What kinds of businesses does nanushi work with?

nanushi works with businesses of all sizes — from local cafes and retail shops to tech startups and established companies. If you need a website, web app, mobile app, or AI integration, nanushi can help.

How long does a project take?

A simple marketing website can be delivered in 1–2 weeks. A full web application or mobile app typically takes 4–12 weeks depending on scope.

Does nanushi build AI chatbots?

Yes. nanushi builds custom AI assistants and chatbots using Claude (Anthropic) and OpenAI. These can be integrated into websites, mobile apps, or internal business tools.

Where is nanushi based?

nanushi is based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The team works remotely and serves clients globally.

What is a nanushi mission?

A mission is a 6-week collaborative React Native app-building challenge. Teams of developers work together to ship a real, production-quality mobile app.

why expo has become the default way to build react native apps

if you've been researching react native app development, you'll have encountered expo. in the early days of react native, experienced developers would caution against using expo because of its limitations. the situation has changed significantly. in 2025–2026, expo is the recommended starting point for most react native projects — including production apps.

here's what expo actually is and why it matters.

what expo is

expo is a toolkit and framework built on top of react native. it provides:

a managed development workflow that handles the complex native build configuration for you
a comprehensive sdk of pre-built native modules (camera, maps, notifications, sensors, biometrics, etc.)
expo go, an app you can install on your phone to instantly preview your app during development without building it
eas (expo application services) — cloud-based build, submit, and over-the-air update services
a file-based router (expo router) that brings the familiar next.js page routing mental model to react native

the fundamental value proposition: expo handles the native ios and android build configuration that is genuinely one of the most frustrating parts of react native development, letting developers focus on building the app rather than fighting xcode and gradle.

the eas advantage

one of expo's biggest practical advantages is eas build — a cloud build service that compiles your ios and android apps in the cloud.

traditionally, building a react native app for ios requires a mac with xcode. this means every developer on a team needs a mac, or you need to pass builds around. eas build eliminates this — you can build an ios app from any machine (windows, linux, mac) and the cloud handles the ios compilation.

for small teams and solo developers on non-mac machines, this alone is a significant win.

eas submit handles app store submission — you can submit your app to the apple app store and google play from the cli, without manually going through the web portals.

eas update enables over-the-air (ota) updates: publishing javascript changes to your app without requiring users to download a new version from the app store. for bug fixes and small ui changes, this is extremely valuable — your fix is live in minutes rather than days (apple's review process).

expo router: bringing next.js conventions to mobile

expo router is a file-based routing system for react native apps. developers familiar with next.js will recognize the convention immediately: create a file at app/profile.tsx and you have a /profile screen. nested folders create nested navigation.

this dramatically reduces the boilerplate of setting up react navigation (the traditional approach), makes deep linking work automatically, and aligns the mental model between web and mobile development. for full-stack teams building both a web app and a mobile app, this shared convention reduces context-switching.

when expo might not be the right choice

expo's architecture has improved dramatically with the introduction of "bare workflow" and "continuous native generation" — you can now add custom native code and modules alongside expo. but there are still cases where starting without expo makes more sense:

an existing react native project not using expo. migrating from bare react native to expo is possible but adds work.
highly custom native modules. projects requiring deep integration with specialized hardware, enterprise mdm systems, or unusual sdk requirements sometimes require building without expo's abstractions.
specific performance optimization requirements. expo's overhead is minimal for most apps, but projects with extreme performance requirements sometimes prefer maximum control.

for new projects, the calculus has shifted significantly toward expo as the default and "bare" react native as the exception requiring justification.

the development experience improvement

the combination of expo go (for instant preview on any device), fast refresh (immediate code changes appear without a full rebuild), and eas build (cloud builds from any machine) has made react native development substantially more pleasant than it was three to four years ago.

for business owners evaluating mobile development options: expo isn't a limitation or a compromise. for most apps, it's the reason to choose react native — the developer experience is genuinely excellent.

nanushi builds react native apps with expo as the foundation. if you're scoping a mobile app project, we'd be happy to walk through what the development process looks like.