Create Offline APK from Replit app mobile app builder

Create Offline APK from Replit app mobile app builder.md

Replit → Installable Android App (APK) with Expo EAS (No Play Store)

This guide turns your Replit Expo project into a real installable Android app (APK) you can sideload (install directly) without using Expo Go or publishing to the Play Store.

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What you’re doing (quick concept)

• Expo Go + QR = runs your app inside the Expo Go container and usually needs an internet/dev server.
• EAS Build (internal distribution) = produces a standalone APK you can install like a normal app.

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Prerequisites

• An Expo/Expo.dev account (free is fine)
• Your project runs in Replit already

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Step 1 — Configure EAS in your Replit project

In Replit Shell

run:

npx eas-cli@latest login
npx eas-cli@latest build:configure

Or install it in your project then use npx eas

npm i -D eas-cli
npx eas login
npx eas build:configure

• Choose Android when asked.
• This creates eas.json and links your local project to an EAS project.

Note: If you tried npx eas ... and got “could not determine executable”, use eas-cli like above.

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Step 2 — Ensure Android package name exists

In app.json (or app.config.js), make sure you have:

"android": {
  "package": "com.yourname.yourapp"
}

Important rules:

• Keep it unique (it identifies your app on Android).
• Don’t change it later unless you want Android to treat it as a different app.

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Step 3 — Set EAS to output an APK (not AAB)

Edit eas.json and set your preview profile like this:

{
  "build": {
    "preview": {
      "distribution": "internal",
      "android": { "buildType": "apk" }
    }
  }
}

• distribution: "internal" = build is meant for sharing/testing without Play Store.
• buildType: "apk" = gives you an APK you can sideload.

(You can also add "android": { "buildType": "apk" } to your development profile if you want.)

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Step 4 — Build the APK

Run:

npx eas-cli@latest build -p android --profile preview

What happens:

• EAS creates/uses Android credentials (keystore) on Expo servers
• Uploads your project
• Builds it in the EAS queue
• Produces a downloadable APK

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Step 5 — Install on your Android phone

When the build finishes:

• Open the build page / artifact link from Expo
• Download the APK
• Install it on your phone (Android may ask you to allow “Install unknown apps” once)

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Optional — Multiple apps without Play Store

Yes, you can build multiple separate apps:

• Each one must have a different android.package
• Build each project with the same EAS command
• Install each APK normally

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Troubleshooting notes

• If the build shows “queued” on free tier, that’s normal.
• If the build fails, open Logs and copy the last ~30 lines to diagnose quickly.