Expo Orbit is a free macOS menu-bar utility that puts your entire React Native and Expo development workflow — simulator management, build distribution, and device testing — one click away from anywhere on your Mac.
What is Expo Orbit?
Expo Orbit is an open-source companion app for React Native developers, sitting quietly in your menu bar and giving you instant access to the tools you spend half your day hunting through terminal windows and browser tabs. Built and maintained by the Expo team, it is the fastest way to get a build onto a simulator or physical device without breaking your flow.
If you have ever groaned at typing npx expo start, waiting for Metro, remembering the right simulator UDID, then realising EAS Build finished twenty minutes ago and nobody told you — Orbit was built for exactly that frustration.
What does Expo Orbit do best?
Expo Orbit excels at collapsing the feedback loop between a finished EAS build and a running app on a simulator or device. The moment a build lands on EAS, Orbit surfaces it in the menu bar; you click install, and the app is running on your chosen simulator in seconds — no Xcode organizer, no drag-and-drop .ipa dance, no Android Studio device manager spelunking.
- Simulator management: boot, switch, and focus iOS simulators and Android Virtual Devices from a single dropdown, without opening Xcode or Android Studio.
- Build distribution: directly install .app, .ipa, and .apk files — local or from EAS — onto any running simulator or connected device.
- EAS Build notifications: get notified the moment a remote build completes so you are not polling the dashboard every five minutes.
- Deep EAS integration: if you are already on the Expo ecosystem, Orbit reads your project config and surfaces the right builds automatically.
I have been using it daily for several months and the thing I keep coming back to is how invisible it is when you do not need it. It adds zero overhead to your Mac — it is just there, like Wi-Fi.
Is Expo Orbit free?
Yes — Expo Orbit is completely free to download and use, with no paid tier, no feature gates, and no account required for local simulator workflows. It is open-source under the MIT licence on GitHub. If you are using EAS Build, you will of course need an Expo account for the build side of things, but Orbit itself costs nothing and never will.
Who should use Expo Orbit?
Expo Orbit is squarely aimed at React Native developers who run simulators regularly and want to stop babysitting terminal commands. It is most powerful in teams using EAS Build — the notification and one-click install workflow genuinely saves meaningful time across a sprint — but solo developers who just want a faster way to spin up simulators will get value too.
It is not aimed at native iOS or Android developers working outside the Expo/React Native ecosystem; for that crowd, Xcode's Simulator app and Android Studio do the same job with deeper native tooling. And if your React Native project is entirely Bare Workflow with a custom CI outside EAS, you will get simulator management but miss the build-distribution magic.
What are the best Expo Orbit alternatives?
For pure simulator management on macOS, RocketSim is the most polished commercial alternative — it adds recording, push notification testing, and location simulation to Xcode Simulator, though it costs money and skews toward native iOS developers. Android Studio's Device Manager handles the Android side natively. For build distribution specifically, teams not on EAS often reach for Diawi or self-hosted Appetize.io, neither of which lives in your menu bar. Nothing else combines menu-bar simulator control and EAS build delivery in one free tool the way Orbit does.
How does Expo Orbit compare to RocketSim?
RocketSim is richer for pure iOS simulator work — screen recording, location faking, status-bar overrides, and deep Xcode integration make it a favourite among native Swift developers. Expo Orbit wins on breadth and price: it handles both iOS and Android, integrates with EAS Build, and is free. If you are a React Native developer on Expo, Orbit is the obvious choice; if you are a native iOS developer who wants a turbocharged simulator, RocketSim is worth the subscription.
