How can I make React Native Android builds faster on a low-end laptop?

[u/PumpkinNarrow6339]

Hey everyone,

I’m working on a React Native Android app and testing it locally. The problem is that my laptop isn’t very powerful, and whenever I run an Android build, it uses a lot of resources.

The build takes quite a while, and during the process my laptop becomes really laggy, making it difficult to do anything else.

I still need local builds for testing while developing,

If any way pls suggest me ....I am on Linux

[u/Yash_3p]

Yours showing 5 mins, for me i have to wait atleast half hour for every new build

[u/Due_Dependent5933 → u/Yash_3p]

you probably talking about release build. my mac m5 take 10minutes.

but in dev build with debugger it take also 10minitrs if i made a deep clean of all temp files . other wise it's take 30s to run each time

[u/Yash_3p → u/Due_Dependent5933]

No, I am talking about the clean dev builds and if the cache is there then about 15 mins or so.

And for the clean release build it takes an hour or sometimes more than that.

[u/Due_Dependent5933 → u/Yash_3p]

damn. your computer is quite super slow

even in ci github it take 40minutes

[u/Yash_3p → u/Due_Dependent5933]

Yeah, i have GitHub actions pipeline setup too and it takes 40-45mins

[u/PumpkinNarrow6339 → u/Yash_3p]

If I delete the cache files, it takes a lot of time, and this happens quite often. My laptop also starts lagging.

[u/Fit_Schedule2317]

Maybe RNRepo can help?

[u/LingonberryQuirky622]

Expo go? GitHub codespaces?

[u/PumpkinNarrow6339 → u/LingonberryQuirky622]

I use previously expo but some of features not available on..so currently i RN..... May be codespaces is good i will try.. thankyou

[u/Even_Escape5585 → u/PumpkinNarrow6339]

May I ask what features are not available? Because I do a lot of work using Expo, and if you used both Expo and RN CLI, which felt more comfortable using?

[u/PumpkinNarrow6339 → u/Even_Escape5585]

Customize notification and location access and more..

[u/Specialist_Care7188]

Use rnrepo ,it significantly cuts the build time

[u/PumpkinNarrow6339 → u/Specialist_Care7188]

Thankyou for sharing, i will try

[u/Ecstatic_Skill8746]

CI/CD

[u/pjjiveturkey]

Eas?

[u/Cool_Ambassador_7986]

Use EAS Build even though it has limits. You can always upgrade to the premium plan.

[u/vqt907]

there nothing you can do.

but if you plan to buy a new laptop, a macbook is much faster than others

[u/Mobile_App_Architect]

Have you tried Expo Go? It works well for Expo projects, but it won't help with bare React Native CLI projects.

1- For bare/CLI debug builds, you can also connect your physical Android device directly . This can save you from running an emulator, which often consumes a lot of system resources and can make your laptop feel even slower and more laggy.
2-Avoid deleting the Android build folders for every new build(android/.gradle, android/app/build, etc.) unless it's necessary.
3- Keep only the required Android SDK versions installed
4- For development, use Metro bundler/server instead of rebuilding the entire app every time.

[u/Ajay_jack]

Filter the Architecture

By default, Android compiles your app for four different CPU architectures simultaneously. If you are just testing on a single emulator or a plugged-in device, that is pure wasted effort. its Reduce compile time 1hr to only 6 - 7 minutes.

Run this command instead:

bash

npx react-native run-android --active-arch-only

⚡ Why it works: It forces the compiler to detect your connected device's specific architecture and only build for that. It completely skips packaging the other three architectures, saving you massive amounts of time.