Notes on using React Native without Expo framework and Expo Go


Last updated on 1 Apr. 2025

Quick Info

As of 1st April 2025, on my PC, the related project folder is: C:\TestRNWE\AwesomeProject .
To run the React Native sample program today do the following:
  1. Open project folder in VSCode.
  2. Run 'npx react-native run-android' from VSCode terminal while in project root folder. That should start Android Emulator but it may take time for installing the app on it. See the VSCode terminal messages and if it is downloading something, wait for that to finish. After the download(s) is over, the app should get installed on Android Emulator and run on it. [Today, 1st April 2025, it had to download react-android-0.77.0-debug.aar (203 MB). I did not notice that and thought there was some problem in the app getting loaded. So I cancelled and redid it at which time it started downloading the file again. I later realized that this download was the issue and that in the earlier trial, I should have simply waited for this download to get over. After the download and extraction, the app got installed on emulator and ran on it]

Details

Related post: Notes on React Native and Expo, https://raviswdev.blogspot.com/2024/12/notes-on-react-native.html .

The APK created using React Native and Expo using default settings was 168 MB in size. See above mentioned post for more info. on it. I wanted to check out the possibility of using React Native without Expo and see the APK size (with default settings) it creates. This post covers notes related to that.

4th Feb. 2025: Using React Native without Expo framework and Expo Go
https://reactnative.dev/docs/set-up-your-environment covers setup to use Android Studio to build React Native app.

Publishing to Google Play Store, https://reactnative.dev/docs/signed-apk-android ... Can be used to only create APK files w/o publishing to Google Play Store as per video: Build apk file from React Native Application, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yHI0e4MzUE, 5 min. 45 secs, Aug. 2023.


Set up React Native without Expo on Windows, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RjQMyEFSLk , around 14 mins, Apr. 2022

Building a React Native App Without Expo: A Comprehensive Guide, https://dianapps.com/blog/building-a-react-native-app-without-expo-a-comprehensive-guide/

...

I am trying out creating a starter React Native app without Expo by following instructions in React Native docs: Get Started Without a Framework, https://reactnative.dev/docs/getting-started-without-a-framework . Given below is a log of what I did based partly on my recollections and partly with confirmation from console history and other sources.
1. Created a new WithoutExpo directory and opened a Powershell terminal in it through VSCode.
2. Ran npm -g list and confirmed that react-native-cl package was not installed globally.
3. Ran npx @react-native-community/cli@latest init AwesomeProject . Answered its questions with default/sensible values. It took some time to complete but not too long.
4. Ran npm start . That seemed to be successful with console message saying, "Dev server ready."
5. Ran Android emulator from Android Studio. It showed the display of Android emulator. Waited till it was initialized and ready on its home screen.
6. In another terminal window in VSCode project, ran npm run android. It gave two errors. The first one seemed to be non-fatal:
info Launching emulator...
error Failed to launch emulator. Reason: No emulators found as an output of `emulator -list-avds`.
warn Please launch an emulator manually or connect a device. Otherwise app may fail to launch.
---
But the second one was fatal:
info Installing the app...

info 💡 Tip: Make sure that you have set up your development environment correctly, by running npx react-native doctor. To read more about doctor command visit: https://github.com/react-native-community/cli/blob/main/packages/cli-doctor/README.md#doctor 

 
ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH. 
 
Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 
location of your Java installation. 
error Failed to install the app. Command failed with exit code 9009: gradlew.bat app:installDebug -PreactNativeDevServerPort=8081 ERROR: JAVA_HOME is not set and no 'java' command could be found in your PATH. Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the location of your Java installation.
info Run CLI with --verbose flag for more details.
----

7. Looks like java package is not installed on my PC. Ran npx react-native doctor. Its output:
⠸ Running diagnostics...'"adb"' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Common
 ✓ Node.js - Required to execute JavaScript code
 ✓ npm - Required to install NPM dependencies
 ✓ Metro - Required for bundling the JavaScript code

