The Fastest Way to Prototype a React Native App

You have an idea. You want to see if it works before investing weeks building it properly. How fast can you go from nothing to an interactive app you can test on your phone?

Under an hour, if you skip the right things.

This isn't about cutting corners that'll hurt you later. It's about maximizing iteration speed when you're in discovery mode. Perfect architecture can wait. Right now, you need to validate whether this idea is worth pursuing at all.

Why Speed Matters for Prototyping

The goal of a prototype isn't to write production code. It's to answer questions:

Does this interaction feel right? Is this feature actually useful? Do users understand what this button does?

Every hour you spend setting up infrastructure, configuring tools, or architecting for scale is an hour you're not answering those questions. For prototyping, speed beats everything else.

Prototypes also die. Most ideas don't work. If you spend two weeks building the perfect foundation for a concept that gets abandoned after one user test, you've wasted two weeks.

Ship fast, learn fast, throw it away or evolve it. That's the game.

The Stack: Expo, Not Bare React Native

Expo is purpose-built for this. You get:

Zero native configuration
Instant setup with one command
Hot reload that actually works
Real device testing without builds
Over-the-air updates

The React Native CLI gives you control, but control costs time. For prototyping, you don't need control. You need to ship.

People will tell you Expo is limiting. It is, but not for prototypes. You're not integrating with a custom SDK or tweaking native modules. You're validating product ideas.

Use Expo until you actually hit a wall. Most prototypes never do.

The Workflow: Idea to Interactive App

Here's the step-by-step process I use to go from concept to working prototype in under an hour:

Step 1: Create the Project (2 minutes)

npx create-expo-app my-prototype --template blank
cd my-prototype
npx expo start

Scan the QR code with the Expo Go app on your phone. You're now running code on a real device.

This takes about 2 minutes. Maybe 5 if you've never installed Expo Go before.

Step 2: Decide What You're Testing (5 minutes)

Write down 1-3 specific questions you need to answer.

Bad questions:

"Is this a good idea?"
"Will users like this?"

Good questions:

"Can users complete checkout in under 30 seconds?"
"Do people understand what this button does without a label?"
"Is swiping more intuitive than tapping for this action?"

Concrete questions keep you focused. You build only what's needed to answer them.

Step 3: Sketch the UI (5 minutes)

Don't open Figma. Use paper or a whiteboard.

Draw 2-3 screens that demonstrate the core interaction. Doesn't need to be pretty—stick figures and boxes work fine.

This forces you to think through the flow before writing code. It's faster to cross out a box than to delete 50 lines of JSX.

Step 4: Build the Skeleton (10 minutes)

Ignore styling. Ignore real data. Just structure.

import { View, Text, Button } from 'react-native';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1, padding: 20 }}>
      <Text>Prototype Screen</Text>
      <Button title="Next" onPress={() => console.log('Next pressed')} />
    </View>
  );
}

Get the navigation working. If you have multiple screens, use React Navigation or Expo Router.

For a prototype, the simplest setup is fine. Three screens? Use React Navigation's Stack Navigator. Done.

Step 5: Add Interactivity (15 minutes)

Now make it actually do something.

Buttons should feel interactive. Use Pressable instead of Button for better control:

<Pressable
  onPress={handleNext}
  style={({ pressed }) => ({
    backgroundColor: pressed ? '#ddd' : '#007AFF',
    padding: 16,
    borderRadius: 8,
  })}
>
  <Text style={{ color: 'white', fontWeight: 'bold' }}>Next</Text>
</Pressable>

Add basic state for toggles, form inputs, or selections:

const [selected, setSelected] = useState(null);

The goal: users can tap around and see the app respond. It doesn't need to save data or call APIs yet.

Step 6: Use AI to Speed Up UI (10 minutes)

If you need a specific UI component—a card, a form, a modal—describe it to an AI instead of building it manually.

Prompt:

"Create a React Native component for a card with an image, title, description, and a favorite button. Use Expo and StyleSheet."

Copy the generated code, drop it in, tweak as needed. This is 5x faster than writing it from scratch.

For layout-heavy screens, you can even feed the AI a screenshot of what you want and ask it to generate the code (see our guide on screenshot-to-code workflows).

Step 7: Make It Feel Real (10 minutes)

Hardcoded data is fine for prototyping, but it should look realistic.

Bad:

<Text>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet</Text>

Better:

<Text>Coffee with Sarah at 2pm</Text>

Use realistic names, real-looking dates, plausible content. This makes user testing way more effective—people can imagine using it for real scenarios.

If you need fake data, use a library like Faker.js or just write a few examples manually.

Step 8: Test on a Real Device (5 minutes)

Hot reload lets you see changes instantly. Make a change, save, and your phone updates within seconds.

This is where Expo shines. No builds. No waiting. Just code, save, test.

Walk through the flow yourself:

Can you complete the core interaction?
Does anything feel broken or confusing?
Are the touch targets big enough?

If something's broken, fix it now. You want to hand testers a working prototype, not a half-broken demo.

Step 9: Get Feedback (The Rest of Your Time)

Show it to someone. A colleague, a friend, a potential user.

Watch them use it. Don't explain anything. See where they get stuck, what they tap first, what they expect to happen.

This is the whole point. Everything up to this moment was just setup for this conversation.

What to Skip (For Now)

To move this fast, you ignore a lot of things that matter for production apps but don't matter for prototypes:

Authentication. Fake it. Hardcode a logged-in state. You're testing product ideas, not auth flows.

Data persistence. Don't set up a database. Use in-memory state. If the app crashes, the data resets. That's fine.

Error handling. No network error screens, no loading spinners, no retry logic. Assume everything works.

