How to modernize mobile retail apps with Expo
Article Summary
Jonathan Bones from bitglow turned a crashing retail app into a performance powerhouse. His team cut React Native upgrade time by 80% and boosted performance scores from 36 to 90 for German retailer DEPOT.
DEPOT's React Native app was stuck on version 0.63 with mounting technical debt, causing constant crashes and slow load times that frustrated users. Bitglow's team systematically modernized the codebase using Expo Prebuild, performance optimizations, and automated CI/CD to transform the user experience.
Key Takeaways
- Expo Prebuild reduced upgrade cycles from weeks to days (80% time savings)
- Performance score jumped from 36 to 90 through image optimization and network batching
- OTA updates saved a weekend sale campaign by fixing critical bugs in minutes
- Automated CI/CD with EAS eliminated manual build hardware and submission processes
- Dependency pruning and React Navigation v7 upgrade cleared years of technical debt
By adopting Expo's modern tooling and systematic performance optimization, DEPOT transformed a legacy app plagued by crashes into a fast, maintainable platform that protects revenue and accelerates feature delivery.
About This Article
DEPOT's React Native app was stuck on React Navigation v5, which was no longer maintained. They had to use a deprecated compatibility layer that caused subtle bugs whenever they tried to upgrade. Each React Native version update took weeks of work, pulling the team away from building features.
Bitglow switched to Expo Prebuild to automatically generate native code, so the team no longer had to manually manage the ios and android folders. At the same time, they upgraded React Navigation to v7 and jumped three React Native versions in a single migration.
React Native upgrades now take 20% of the time they used to. What took several weeks before now takes just days. The developers can spend their time on product work instead of wrestling with native code dependencies.