Android
 ✖ Adb - No devices and/or emulators connected. Please create emulator with Android Studio or connect Android device.
 ✖ JDK - Required to compile Java code
   - Version found: N/A
   - Version supported: >= 17 <= 20
 ✓ Android Studio - Required for building and installing your app on Android
 ✖ ANDROID_HOME - Environment variable that points to your Android SDK installation
 ✓ Gradlew - Build tool required for Android builds
 ✖ Android SDK - Required for building and installing your app on Android
   - Versions found: N/A
   - Version supported: 35.0.0

Errors:   4
Warnings: 0

Usage
 › Press f to try to fix issues.
 › Press e to try to fix errors.
 › Press w to try to fix warnings.
 › Press Enter to exit.
----
8. Am now following instructions in https://reactnative.dev/docs/set-up-your-environment ... As node is already installed, I am using:
choco install -y microsoft-openjdk17 (in a new Admin Powershell)
It succeeded. As it suggested, I ran 'refreshenv' in VSCode Powershell. But that did not pick up java related env variable added to path. A new powershell was able to pick it up. VSCode needed a restart top pick up java env. java command ran successfully in VSCode terminal. npx react-native doctor also picked up JDK and reported 3 errors now.
Restarted Android Studio. SDK Manager -> Languages & Frameworks -> Android SDK -> SDK Platforms:
It showed checkmark (installed) against Android 15.0 ("VanillalceCream"), (API level) 35, (Revision) 2, (Status) Installed.
This matches React Native (RN) doc. requirement.
Under SDK Tools tab, confirmed that:
Android SDK Platform-Tools ver. 35.0.2 is installed. [RN doc says: "Android SDK Platform 35"]
RN Doc says, "Intel x86 Atom_64 System Image or Google APIs Intel x86 Atom System Image" .. That's not listed in these tabs in Android Studio. I do think that I have installed some x86 Atom_64 System Image as part of Android Studio install.
... From Google Search, figured out that I needed to stay in SDK Platforms tab and check its 'Show Package Details' checkbox towards bottom right of window. Now for Android 15.0 ("VanillalceCream") entry it showed the following as installed:
Android SDK Platform 35 (API level: 35, Revision: 2)
Sources for Android 35 (API level: 35, Revision: 1)
Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom System Image (API level: 35, Revision: 9)
----
Looks like step 2 requirements of RN doc are met.
My Android SDK path seems to be [{user-name} is a placeholder for user-name]: C:\Users\{user-name}\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk.
Set up ANDROID_HOME local user env. variable with value as: C:\Users\{user-name}\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk
Next added C:\Users\{user-name}\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools to user account PATH variable.

RN doc says Intel HAXM should be installed. ...
How to find out if Android Studio is actually using the Intel HAXM accelerator?, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25252302/how-to-find-out-if-android-studio-is-actually-using-the-intel-haxm-accelerator :
To verify that Intel HAXM is running, open a Command Prompt window with administrator privileges (Run as Administrator) and execute the following command:

sc query intelhaxm
If Intel HAXM is working, the command will show a status message indicating that the state is: "4 RUNNING".
----
When I ran 'sc query intelhaxm' as admin, I did not get any output.
...
Configure hardware acceleration for the Android Emulator, 
Starting from emulator 33.x.x.x, HAXM is deprecated as Intel discontinues development of HAXM. The Android Emulator hypervisor driver (AEHD) replaces Intel HAXM on Intel Processors.

It is recommended to remove Intel HAXM completely from your Windows system, unless you have other software installed that depends on HAXM and you choose to keep Intel HAXM and manage it on your own.
----
Hmm.
My Android Studio .. SDK Tools tab shows:
Android Emulator hypervisor driver (installer), (Version) 2.2.0 (Status) Installed
----

So looks like RN doc is a little obsolete in its Intel HAXM point. I think my PC is setup OK for this point but I plan to later confirm that by diving deeper into above android doc page.

Restarted VSCode. ANDROID_HOME env. variable was not found! Decided to restart PC.
ANDROID_HOME was not added to user account PATH. I had done it but maybe there was some final OK I missed. Repeating it ...
Now that got set. Restarted Android Studio and Android Emulator.
Now running npx react-native doctor gives only one error:
✖ Android SDK - Required for building and installing your app on Android
   - Versions found: N/A
   - Version supported: 35.0.0
----
Hmm. But Android SDK is shown as installed by Android Studio. Is there some version issue? Maybe it needs 35.0.0 whereas what is installed seems to be 35.0.2 ....


