Why You Should Keep Your Expo Apps Updated: Benefits and Pitfalls

We often use Expo to build mobile apps. It’s a framework on top of React Native that comes with SDKs, tools, and services to make development faster and easier. Instead of setting up everything manually, Expo gives a ready-made environment to start building right away.

The thing is, you can’t stay on the same Expo version forever. Each release updates the SDK, fixes bugs, and adds support for the latest React Native features. Updates come out several times a year, so older versions quickly become outdated.

That’s why updates matter. They keep your app fast, secure, and compatible with modern development workflows.  But there’s a catch: every update can also break something that used to work fine. In this article, we’ll go over the benefits of updating, the pitfalls that often show up, and some tips to make the process less stressful.

Why You Should Update Expo Apps

At our company, updating Expo apps is a crucial part of delivering a great user experience. Regular updates aren’t just about using the latest technology. They’re about making sure your products are reliable, secure, and work as they should.

Every Expo release brings useful, practical improvements: faster load times, smaller app sizes, more stable integrations, and better compatibility with the latest iOS and Android versions. These upgrades help to deliver apps that users can trust and developers can maintain with confidence.

Falling behind on updates quickly leads to avoidable problems. Outdated SDKs miss out on security patches, run into library issues, and can even stop building for app stores. This adds up to more bugs, broken features, and higher costs.

Staying current with Expo means our apps stay stable, secure, and ready for  the future. It’s not just about the technology; it’s about protecting our products and the people who rely on them.

Read also: How Expo Speeds Up Development and When to Use It

Pitfalls We Faced

Updating Expo may look simple on paper, but in practice it’s one of those tasks that always takes longer than expected. Even a minor SDK update can reveal unexpected issues that impact performance, compatibility, or build stability. Here are the most common problems we’ve faced during upgrades:

1. Dependency Conflicts

Upgrading Expo typically involves upgrading multiple libraries as well. Not all of them stay in sync with the latest SDK right away. This often leads to version mismatches, warnings, or build errors that take time to resolve. Finding a stable setup can turn into trial and error, especially on projects with complex dependencies.

2. Breaking Changes

Sometimes the biggest issues don’t show up in changelogs. Small updates like a renamed prop, a changed default behavior, or a deprecated method can quietly break parts of the app. Everything might compile, but a key feature could stop working or act differently in production.

3. Legacy Code

Older custom code can become a real obstacle. Functions or packages written for past SDKs may rely on APIs that no longer exist or behave differently. These parts often require refactoring or a complete rewrite before the project can be built again.

4. Build and Runtime Errors

After an upgrade, it’s not uncommon to run into unexpected build failures, missing modules, or runtime errors that only appear after deployment. Fixing them can involve clearing caches, reinstalling packages, or tracking down configuration changes introduced in new SDK versions.

5. Time and Planning

What starts as a simple update often turns into a multi-day task.  Coordinating dependencies, testing each environment, and fixing regressions all take time, especially if the update happens close to a delivery deadline.

Updating Expo isn’t risky by itself, but it’s never “just a quick task.” Treating it like a small maintenance item can easily create unnecessary downtime or delays.

How We Handle Expo Updates

After dealing with a few difficult updates, we learned that rushing does not help. The best approach is to treat each Expo update as its own small project.

We usually start by checking which SDK we’re on and what the next version changes. Jumping several versions ahead almost always causes problems, so we go step by step. It might take a bit longer, but it’s easier to spot what broke and fix it right away.

Once the update is installed, we open the app and test the basics, like login, navigation, push notifications, payments, and whatever the app depends on most. It sounds obvious, but skipping this part is how small bugs turn into big production issues.

Here are a few simple ways to make updates easier:

• Don’t wait until the last minute to update. Sometimes you need to update before you can release new versions.
• Run builds and test on both platforms at the same time. Something that works perfectly on iOS might act differently on Android, and the other way around.
• Create a separate “upgrade” branch for the update work and merge it into the main branch only after full testing.
• Use Sentry or similar tools to track app stability after release and catch issues early.
• Check developer consoles for Apple and Google Play regularly. If an app stays outdated for too long, it can eventually be removed from the store. You will get several warnings before this happens.

We also keep track of what works. When everything finally runs smoothly, we write down the SDK version and the main dependencies. It helps a lot when someone new joins the project or when we have to revisit the app months later.

Before starting any update, we spend a few minutes reading the Expo changelog and community threads. The issues people report there usually save us hours of guessing. If a known bug appears in a new SDK, it’s better to wait a week or two until it’s fixed.

And finally, timing matters. Updating right before a release is asking for trouble. We plan updates for quieter weeks when there’s room to test, fix, and breathe a bit. It makes the process calmer and the result much more predictable.

Lessons Learned

After a few updates that went smoothly and a few that definitely didn’t, we’ve picked up some lessons that now shape how we approach every upgrade.

The first one is simple: never update right before a release. No matter how small the change looks, something unexpected always comes up. It’s better to deliver a stable version first and update later, when there’s time to test properly.

Second, read the changelog, really read it. It’s tempting to skip, but that’s usually where you find the small notes about renamed props, removed packages, or changes that might break your setup. The half hour you spend there can easily save a full day of debugging.

Third, keep track of your own fixes. If you’ve patched a library, changed native code, or used a temporary workaround, write it down. These are the first things that break when you upgrade. Having a note makes it much easier to fix or replace them later.

And finally, don’t try to fight legacy code forever. Sometimes it’s faster and cleaner to rewrite a small piece of logic than to keep patching old code to fit new standards. It feels like extra work at first, but it saves a lot of frustration long term.

If you have ever tried to update an app and found yourself dealing with strange errors, missing packages, or constant rebuilds, you are not alone. We have experienced this too and understand how frustrating it is when a small issue causes bigger problems.

That’s why we now take updates seriously, plan them carefully, and give them time. And if you’re working on your own Expo app and don’t know where to start with an upgrade, we’re always open to share what’s worked for us and help you get things running smoothly again.