android - Can I write a React Native app without a Mac?

Question

I'm choosing a cross platform framework to create an app, React Native would be my first choice because I'm already proeficent with React and it will allow full code sharing with my Deno based back-end but here a problem arises, I don't have a Mac and it seems that the oly way to develop React Native apps without a Mac is by using Expo, sadly it can't be an option for me since I need have very strict privacy requirements to follow and by these the telemetry which Expo apps sends to Expo team is not acceptable.

Considering that my app would use very few device native features (just CRUD operations on application local storage and QR code reading) which are already covered by cross platform modules it would be possible to write my app on a Windows laptop, debug it on an Android device, build it using a free CI/CD platform which includes Linux and Mac agents to get working Android and iOS packages with can be distributed to the respective stores?

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65944566/can-i-write-a-react-native-app-without-a-mac

Answer 1

As you can see in React Native documentation, you can write code for both platforms on Windows machine, but for building an publishing IOS application, you must use Mac machine

A Mac is required in order to build your app for iOS devices. Alternatively, you can refer to our environment setup guide to learn how to build your app using Expo CLI, which will allow you to run your app using the Expo client app.

Read doocs here: Running On Device