From above, looks like I need to install "Android SDK Command-line Tools (latest)"
Did that using Android Studio. Installed "Android SDK Command-line Tools (latest)" Version 17.0 in C:\Users\{user-name}\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\cmdline-tools\latest

That fixed the issue. I did not have to change path env. variable. Now if Android Emulator is running, RN Doctor does not give any errors.

9. Now if I run 'npm start' in one terminal and 'npm run android' in another, the former seems to succeed (as earlier) and latter proceeds to "Installing the app". As part of that it downloads https://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.10.2-all.zip which seems to be big file!
As per https://services.gradle.org/distributions/ :
 gradle-8.10.2-all.zip 23-Sep-2024 21:40 +0000 217.43M
---
So it is 217 MB.

I presume Android Studio has gradle already. Is gradle being downloaded (again) since I am running in a VSCode terminal?
"Android Studio comes with a working installation of Gradle, so you don’t need to install Gradle separately when only working within that IDE." ... 
"If all you want to do is run an existing Gradle project, then you don’t need to install Gradle if the build uses the Gradle Wrapper. This is identifiable by the presence of the gradlew or gradlew.bat files in the root of the project:"
----

Console reported that 100% of gradle zip has been downloaded quite some minutes before. Now there is no message but the disk light is constantly on. So looks like gradle installation is continuing.

Go to Android Studio--> then open the Android folder of your RN project
-------

RN doc page does not mention the above. It just states:
npm run android

If everything is set up correctly, you should see your new app running in your Android emulator shortly.

This is one way to run your app - you can also run it directly from within Android Studio.
----
The above certainly misleaded me into thinking that it would be a simple step!

The 'npm run android' command finally gave some info. messages followed by an error message:
Welcome to Gradle 8.10.2!

Here are the highlights of this release:
 - Support for Java 23
 - Faster configuration cache
 - Better configuration cache reports

For more details see https://docs.gradle.org/8.10.2/release-notes.html

Starting a Gradle Daemon (subsequent builds will be faster)

info 💡 Tip: Make sure that you have set up your development environment correctly, by running npx react-native doctor. To read more about doctor command visit: https://github.com/react-native-community/cli/blob/main/packages/cli-doctor/README.md#doctor 


FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* Where:
Settings file 'C:\Users\{user-name}\Projects\VSCode\ReactNative\WithoutExpo\AwesomeProject\android\settings.gradle' line: 2

* What went wrong:
Error resolving plugin [id: 'com.facebook.react.settings']
> java.io.UncheckedIOException: Could not move temporary workspace (C:\Users\{user-name}\Projects\VSCode\ReactNative\WithoutExpo\AwesomeProject\android\.gradle\8.10.2\dependencies-accessors\569c8b261a8a714d7731d5f568e0e5c05babae10-bbf33c46-fd60-4f3d-89c6-85c13ffb8312) to immutable location (C:\Users\{user-name}\Projects\VSCode\ReactNative\WithoutExpo\AwesomeProject\android\.gradle\8.10.2\dependencies-accessors\569c8b261a8a714d7731d5f568e0e5c05babae10)

* Try:
> Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace.
> Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output.
> Run with --scan to get full insights.
> Get more help at https://help.gradle.org.

BUILD FAILED in 20m 53s
error Failed to install the app. Command failed with exit code 1: gradlew.bat app:installDebug -PreactNativeDevServerPort=8081 FAILURE: Build failed with an exception. * Where: Settings file 'C:\Users\{user-name}\Projects\VSCode\ReactNative\WithoutExpo\AwesomeProject\android\settings.gradle' line: 2 * What went wrong: Error resolving plugin [id: 'com.facebook.react.settings'] > java.io.UncheckedIOException: Could not move temporary workspace (C:\Users\{user-name}\Projects\VSCode\ReactNative\WithoutExpo\AwesomeProject\android\.gradle\8.10.2\dependencies-accessors\569c8b261a8a714d7731d5f568e0e5c05babae10-bbf33c46-fd60-4f3d-89c6-85c13ffb8312) to immutable location (C:\Users\{user-name}\Projects\VSCode\ReactNative\WithoutExpo\AwesomeProject\android\.gradle\8.10.2\dependencies-accessors\569c8b261a8a714d7731d5f568e0e5c05babae10) * Try: > Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. > Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output. > Run with --scan to get full insights. > Get more help at https://help.gradle.org. BUILD FAILED in 20m 53s.
info Run CLI with --verbose flag for more details.
----

