Laying Out Variable-Height Images in Two Columns: A Masonry Wallpaper Gallery in a Rork Expo App
From why numColumns cannot pack variable-aspect images cleanly, to a dependency-free column-balancing algorithm, to keeping virtualization with FlashList masonry and a pragmatic no-dependency fallback, building a wallpaper gallery with real code.
The App Icon Badge Still Says 3 — Rebuilding Expo Badge Counts Around a Single Source of Truth
Why an Expo app's icon badge drifts out of sync with real unread counts and refuses to clear — and how to rebuild it around a single source of truth, with working recompute-and-sync code and the production pitfalls that bite you.
Building a One-Time Code Field in Expo — SMS Autofill and Segmented Display Together
A six-digit verification screen looks trivial, but once you account for SMS autofill, pasting, and deleting one digit at a time, it needs real care. Here is how to nail the iOS and Android autofill first, then build a segmented look on top of a single TextInput that does not break.
Rork Max (Swift) or the Standard Version (React Native): How to Decide as a Solo Developer
Stuck between Rork Max's native Swift and the standard React Native version? Here is a practical decision framework built from a solo developer's perspective, weighing cost, feature boundaries, and how easy each path is to migrate later.
Should You Show a Read More Link? Let the Rendered Text Decide in Rork (Expo)
Clamping a product description to three lines and adding a Read more toggle sounds simple, until the toggle also appears under single-line text. This walks through measuring the real line count with onTextLayout so the toggle only shows when text actually overflows, covering iOS vs Android quirks, expand animation, and font scaling.
When a Rork Video Call Is 'Connected' but Only One Side Can Hear — Field Notes on Instrumenting WebRTC's Silent Failures
Rork video calls that go one-way or quietly drop on the subway, diagnosed by measuring WebRTC with getStats instead of guessing. Covers ICE restart, verifying TURN relay, and clean teardown.
Adding a keyboard toolbar to Rork text inputs — unifying iOS InputAccessoryView and an Android bar into one component
How to add a toolbar pinned above the keyboard — a Done button or quick-insert actions — to the React Native app Rork generates. The iOS InputAccessoryView and a hand-built Android bar, folded into one reusable component, with working code.
When a New Architecture Migration Only Janks in Release Builds — Field Notes on Catching Silent Interop-Layer Fallback
A Rork app on the New Architecture scrolled fine in development but stuttered only in release builds on real devices. The cause: a legacy native module quietly falling back to the interop layer. Field notes on measuring it and rolling out a fix without reverting the whole app.
Before a Free Preview Walks Out via Screenshot: Detecting Screenshots and Screen Recording in Rork/Expo
How to protect paid preview images from screenshots and screen recording in a Rork/Expo app: the limits of expo-screen-capture, native isCaptured monitoring, and an iOS/Android-aware blur design.
When Your App's Launch Got Quietly Slower Release After Release — Field Notes on TTI Instrumentation and a Startup Budget for Rork Apps
Rork apps tend to start fast on day one, then drift slower as you add features and SDKs. These field notes show how to catch cold-start regressions that averages hide, trace them to a release, and stop the drift with a CI startup budget.
Before You Ask 'Are You Sure?' — Consider an Undoable Delete
Showing a confirmation dialog every time someone removes a list item trains them to tap OK without reading. Here is how to build an undoable delete in a Rork (Expo) app, and where confirmation dialogs still belong.
Your Animation Keeps Running After You Leave the Screen — Focus-Aware Battery Savings in a Rork (Expo) App
In a Rork-generated Expo app, a gradient or breathing animation can keep running after you push another screen or background the app, quietly draining the battery without ever surfacing as jank. The cause is that Reanimated's withRepeat lives on the UI thread and the navigation stack keeps screens mounted. This shows a lifecycle design — useIsFocused plus AppState — that reliably stops off-screen and background loops, with working code.