Mobile App Development
Build real cross-platform apps with React Native and Expo — and actually publish them. Most mobile courses stop at the simulator. This one ends with your app live in the App Store and on Google Play, review process included.
What this programme is really for
There is a large gap between a working app on your laptop and an app a stranger can download. Signing, provisioning, store guidelines, screenshots, privacy declarations, review rejections — these are where most self-taught mobile developers give up, and they are exactly what we walk you through.
We teach React Native because one codebase serving both platforms is what most clients and small teams actually need, and because your JavaScript knowledge transfers directly. Flutter gets an honest crash track so you can evaluate it yourself rather than take our word for it.
What you will be able to do
- Build a complete app for iOS and Android from one codebase
- Design mobile interfaces that feel native, not like a website
- Handle navigation, deep links and complex app state
- Use the camera, GPS, notifications and local storage
- Connect to Firebase, Supabase or your own API
- Implement social login, biometrics and in-app purchases
- Debug, profile and fix performance on real devices
- Submit to both stores and survive the review process
Curriculum
12 modules · 20 weeks · a live class every week
- Native, cross-platform and hybrid approaches compared honestly
- iOS and Android platform conventions and why they differ
- Setting up your environment, simulators and a physical test device
- The constraints that shape mobile: battery, network, memory, permissions
- Modern JavaScript refresher aimed squarely at React Native
- Async patterns, promises and handling unreliable networks
- TypeScript basics: types, interfaces and typed props
- React fundamentals: components, props, state and hooks
- Core components: View, Text, Image, ScrollView, Pressable
- Styling in React Native and how it differs from CSS
- Flexbox layout for varied screen sizes and safe areas
- FlatList, SectionList and rendering long lists without jank
- Handling touch, gestures and keyboard behaviour
- Expo versus bare React Native, and how to choose
- Stack, tab and drawer navigation with React Navigation
- Passing parameters, nesting navigators and deep linking
- Expo Router and file-based routing
- State management with Context and Zustand
- Folder structure, reusable components and a shared theme
- Camera, photo library and image handling
- Location, maps and background position updates
- Push and local notifications
- Local storage, secure storage and SQLite
- Requesting permissions without users refusing them
- Sensors, haptics, sharing and file access
- Consuming REST APIs and handling flaky mobile connections
- Firebase: Firestore, storage and cloud functions
- Supabase as an open-source alternative
- Real-time data and live updates
- Offline-first design, caching and sync conflicts
- Data fetching and caching with TanStack Query
- Email, phone and social sign-in flows
- Biometric authentication with Face ID and fingerprint
- Secure token storage and session handling
- In-app purchases and subscriptions on both stores
- Store commission, pricing tiers and what you actually keep
- When you need to leave the managed workflow, and when you do not
- Config plugins and native configuration
- EAS Build and EAS Submit
- Over-the-air updates and release channels
- Reading and using a third-party native library
- Dart fundamentals for someone who already knows JavaScript
- Widgets, layout and state in Flutter
- Building the same small app in both frameworks
- Where Flutter genuinely wins, and where it does not
- How to answer "which should we use?" in a client meeting
- Debugging with Flipper and React Native DevTools
- Finding and fixing dropped frames and slow lists
- Image and bundle optimisation, startup time
- Unit tests and component tests
- Crash reporting and analytics in production
- Testing on low-end Android devices, not just a new iPhone
- Apple and Google developer accounts, costs and requirements
- Certificates, provisioning profiles and signing keys
- App icons, splash screens and store screenshots
- Store listings, keywords and app store optimisation
- Privacy policies, data declarations and age ratings
- The review process, common rejection reasons and how to respond
- TestFlight, internal testing and staged rollouts
- Planning, building and publishing an app of your own
- Code review with an instructor before submission
- Quoting mobile projects, which cost far more than clients expect
- Maintenance agreements and ongoing update work
- Building a mobile portfolio and finding your first client
Technologies you will use
Apps you will build
Habit tracker
Your first complete app: local storage, streaks, notifications and a clean tab-based interface.
Food delivery interface
A demanding UI build — animated lists, filters, cart flow and a checkout that feels native on both platforms.
Real-time chat app
Accounts, live messaging, image sharing and push notifications, backed by Firebase.
Fitness tracker
Uses GPS, motion sensors and background location, with charts, history and offline support.
Your own published app
You design it, build it, test it on real devices, and submit it to the App Store and Google Play — with an instructor alongside you through the review process.
Who this is for
A good fit if…
- You have an app idea you actually want in the stores
- You know some JavaScript and want to specialise
- You are a web developer adding mobile to what you can sell
- You want freelance work in a less crowded market
Start elsewhere if…
- You have never written JavaScript — take Programming Foundations, then Web Development
- You want the broadest job market — web development is still larger
Questions about this programme
No — and this is one of the main reasons we teach with Expo. EAS Build compiles iOS builds in the cloud, so you can develop and publish to the App Store from Windows or Linux. You will want an iPhone or iPad to test on, but it does not have to be yours; borrowing one for testing sessions is perfectly workable.
They are not, and we want to be clear about that before you enrol. Apple charges an annual developer fee and Google charges a one-time registration fee; both are paid directly to the platforms and are outside our control. You only need them for the publishing module — everything before that runs free on simulators and your own device.
It happens to experienced developers regularly, so we treat it as part of the process rather than a failure. Module eleven covers the common rejection reasons in detail, and if yours is rejected during the capstone, bring the rejection notice to the live session and we will work through the response together.