Polish. Rough edges are okay. Spacing doesn't need to be pixel-perfect. Colors can be placeholders.

Scalability. Don't organize files into folders. Don't set up state management. Don't architect for the future. One big file is fine for a prototype.

Tests. You're going to throw half of this away after user feedback. Don't test it.

These things matter for real apps. For prototypes, they're distractions.

Tools That Speed You Up

Expo

Already covered, but worth repeating: Expo is the default for fast prototyping. Instant setup, hot reload, real device testing. Nothing else comes close for speed.

Expo Go App

Download it once, use it forever. Scan a QR code and your app runs on your phone. No builds, no certificates, no waiting.

React Navigation or Expo Router

You need navigation. React Navigation is the standard. Expo Router is newer and uses file-based routing (like Next.js).

For prototyping, pick whichever you're more comfortable with. Expo Router is simpler if you've used Next.js. React Navigation is more flexible if you need custom navigators.

AI Code Assistants

Tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or even ChatGPT can generate boilerplate fast.

Need a form? Describe it, get the code. Need a list of cards? Describe it, get the code. Tweak and move on.

This isn't about replacing your skills. It's about not wasting time writing repetitive JSX and StyleSheet definitions.

Placeholder Assets

Don't spend time finding the perfect icons. Use React Native Vector Icons for icons or Heroicons for simple SVGs.

For images, use Unsplash Source or Placeholder.com. Realistic-looking placeholders make your prototype feel more real without the asset hunt.

Iteration Is the Whole Point

The first version you build won't answer all your questions. That's fine.

After the first round of feedback, you'll realize:

This screen is confusing
This button should be bigger
This flow is backwards

Make the changes. Test again. Repeat.

The beauty of this workflow is that iteration is fast. Change code, save, test on your phone. The whole loop takes seconds.

Compare this to building a "proper" app first:

Set up routing
Configure navigation
Set up state management
Organize files
Write tests
Deploy to TestFlight

By the time you're ready for feedback, you've invested days or weeks. If the core idea is wrong, you've wasted all that time.

With prototyping, you find out the idea is wrong in an hour. Fail fast, learn fast, pivot fast.

When to Stop Prototyping and Build Properly

At some point, the prototype validates the idea and you need to build the real thing.

Signals it's time to stop prototyping:

Users love it and you're ready to ship
The prototype is so messy that adding features is painful
You need features the prototype can't support (auth, persistence, APIs)

At this point, you have two options:

Option 1: Refactor the prototype. Extract components, add state management, clean up the code. This works if the prototype is relatively clean.

Option 2: Rewrite from scratch. Use the prototype as a spec. You've already validated the UX, so rewriting is lower risk. You know what works.

Most of the time, I rewrite. Prototypes are designed to be thrown away. The real value is what you learned, not the code.

Real Example: Under an Hour

Here's a real timeline for prototyping a simple task app:

0:00 - 0:05 - Run create-expo-app, open Expo Go on phone
0:05 - 0:10 - Sketch 3 screens on paper: task list, add task, task detail
0:10 - 0:20 - Build basic navigation with React Navigation
0:20 - 0:35 - Add hardcoded task list with FlatList
0:35 - 0:45 - Build "add task" form with TextInput and Button
0:45 - 0:55 - Add basic styling to make it look real-ish
0:55 - 1:00 - Walk through the flow myself, fix obvious bugs

At 1:00, I have a working app. I can add tasks, see a list, tap into details. It's ugly and it doesn't save data, but it demonstrates the core interaction.

I show it to someone. They suggest improvements. I make changes, test again, repeat.

Two hours later, I have a validated prototype. Four iterations based on feedback. No time wasted on premature architecture.

Common Mistakes

Spending too much time on styling. Visual polish doesn't matter if the interaction is wrong. Get the flow right first, make it pretty later.

Building features you're not testing. If your question is "Do users understand this gesture?", don't spend time building a settings screen. Stay focused.

Using production-grade tools. You don't need Redux. You don't need a backend. You don't need CI/CD. Add those when you're building the real app.

Waiting for perfect code. Prototypes are supposed to be messy. Embrace it.

Conclusion

The fastest way to prototype a React Native app is to skip everything that doesn't directly answer your product questions.

Use Expo for instant setup. Use AI to generate boilerplate. Use hot reload to iterate in seconds. Use hardcoded data and fake auth. Build just enough to test the core interaction.

Spend less time architecting, more time testing. The goal isn't to write great code—it's to learn fast.

Once you've validated the idea, then you can invest in proper architecture, scalable state management, and production infrastructure. But not before.

Prototype fast, learn fast, ship when you're confident the idea works.

Sources:

The Fastest Way to Prototype a React Native App

The Fastest Way to Prototype a React Native App

Why Speed Matters for Prototyping

The Stack: Expo, Not Bare React Native

The Workflow: Idea to Interactive App

Step 1: Create the Project (2 minutes)

Step 2: Decide What You're Testing (5 minutes)

Step 3: Sketch the UI (5 minutes)

Step 4: Build the Skeleton (10 minutes)

Step 5: Add Interactivity (15 minutes)

Step 6: Use AI to Speed Up UI (10 minutes)

Step 7: Make It Feel Real (10 minutes)

Step 8: Test on a Real Device (5 minutes)

Step 9: Get Feedback (The Rest of Your Time)

What to Skip (For Now)

Tools That Speed You Up

Expo

Expo Go App

React Navigation or Expo Router

AI Code Assistants

Placeholder Assets

Iteration Is the Whole Point

When to Stop Prototyping and Build Properly

Real Example: Under an Hour

Common Mistakes

Conclusion

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