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DEADLINE — Four days remain until Google Play requires Android 16 (API level 36). From August 31 it applies to new apps and to updates of existing ones alikeRULES — The submission rule and the visibility rule are separate. An app you have stopped updating still disappears for new users on newer devices if it targets below API 35EXTENSION — An extension keeps you shipping to all users until November 1, but the form lives in Play Console and has to be filed before the deadline passesEXPO — Expo SDK 57 moves React Native from 0.85 to 0.86 while React stays at 19.2, and 0.86 is intended to land without breaking changesHERMES — 57.0.9 updates React Native to 0.86.2 and clears the Hermes V1 memory regression from SDK 56, which shows up in apps importing reanimated or workletsPREBUILD — expo prebuild now clears and regenerates the native android and ios directories by default, so hand-edited native changes vanish unless you audit for them firstDEADLINE — Four days remain until Google Play requires Android 16 (API level 36). From August 31 it applies to new apps and to updates of existing ones alikeRULES — The submission rule and the visibility rule are separate. An app you have stopped updating still disappears for new users on newer devices if it targets below API 35EXTENSION — An extension keeps you shipping to all users until November 1, but the form lives in Play Console and has to be filed before the deadline passesEXPO — Expo SDK 57 moves React Native from 0.85 to 0.86 while React stays at 19.2, and 0.86 is intended to land without breaking changesHERMES — 57.0.9 updates React Native to 0.86.2 and clears the Hermes V1 memory regression from SDK 56, which shows up in apps importing reanimated or workletsPREBUILD — expo prebuild now clears and regenerates the native android and ios directories by default, so hand-edited native changes vanish unless you audit for them first
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Rork Dev/2026-06-20Advanced

What to Decide Before Spreading One Idea Across Every Apple Platform

Rork Max can generate native Swift for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Vision Pro from a single idea. But 'can ship to all of them' and 'should ship to all of them' are different things. From an indie developer running several apps, here's a framework for choosing which devices to add and which to skip, reasoned backward from operating cost and usage context.

Business/2026-06-20Advanced

Designing Rork Max Iterations So You Don't Burn Through Credits

Rork Max generates native Swift for you, but regenerating on impulse drains credits astonishingly fast. Estimate how many regenerations each screen will take, separate structural prompts from polish prompts, and draw a clear line for what to hand-edit instead. From an indie developer who ships to the store, here's how to treat credits as a budget.

Rork Dev/2026-06-18Advanced

Retrofitting Offline-First Into a Rork App: Persistent Cache and a Write Queue

Reviews kept saying the app was blank on the subway. Polishing error screens was not enough, so I retrofitted TanStack Query persistence and an offline write queue into a Rork-generated Expo app. Optimistic updates, reconnect flushing, and keeping the layer safe from regeneration are all covered with code.

Business/2026-06-14Intermediate

Review Count Is Decided by When You Ask, Not the Wording — Rating Design for Rork Apps

When a Rork-built app's review count stalls, the cause is usually not the request wording but the moment you choose to ask. Here is the expo-store-review frequency limit, how iOS and Android differ, and working implementation code.

Rork Dev/2026-06-14Advanced

Actually Delivering 'It Updates Without Opening' in Expo — A Realistic Background Task Design

Building 'content refreshes every morning' into a Rork-generated Expo app runs into iOS background execution being far less dutiful than you expect. Here is a minimal expo-background-task setup plus a design that doesn't break when the task never runs.

Rork Dev/2026-06-14Intermediate

When Your Rork App Gets ITMS-91053 — A Practical Guide to Privacy Manifests and Required Reason APIs

Submitting a Rork-generated Expo app to the App Store can trigger Privacy Manifest warnings even when you never wrote the offending code. Here is how to clear both Required Reason API and SDK manifest issues before you submit.

Rork Basics/2026-06-13Intermediate

After WWDC26, Reselecting What an Indie Should Build Right Now

Now that on-device AI is free for small developers, the premises of app planning have quietly shifted. Here are five questions to choose what to build with Rork at the concept stage.

Rork Dev/2026-06-13Advanced

Choose Native Features by Retention Impact, Not by Checklist

Rork Max can generate widgets, Live Activities, and Core ML alike. But 'can build' and 'should build' are different things. Here is how to decide native-feature adoption by its effect on retention.

Business/2026-06-13Intermediate

Design the Exit Before You Commit to a No-Code Mobile Platform

When you build an app business on a no-code tool, the first thing to plan is not the features but whether you can ever leave. Here is how to weigh lock-in risk for Rork and Rork Max from a portability standpoint.

App Dev/2026-06-13Advanced

When and How to Remove Features Nobody Uses — Auditing and Safely Retiring Functionality in Rork-Built Apps

Unused features quietly make an app harder to maintain. A field-tested playbook from running six wallpaper apps in parallel — how to measure feature usage, decide what to retire, and remove functionality in three safe stages with Remote Config.

Business/2026-05-30Advanced

I Turned Off My AdMob Floors and Revenue Collapsed — The Mediation Rules That Actually Worked Solo

A record of tuning AdMob mediation eCPM floors to real-world rates on an indie wallpaper app, and handling the end of Unity Ads waterfall support. Why you must not turn INT floors off, the 80% match-rate boundary, and a twice-monthly review routine.

App Dev/2026-05-29Intermediate

Two Weeks of Maintenance After v2.1.0 — Running Crashlytics Triage Through Claude in Chrome

Notes from operating Beautiful 4K/HDR Wallpapers v2.1.0 and Ukiyo-e Wallpapers v1.8.0 through phased rollout. Defensive RecyclerView copies, Glide desugaring, drawable-nodpi placement, and what I now hand off to Claude in Chrome every morning.