Developing a React Native TV App
Article Summary
Anisha Malde (Amazon) and Karol Latusek (Callstack) reveal how React Native just became a serious contender for TV app development. With Expo SDK 50 adding native TV support, the barrier to entry just dropped significantly.
The authors break down two distinct paths for building TV apps with React Native: the quick-start Expo approach and the bare React Native route for custom requirements. They cover everything from initial setup to architectural decisions for multi-platform projects.
Key Takeaways
- Expo SDK 50 now includes built-in TV support alongside web and mobile
- Adding TV support requires just four configuration steps in existing projects
- Monorepo structure with Yarn workspaces recommended for separating TV and mobile code
- Replace core React Native with react-native-tvos fork for bare approach
React Native now offers a viable cross-platform solution for TV development with minimal configuration overhead, whether you choose Expo's rapid prototyping or bare React Native's flexibility.
About This Article
TV app developers had to build separate codebases for each platform: tvOS, Android TV, WebOS, and Tizen. There was no standard way to develop across them, which meant duplicating work and making maintenance harder.
Callstack and Amazon created a guidebook for structuring React Native projects on TV. It uses the react-native-tvos fork and sets up a monorepo with Yarn workspaces so developers can share code between TV and mobile apps.
The setup involves four steps: updating package.json, Android Manifest, Project.pbxproj, and Podfile. This process cuts down the complexity of getting started, so developers can build for multiple TV platforms from one codebase without repeating their core application logic.