React Native Error : java.io.UncheckedIOException: Could not move temporary workspace, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78384724/react-native-error-java-io-uncheckedioexception-could-not-move-temporary-work

Tried opening the android folder in Android Studio. That automatically seems to have started a Sync which involved lot of uploading and some downloading. That eventually failed with some errors like:
Plugin [id: 'org.jetbrains.kotlin.jvm', version: '2.0.21', apply: false] was not found in any of the following sources:
---

npm install -g npm-check-updates
ncu -u
npm install

[Some packages were upgraded.]

Then tried npm run android ... It got into downloading some stuff (not gradle). ... It is in 'configuring' phase 50% has taken 5m 43s ... No changes in console but downloading is going on. ... The 50% figure seems stuck. It has gone up to 12m with same 50%

Cancelled it. Tried lot of stuff like reverting back to initial commit and then trying to build. it consistently gave some NDK error about not finding some source.properties or similar name file.

Decided to give up on this particular project. BTW I had also moved the whole project to C:\AP just in case the long full filename path for some file was creating some issues earlier.
...

Ran 'npx @react-native-community/cli@latest init AwesomeProject' again in another folder close to C drive root. It created the project and downloaded dependencies in around 3 to 5 minutes.

In created project folder, ran:
npx react-native run-android

It failed quickly (few seconds) with main part of message:

BUILD FAILED in 10s
error Failed to install the app. Command failed with exit code 1: gradlew.bat app:installDebug -PreactNativeDevServerPort=8081 FAILURE: Build failed with an exception. * What went wrong: A problem occurred configuring project ':app'. > [CXX1101] NDK at C:\Users\{user-name}\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\ndk\27.1.12297006 did not have a source.properties file * Try: > Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. > Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output. > Run with --scan to get full insights. > Get more help at https://help.gradle.org. BUILD FAILED in 10s.
=====================

Hmm. So this NDK issue is a consistent error.
Flutter Error: NDK did not have a source.properties file | RESOLVED, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k86QrM3z1F8 , 1 min. 48 secs, Dec. 2020 suggested installaing related NDK package (27.1.12297006 in my case) in Android Studio SDK tools. Am doing that now ... large file 745 MB odd.

https://developer.android.com/ndk : "The Android NDK is a toolset that lets you implement parts of your app in native code, using languages such as C and C++. For certain types of apps, this can help you reuse code libraries written in those languages."

Seems like Android app dev. will need frequent and large downloads (and uploads for Android Studio Sync, if I understood that correctly). Broadband may be a necessity. Today I have exhaused Jio 1.5 GB data and over half of Airtel 1.5 GB data. Now I am into data pack of Jio as I want to keep some Airtel data free just in case (I need a fast connection in late evening).

The install got done and on running 'npx react-native run-android' again, I did not face the NDK error. It took some time configuring (including some downloading) and now it is in 'EXECUTING'(for which also it is doing some downloading). The Android emulator shows only the home screen and so the app does not seem to be loaded yet in it.
...
It has moved to 60% executing but still is downloading some other stuff.
It finished (after 15 mins) successfully. Console log:
PS C:\TestRNWE\AwesomeProject>  npx react-native run-android
info A dev server is already running for this project on port 8082.
info Installing the app...

> Task :app:configureCMakeDebug[arm64-v8a]
Warning: Errors during XML parse:
Warning: Additionally, the fallback loader failed to parse the XML.
Warning: Errors during XML parse:
Warning: Additionally, the fallback loader failed to parse the XML.
Checking the license for package CMake 3.22.1 in C:\Users\{user-name}\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\licenses
License for package CMake 3.22.1 accepted.
Preparing "Install CMake 3.22.1 v.3.22.1".
"Install CMake 3.22.1 v.3.22.1" ready.
Installing CMake 3.22.1 in C:\Users\{user-name}\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\cmake\3.22.1
"Install CMake 3.22.1 v.3.22.1" complete.
"Install CMake 3.22.1 v.3.22.1" finished.

