Build & Export is the one place in Studio where a project stops being a project and becomes something that exists outside Studio. This guide covers the Android build: what the build dialog offers, and what you should set before you press the button.By the end you will know which of the three Android build types you want, which architecture to pick, and why your app’s name, icon and package name have to be set somewhere else first.Prerequisites
A project open in Studio. Build & Export is a project level toolbar control, not something on the Projects dashboard.
Your app’s identity and artwork set up first, if you care what the installer looks like. The launcher icon, splash screen, package name and display name all come from CONFIG → App Settings, not from the build dialog.
Studio itself asks you for nothing else. The build dialog requests no Google Play service account, no keystore and no signing certificate. Its own text says Android builds run on Codemagic and that a Release APK is signed on Codemagic.
Throughout this page, marks a Mobile-only route out of Studio, marks Web-only, and both icons together mean it applies to either target.
Nothing in the Build & Export menu configures your app’s identity or artwork. Open CONFIG → App Settings and set these before you build.
What
Where
Notes
Package name
App Settings → App Details → Package Name
Reverse domain format, for example com.company.app. A fresh project defaults to the literal placeholder com.example.app
Display name
App Settings → App Details → Display Name
The name shown on the device home screen
Launcher icon
App Settings → App Assets
Launcher icon, Android adaptive icon, error image. Icon sizes are auto generated
Splash screen
App Settings → App Assets
Splash image, fit mode, size, minimum duration, background colour
App Settings with App Details open, showing Package Name and Display Name
2
Open Build & Export
In the top right toolbar, click the ⋮ icon. It sits directly after Preview and the Platform review layers icon, and its tooltip reads Build & Export.
The top right toolbar with the Build & Export three dot control hovered
The menu holds four items plus a section header.
Item
What it is
Export project
Downloads the project as a React Native source package
Export as Next.js (Web)
Downloads the project as a Next.js web project
Build Android
Opens the Build Mobile App dialog
GitHub…
Opens the GitHub Integration dialog
RECENT BUILDS
This project’s builds. On a project that has never built, it reads No builds yet.
The ⋮ icon doubles as a build indicator for this project’s builds.
Choose a build type
Choose Build Android. Studio saves the project, then opens a dialog titled Build Mobile App. Three build types are offered, all Android.
Option
Studio’s own description
Preview APK (Android)(selected by default)
Debug build, fastest. Install via direct download / QR.
Release APK (Android)
Production-style APK signed on Codemagic.
Release AAB (Android)
Android App Bundle for Play Store upload.
The Build Mobile App dialog: three Android build types, the Architecture group, the status line and the Build now button
4
Choose an architecture
Two options sit below the build types.
Option
Studio’s own description
arm64-v8a(selected by default)
Recommended for local testing, demos and fastest builds.
All
Recommended for Play Store (production and distribution). Larger, slower build.
Architecture is the one piece of build configuration that is not in App Settings.
5
Start the build
The status box reads Ready to build. Click Build now below to start. The footer has Close and Build now.
Build now is enabled from the moment the dialog opens and is gated on nothing.No field in this dialog is required, both option groups come pre-selected, and there is no validation between you and a real hosted build. If you opened the dialog to look around, press Escape or Close. Both close it cleanly with nothing left behind.
If an Android installer is not what you need, the same menu has three other exits.
Export project
Downloads a production ready React Native source package as a ZIP: a standard React Native application with no proprietary runtime and no custom file format, buildable with standard React Native and Expo tooling.
Export as Next.js (Web)
The web counterpart, matching the Web canvas target and the Next.js web preview output.
GitHub...
Pushes your Expo project to your own repository via the NativeFlow GitHub App. You install that app on GitHub yourself, then paste the numeric Installation ID from the resulting github.com/settings/installations/... URL back into the dialog, along with Owner and Repository. Studio does not run a GitHub sign-in of its own.
The GitHub dialog also takes a Default branch (main), used only as the parent for new branches, a Studio working branch (nativeflow/main), a Push on save toggle that is off by default, and a separate GitHub username and email used as the commit author.
