A developer shares how they built and shipped CineMe, an AI selfie-to-video mobile app, in 36 days using Expo and EAS Build. The post covers the async AI video pipeline (Flask API, webhook callbacks, client polling), four concrete technical challenges encountered in React Native (file uploads via base64, async job patterns, robust polling with retry logic, and video playback with local caching), and how Expo's cloud build services enabled same-day TestFlight distribution while awaiting App Store approval.
Table of contents
Why Expo was the right choice for an AI video appHow the async AI video pipeline worksFour hard problems while building an AI video app on React NativeShipping to TestFlight and the app stores with Expo’s servicesWhat I learned shipping CineMe with ExpoSort: