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Mobile App

The friendchise-mobile-app Expo client and how it talks to the web backend

FriendChise ships a companion mobile app (friendchise-mobile-app/) built with Expo and Expo Router. It is intentionally a thin client: it has no server of its own and reads/writes through the same backend used by the web app.

How it fits together

  • The mobile app calls the FriendChise web backend directly — there is no separate mobile API. All product logic (tasks, timetable, orgs, RBAC) lives in the web app's app/api/* and server actions.
  • EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL is the only thing that points the app at a backend. Use http://localhost:3000 only for the iOS Simulator or Android Emulator; on Android Emulator you can also use http://10.0.2.2:3000 or adb reverse to reach a host machine backend. Production builds use https://friendchise.app through the EAS profile in eas.json.
  • Auth uses bearer tokens issued and verified by the backend. The shared AUTH_SECRET stays server-side. See Authentication.

Pages

Tech

  • Expo + Expo Router (file-based routing under app/(app) and app/(auth))
  • Zustand for local auth/session state
  • Expo SecureStore for persisting the auth token on-device
  • A hand-rolled StyleSheet-based design system (no NativeWind/Tailwind) — tokens live in src/lib/theme.ts

Key directories

  • app/(auth): sign-in, dev user picker (development only), and related screens.
  • app/(app): the authenticated app shell and feature screens.
  • src/features/: feature modules (auth, tasks, etc.), each owning its own API calls and hooks.
  • src/lib/: shared theme, env access, and low-level helpers.
  • components/ui/: shared primitives (Text, Button, Card, ListRow, Screen, ScreenHeader, etc.).

Feature parity with web

  • Account deletion: the mobile app calls the same /api/account/delete endpoint used by the web settings page (see components/layout/profile-panel/settings-sheet.tsx).
  • Session expiry: a SessionWatcher component reads the JWT's exp claim and automatically signs the user out when it lapses — this applies uniformly to normal, dev, and demo sessions.

TODO

  • Document push notification support once implemented.
  • Document offline/error-state behavior conventions once formalized.
  • Link to the mobile design system reference once it's published as its own doc page.