I had this same problem, I quickly exceed the 30 monthly free builds. What I do is running the build locally on my mac exactly as you mentioned:

eas build -p ios --profile development --local

That will generate a .ipa file.

Then it's all about getting it running on your phone. There are two quick techniques I will highlight:

Via Xcode:

  1. Open Xcode -> Window -> Devices and Simulators
  2. It will open the Devices and Simulators window. Select the Devices section and select the device from the left pane.
  3. Drag and drop the app/IPA on to the 'INSTALLED APPS' section.
  4. Wait for Xcode to finish the installation.

Upload IPA to some server and download it on your iphone:

Pick one of the app installation services:

  • InstallOnAir
  • Diawi
  • Appetize

Upload the IPA, it will generate an url or QR code. Access it from the iphone and install it.

Answer from Marcel Cohen on Stack Overflow
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Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev โ€บ build โ€บ introduction
EAS Build - Expo Documentation
... Automate version bumps so you never have to think about them again. ... EAS Build is a hosted service, but you can also run it on your own machine, for example, to debug or to comply with any company security policies.
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Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev โ€บ build โ€บ setup
Create your first build - Expo Documentation
EAS Build allows you to build a ready-to-submit binary of your app for the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. In this guide, let's learn how to do that. Alternatively, if you prefer to install the app directly to your Android device/emulator ...
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Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev โ€บ tutorial โ€บ eas โ€บ ios-production-build
Create a production build for iOS - Expo Documentation
Select Build credentials and choose All: Set up all the required credentials to build your project. Now, it will prompt whether we want to re-use the previous Distribution Certificate. Press Y. Generate a new Apple Provisioning Profile? Press Y. This will be the provisioning profile for the production app. Once the profiles are created, press any ctrl + c to exit the EAS CLI. ... To create an iOS production build using the default production profile, open your terminal and execute the following command.
๐ŸŒ
Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev โ€บ develop โ€บ development-builds โ€บ 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.
๐ŸŒ
egghead.io
egghead.io โ€บ lessons โ€บ react-native-create-a-development-build-for-iphone-with-eas
Create a Development Build for iPhone With EAS | egghead.io
Create a build to run on your physical iPhone device that can also be used for local development. ๐Ÿ“ Enabling Developer Mode ๐Ÿ“– Further reading: Push No...
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Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev โ€บ tutorial โ€บ eas โ€บ ios-development-build-for-devices
Create and run a cloud build for iOS device - Expo Documentation
Tap Install to register the iOS device. After the provisioning profile is installed, our device redirects us back to the web browser, displaying a success message indicating the completion of the process. ... The developmentClient is set to true in eas.json, which is done by the default configuration. Then, run the eas build command with ios as the platform and development as the build profile:
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YouTube
youtube.com โ€บ watch
How to create and run a cloud build for iOS devices | EAS Tutorial - YouTube
In this EAS Tutorial video you'll learn how to create and run a cloud build for iOS devices. You're going to need an apple developer account for this one!๐Ÿ“‚ ...
Published ย  January 27, 2025
Find elsewhere
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egghead.io
egghead.io โ€บ lessons โ€บ react-native-create-a-development-build-for-ios-simulator-with-eas
Create a Development Build for iOS Simulator with EAS | egghead.io
Create an iOS build for developing locally on a Simulator. This is the only native iOS build you can do on EAS without having an Apple Developer accoun...
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YouTube
youtube.com โ€บ watch
How to create a production build for iOS | EAS Tutorial - YouTube
Learn how to create a production build for iOS in this EAS Tutorial video. This video is part of a series of EAS Tutorials to help devs build apps and get th...
Published ย  January 27, 2025
๐ŸŒ
Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev โ€บ tutorial โ€บ eas โ€บ internal-distribution-builds
Create and share internal distribution build - Expo Documentation
This command registers an iOS device and gives us a URL or QR code to share for device registration: ... This command registers an iOS device for app installation, generating a shareable URL (or QR code) for device registration.
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Expo Documentation
docs.expo.dev โ€บ deploy โ€บ build-project
Build your project for app stores - Expo Documentation
Alternatively, you can use --platform all option to build for Android and iOS at the same time: ... You will need to have a developer account for the app store you want to submit your app. Google Play Developer membership is required to distribute to the Google Play Store. You can build and sign your app using EAS Build, but you can't upload it to the Google Play Store unless you have a membership, a one-time $25 USD fee.
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GitHub
github.com โ€บ expo โ€บ eas-cli
GitHub - expo/eas-cli: Fastest way to build, submit, and update iOS and Android apps
Fastest way to build, submit, and update iOS and Android apps - expo/eas-cli
Starred by 1.2K users
Forked by 162 users
Languages ย  TypeScript
๐ŸŒ
Lexicon
docs.lexicon.is โ€บ build your app
Build your App | Lexicon
To build on both platforms, you can use either of the commands below: ... Without --profile, the EAS CLI will default to the production profile.
๐ŸŒ
GitHub
github.com โ€บ expo โ€บ eas-cli โ€บ issues โ€บ 2024
EAS build iOS Build failed Production ยท Issue #2024
August 25, 2023 - Fastest way to build, submit, and update iOS and Android apps - expo/eas-cli
Published ย  Aug 25, 2023