> Task :app:installDebug
Installing APK 'app-debug.apk' on 'Medium_Phone_API_35(AVD) - 15' for :app:debug
Installed on 1 device.

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 15m 3s
58 actionable tasks: 48 executed, 10 up-to-date
info Connecting to the development server...
8081
info Starting the app on "emulator-5554"...
 Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] cmp=com.awesomeproject/.MainActivity }
==============

And Android Emulator shows the app! Hmm. Finally got success but .... it took just too long and had too many stumbling blocks.
Ctrl+M on Emulator opens the Dev Menu.
===========

The android folder in startup AwesomeProject now is 1.5 GB in size! node_modules folder is 305 MB. Rest is slightly less than 1 MB.

Running the program again by 'npm run android' from terminal in project directory, seems to rebundle the app in the emulator. But that took very little time - perhaps less than a minute. So very quickly the app was running in the emulator.

I opened the project in VSCode. As soon as I changed a label in App.tsx , the app in emulator showed the change!

Closed app and VSCode. Opened android folder of project in Android Studio. It shows "Importing 'android' Gradle project" and is doing lot of downloading.

It finished successfully (in less than 5 minutes I think; below message says build took 3m 48s). Last part of message:
Deprecated Gradle features were used in this build, making it incompatible with Gradle 9.0.

You can use '--warning-mode all' to show the individual deprecation warnings and determine if they come from your own scripts or plugins.

For more on this, please refer to https://docs.gradle.org/8.10.2/userguide/command_line_interface.html#sec:command_line_warnings in the Gradle documentation.

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 3m 48s
10 actionable tasks: 5 executed, 5 up-to-date
-----

Tried run on Android Studio. It attempted to start the app - which took only perhaps a minute or two but the app showed an error message on the emulator ('Unable to load script ...') and suggested running Metro 'npx react-native start' OR ensuring that index.android.bundle is packaged correctly for release.

Opened Terminal in Android Studio (AS) and ran 'npm start' from project folder (parent folder of android folder). That started Metro. Then clicked run app button in AS. Now the app displayed correctly in the emulator. All this got done very quickly.

Next step is to see if I can create an APK for this working starter project. Related link(s):
Publishing to Google Play Store, https://reactnative.dev/docs/signed-apk-android ... Can be used to only create APK files w/o publishing to Google Play Store as per video: Build apk file from React Native Application, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yHI0e4MzUE, 5 min. 45 secs, Aug. 2023.

1. In admin terminal:
cd "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\jdk-17.0.13.11-hotspot\bin"
keytool -genkeypair -v -storetype PKCS12 -keystore my-upload-key.keystore -alias my-key-alias -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000
Specified password as: {secret-pwd}
Console output:
Enter keystore password:

Re-enter new password:

What is your first and last name?
  [Unknown]:  Ravi
What is the name of your organizational unit?
  [Unknown]:  Self
What is the name of your organization?
  [Unknown]:  Self
What is the name of your City or Locality?
  [Unknown]:  Puttaparthi
What is the name of your State or Province?
  [Unknown]:  Andhra Pradesh
What is the two-letter country code for this unit?
  [Unknown]:  IN
Is CN=Ravi, OU=Self, O=Self, L=Puttaparthi, ST=Andhra Pradesh, C=IN correct?
  [no]:  yes

Generating 2,048 bit RSA key pair and self-signed certificate (SHA256withRSA) with a validity of 10,000 days
        for: CN=Ravi, OU=Self, O=Self, L=Puttaparthi, ST=Andhra Pradesh, C=IN
[Storing my-upload-key.keystore]
----
Moved my-upload-key.keystore file under the android/app directory in project folder.
2. Edited the file android/gradle.properties, and added the following (replaced ***** with the correct keystore password),

MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_FILE=my-upload-key.keystore
MYAPP_UPLOAD_KEY_ALIAS=my-key-alias
MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_PASSWORD=*****
MYAPP_UPLOAD_KEY_PASSWORD=*****

"Saving the above Gradle variables in ~/.gradle/gradle.properties instead of android/gradle.properties prevents them from being checked in to git." Should bear in mind if I use public GitHub connected git repos.

