Building a Workout app in Expo/React Native

The idea was simple, an app that could record and track your workouts using one barbell.

Starting up

So I am a React Native and JavaScript Developer with a background in computer engineering. Building apps/websites is nothing new to me but deploying to the app store? That’s something I’ve never done.

So I figured this might end up being a start up so I built a quick website:

https://onebarbell.com

Made some logos:

A beta logo

Building the expo app

So I got to work as fast as possible.

I first built the app with expo that uses a Bottom Tab Navigator Template.

After messing around with the template I made the components more customized, I then built out a workout work flow where the workouts are all pre-made and then started working on an auth flow using Firebase.

I started by making a sign-in with google screen and then started working on making a one rep max calculator. I got a pretty solid amount of the app done in expo but, expo kinda sucks.

Expo creates a very controlled environment but this means when you need more functionality than expo supports, you have to eject your project which almost immediately breaks your app.

I figured the best thing I could do was to start a new expo app with the same two tab template and then immediately eject the app and move my already built components into the ejected Expo app.

Moving from expo to bare react native