How to run your first React Native App on macOS for Android devices
Tags: reactnative, beginners, tutorial, programming
Published: 2020-06-16 06:22:17

---
title: How to run your first React Native App on macOS for Android devices
published: true
description: A getting started guide to run react native app
tags: reactnative, beginners, tutorial, programming,
cover_image: https://cdn-media-1.freecodecamp.org/images/1*I9VVnu-qsD51IkCrK5Wa5A.png
---

I wrote a getting started guide for react-native on macOS and for iOS devices few months ago. Now I thought to write it for android devices as well.

Lets get started...

##Step 1: Installing Node and Watchman

Official guide suggests to use `Homebrew` to install `Node` and `Watchman`. So first thing first, run this command to install **Homebrew**

```javascript
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"
```

After brew is installed, run these commands to install `Node` and `Watchman` respectively.

```javascript
brew install node
brew install watchman
```
*Make sure you have 8.3 or newer version of node.*

##Step 2: Installing Java Development Kit (JDK)

Official guide also recommends to install JDK using `Homebrew`. Run this command to get this done.
```javascript
brew install --cask adoptopenjdk/openjdk/adoptopenjdk8
```
*Make sure you install JDK 8 or newer.*

##Step 3: Setting up android development environment

###Download & Install Android Studio

Download and install `Android Studio` [here](https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html).
Now choose to install "Custom" setup for installation and make sure to select checkboxes of these options.
+ `Android SDK`
+ `Android SDK Platform`
+ `Performance (Intel ® HAXM)`
+ `Android Virtual Device`

Then, click "Next" to install all of these components.

###Install the Android SDK
To install the SDK, open the android studio. Click on the configure button on bottom right corner of "Welcome to Android Studio" screen. Then select "SDK Manager".

Select the "SDK Platforms" tab from the SDK Manager, then check the box next to "Show Package Details" in the bottom right corner. Expand the Android 9 (Pie) entry, then make sure to check these:
+ `Android SDK Platform 28`
+ `Intel x86 Atom_64 System Image or Google APIs Intel x86 Atom System Image`

Next, select the "SDK Tools" tab and check the box next to "Show Package Details" here as well. Look for and expand the "Android SDK Build-Tools" entry, then make sure that 28.0.3 is selected.

Finally, click "Apply" to download and install the Android SDK and related build tools.

###Configure the ANDROID_HOME environment variable

The React Native tools require some environment variables to be set up in order to build apps with native code.
For this we need to write some code in `$HOME/.bash_profile` or `$HOME/.bashrc` config file.

To create a new `.bash_profile` file, type `cd ~/` in your terminal.
Type `touch .bash_profile` to create your new file, then type `open -e .bash_profile` to open your file and add these lines:
```javascript
export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Library/Android/sdk
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin
export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools
```
Type source `$HOME/.bash_profile` to load the config into your current shell. Verify that `ANDROID_HOME` has been added to your path by running `echo $PATH`.
 
##Step 4: Creating a new application

Now all the dependencies are installed and we can create our new Application. Run this command to create a new React Native App
```javascript
npx react-native init AwesomeProject
```
##Step 5: Preparing the Android device & Running your React Native App

Open your project android folder in Android studio, Click on the AVD (Android Virtual Device) Manager from the menu list.

Select 'Create Virtual Device...' , then pick any Phone from the list and click "Next", then select the Q API Level 29 image.

Click "Next" then "Finish" to create your AVD. After this you will see the green play button next to your AVD. Click it to launch the AVD.

Now finally we are ready to run our react native app in android. Run this command in terminal
```javascript
npx react-native run-android
```
I also wrote same blog for iOS devices. Check it here:
{% link https://dev.to/aneeqakhan/how-to-run-your-first-react-native-app-on-macos-1ha8 %}