RORK LABJP
SDK58 — The Expo SDK 58 beta is open. It ships the React Native 0.88 release candidate, and the beta period is stated as three to four weeks11/01 — For anyone who requested an extension, Google Play's target API deadline lands on November 1. Forty-four days outEASENV — A long-open report: secrets handed to a local build arrive as the literal variable name rather than its value, and the damage surfaces much laterNEW — The replacement the table recommended had already shut down. A record of reconciling all 74 rows of the deprecation listUISCENE — iOS 27 requires the new scene lifecycle. SDK 57 makes it something you opt into; it only becomes the default in 58CREDIT — What "AI errors don't cost credits" actually covers becomes clear once you record a day of asking for the same fix more than onceSDK58 — The Expo SDK 58 beta is open. It ships the React Native 0.88 release candidate, and the beta period is stated as three to four weeks11/01 — For anyone who requested an extension, Google Play's target API deadline lands on November 1. Forty-four days outEASENV — A long-open report: secrets handed to a local build arrive as the literal variable name rather than its value, and the damage surfaces much laterNEW — The replacement the table recommended had already shut down. A record of reconciling all 74 rows of the deprecation listUISCENE — iOS 27 requires the new scene lifecycle. SDK 57 makes it something you opt into; it only becomes the default in 58CREDIT — What "AI errors don't cost credits" actually covers becomes clear once you record a day of asking for the same fix more than once
ARTICLES

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All (1023) Getting Started (94) Dev Tools (527) AI Models (114) Business (183) App Dev (105)
Dev Tools/2026-09-19Beginner

Reading only what Rork changed: the diff routine I run after every re-export

How to read a fresh Rork export as a diff against the last one: clear tracked files before you copy, strip the noise before you count, and stop once before the merge commit lands.

App Dev/2026-09-18Intermediate

The three lines I check when prebuild stops on the standard SDK 57 Swift AppDelegate error

Turning on ios.enableSceneSupport for iOS 27 can stop prebuild cold. The cause was not my SDK version but the shape of AppDelegate.swift. Here are the three lines to check, and why copying the SDK 58 migration steps by hand will break your build.

Business/2026-09-17Beginner

A review asks for a refund. Your answer changes depending on the store

On iOS you cannot refund a purchase as the developer. On Google Play you can, from Play Console, and it cannot be undone. Here is how I word each reply, and how I stopped forgetting to revoke access afterwards.

AI Models/2026-09-17Advanced

The recommended replacement was already gone — auditing all 74 rows of Gemini's deprecation table

Cross-checking Gemini's deprecation table turned up five rows where the recommended replacement had itself already shut down, including gemini-2.5-flash-image, which goes away on October 2. Here is how to verify a migration target, and how to catch the 404 before your users do.

App Dev/2026-09-16Intermediate

The Token I Deleted Came Back After a Restart — Detecting Failed SecureStore Deletes

On Android, getItemAsync can report null right after sign-out while the value is still sitting on disk. Here is how I rewrote a sign-out path that was verifying deletion by reading instead of by the delete result.

Business/2026-09-15Intermediate

Two Balances, Not One: Reading Rork's Build Credits and Cloud Credits Apart

Rork keeps two separate balances. Here is how to tell which one a charge came from, why one prompt can cost more than one credit, why a Cloud balance that never moves may mean your AI is not running at all, and what changes once real users start spending it for you.

AI Models/2026-09-15Advanced

Where the AI decision lives once Rork splits your app into two native codebases

New Rork apps are Swift on iPhone and Kotlin on Android — two separate codebases. Here is how I decide which AI-related judgments stay in each client and which move to the shared backend, plus the minimal contract both clients read the same way.

Getting Started/2026-09-14Intermediate

Rork No Longer Creates New Expo Projects: Keep Yours, or Rebuild It in SwiftUI?

You can no longer start an Expo project in Rork, but existing ones keep building and shipping. Here is how to decide whether to stay on Expo or rebuild in SwiftUI, and what quietly goes missing when you rebuild.

AI Models/2026-09-13Intermediate

Is That API Key Sitting Inside Your App? Rork Environment Variables vs. Supabase Edge Functions

Rork gives you two places to put an API key: its own environment variables, or a secret inside a Supabase Edge Function. Here is how I decide between them based on what I can revoke and who gets the bill, plus three checks to run after the key is in place.

AI Models/2026-09-12Beginner

Ask Rork for an iOS 27 feature and you may get last year's code back, with no error at all

iOS 27 ships on September 14. When a model is asked for an API it has never seen, there are two kinds of failure: the kind that stops your build, and the kind that does not. Here is why standard Rork and Rork Max differ, and the order I check generated code in.

Getting Started/2026-09-11Beginner

Same Wi-Fi, No Preview: Where I Look Before Rebooting the Router

When Rork Companion scans the QR code and nothing arrives, there are places worth checking before you restart anything. Four settings on the iPhone, two on the router, and a one-minute test that cuts the search space in half.

Dev Tools/2026-09-10Intermediate

I Added a Dim Screen Button, and iPhones Stayed Dark After the App Was Closed

In expo-brightness, setBrightnessAsync applies only to the current activity on Android, but changes the device brightness itself on iOS. Here is why the cleanup burden falls on one platform only, and a hook that restores brightness through AppState.