3. Modified android/app/build.gradle with modified entry being:
android {
    ndkVersion rootProject.ext.ndkVersion
    buildToolsVersion rootProject.ext.buildToolsVersion
    compileSdk rootProject.ext.compileSdkVersion

    namespace "com.awesomeproject"
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.awesomeproject"
        minSdkVersion rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
        targetSdkVersion rootProject.ext.targetSdkVersion
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
    }
    signingConfigs {
        release {
            if (project.hasProperty('MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_FILE')) {
                storeFile file(MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_FILE)
                storePassword MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_PASSWORD
                keyAlias MYAPP_UPLOAD_KEY_ALIAS
                keyPassword MYAPP_UPLOAD_KEY_PASSWORD
}
        }
        debug {
            storeFile file('debug.keystore')
            storePassword 'android'
            keyAlias 'androiddebugkey'
            keyPassword 'android'
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        debug {
            signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
        }
        release {
            // Caution! In production, you need to generate your own keystore file.
            // see https://reactnative.dev/docs/signed-apk-android.
            // signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
            minifyEnabled enableProguardInReleaseBuilds
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android.txt"), "proguard-rules.pro"
        }
    }
}

4. Ran 'npm run android -- --mode="release"' but that simply ran the app (probably in debug mode) on emulator. It did not build the APK file. Closed emulator and Metro.

5. Followed video instructions instead (slightly modified when needed/prompted) ... 
cd android
./gradlew clean
Above command got over quickly.
./gradlew assembleRelease
started 9.55 PM
as part of EXECUTING it is downloading stuff
Net is slow now (usually 500 Kbps to 2 Mbps) ... so this will take time. And it came close to exhausting Airtel data too :-).
But it completed successfully around 10.14 PM
Last part of the console output:
BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 19m 4s
72 actionable tasks: 62 executed, 10 up-to-date
---
The apk file created was: AwesomeProject\android\app\build\outputs\apk\release\app-release.apk of around 46 MB size.

Dragging and dropping the apk file into emulator gave an error related to previous version of app. Uninstalled previous version of app from emulator and dropped the apk file again on the emulator. This time it got installed successfully. Clicking it ran it right away and very quickly.
Copied it to Samsung M21 phone (and provided installation rights to My Files app). On attempting install through My Files app, it suggested Scan by Google Play which I accepted. It did say it may/will take some time. Now the app is saying installing but that is taking time.

Cancelled it and tried again, this time taking option of install without scanning. it is still taking time for installing. Hmm.

I am restarting phone and then I will try again but this time take the Scan option and give it more time. Did that .. Scan started around 11.06 PM and got over in less than a minute saying 'This app looks safe'. Choose the 'Install' option it provided around 11.07 PM. I closed the My Files app from where I was installing it after 4 minutes as that was too long for this install. The install process was not responding to 'Cancel' button press.

5 Feb. 2025 Update
Today when I tried to install the APK again on my Samsung M21 phone, it asked me whether I want to update the app! That indicated that it had installed the app yesterday though I had closed the My Files app from which I was doing the install, after 4 minutes as mentioned above.

When I looked around for the installed app, I found it and was able to run it. It opened the screen very quickly. Then I uninstalled the app and tried installing the APK again (from My Files app). This time around it completed the installation in less than a minute and showed a dialog saying it's done. Running the app was fast. No issues.

My Files app on Samsung phone shows the apk file size as 45.35 MB. But Settings -> Apps shows the app size as 70.08 MB.

I think a learning here is that I should always do the Google Play Scan through option provided by APK installation process on Samsung phone and wait for that to complete before proceeding further with the installation. Perhaps I faced issues in my earlier attempts as I had first cancelled out of the Google Play Scan.
end 5 Feb. 2025 Update

Note that official RN doc page, https://reactnative.dev/docs/signed-apk-android , shared above, does not specify how to create only APK file. So perhaps creating APK file alone is not recommended by RN and instead one has to create an AAB (Android App Bundle) and upload to Google Play as per instructions in the doc page.
=======

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