them from the WSL Ubuntu terminal and get your build! Note one error that was happening to me multiple times when opening a new WSL terminal is that ANDROID_HOME could not be found, then JAVA_HOME was not found or SDK path was not found.
Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev › guides › local-app-development
Local app development - Expo Documentation
This guide provides a brief ... to create this workflow. You need to install and set up Android Studio and Xcode to compile and run Android and iOS projects on your local machine....
Medium
drebakare.medium.com › building-an-expo-app-for-windows-a-react-native-developers-doomsday-7c70ad732b41
Building an Expo App for Windows: A React Native Developer’s DoomsDay | by Bakare Damilare E. | Medium
March 17, 2025 - Metro Bundler Issues: Expo relies on the Metro bundler, which is optimized for mobile. Running it on Windows can sometimes cause dependency conflicts, build failures, or performance issues. React Native Windows Integration: Unlike iOS and Android, Windows requires an additional package (react-native-windows) to function properly.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/reactnative › using expo, is there a way to build ios for free if you're on windows?
Using expo, is there a way to build iOS for free if you're on windows? : r/reactnative
March 1, 2025 - Nope, iOS apps can only be build by using EAS Services or an actual device running MacOS.
Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev › build-reference › ios-builds
iOS build process - Expo Documentation
Let's take a closer look at the steps for building iOS projects with EAS Build. We'll first run some steps on your local machine to prepare the project, and then we'll build the project on a remote service.
Codemagic blog
blog.codemagic.io › how-to-build-react-native-ios-app-on-windows
How to make an iOS app on Windows with React Native & Codemagic | Codemagic Blog
April 21, 2021 - Expo allows us to build for both Android and iOS on Windows, Mac and Linux. You can run your React Native app on a physical device without setting up the development environment.
Expo
expo.dev
Expo
See what other developers are working on, get questions answered, and get inspired browsing Expo Community Discord. 40,000+ GitHub stars and counting. Over 3 million users worldwide. From e-commerce, to social apps, people have made just about everything with Expo. Build your app and distribute it to Android, iOS, and the web from a single codebase with Build and Hosting.
Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev › build-reference › local-builds
Run EAS Build locally with local flag - Expo Documentation
However, we do not officially test against this platform and do not support Windows for local builds (macOS and Linux are supported). To compile your app locally for development with Expo CLI, use npx expo run:android or npx expo run:ios commands ...
Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev › tutorial › eas › ios-development-build-for-simulators
Create and run a cloud build for iOS Simulator - Expo Documentation
From Build artifact on the EAS dashboard, click Open with Expo Orbit to install the development build on the iOS Simulator. ... Press i in the terminal window to open the project on the iOS Simulator.