Phase 2: Building the Bridge

Delivering a Museum Mobile App with React Native & Expo

This is Part 2 of a 4-part series on building mobile solutions for nonprofit museums. Part 1: Bridging the Gap | Part 3: AWS Backend | Technical Appendix

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One Codebase, Two Platforms, Zero Disruption to Existing Systems

Once the need is clear and the architecture is locked, the next question is practical:

How do you actually build and ship a mobile app that can live in the real world — with limited staff, limited support, and no tolerance for constant rework?

For the nonprofit museum, the answer isn't bleeding-edge tech or bespoke native teams. It's predictable delivery.

That's where React Native and Expo come in.

Why React Native Fits the Museum Model

Museums don't need two apps.

They need:

• One shared experience
• One maintainable codebase
• One set of behaviors staff can rely on
• One path forward as needs evolve

React Native allows us to:

• Build once
• Deploy to both iOS and Android
• Keep feature parity
• Avoid duplicating logic, fixes, and testing effort

For organizations with small shared IT teams, this isn't a convenience — it's a necessity.

The Mobile App's Role (Very Clearly Defined)

In this architecture, the mobile app is responsible for:

• Presenting a unified visitor experience
• Consuming content, ticketing, and engagement data
• Supporting device-native features (camera, location, notifications)
• Handling offline or poor-connectivity scenarios gracefully

It is not responsible for:

• Owning business rules
• Replacing Salesforce workflows
• Becoming a new admin system

That separation is what keeps the app stable as the organization grows.

Expo: Reducing Operational Overhead

Expo often gets described as a "developer convenience."

In reality, it's an operational strategy.

For the museum, Expo provides:

• Simplified builds for iOS and Android
• Over-the-air updates for non-breaking changes
• Faster testing cycles
• Cleaner deployment pipelines

This matters when:

• Releases need to be safe and predictable
• Support teams are small
• App store resubmissions should be minimized

Expo lets us move quickly without introducing chaos.

Deployment Without Drama

A typical deployment flow looks like this:

React Native Codebase
        ↓
Expo Build Service
        ↓
App Stores (iOS & Android)
        ↓
Visitors & Members

Behind the scenes:

• Builds are repeatable
• Rollouts can be staged
• Versions are traceable
• Rollbacks are possible

This is how you ship responsibly in environments where uptime and trust matter.

Designing for Offline and Real-World Conditions

Museums aren't controlled environments.

Connectivity drops. Basements interfere with signal. Visitors move between spaces.

So the app is designed to:

• Cache critical content
• Queue user actions
• Sync when connectivity returns
• Never block the experience unnecessarily

At a high level:

Visitor Action
      ↓
Mobile App
      ↓
Offline Queue
      ↓
AWS Backend (when connected)

This ensures:

• Data isn't lost
• Staff still see complete records in Salesforce
• Visitors aren't punished for bad signal

Where the Cloud Still Matters (But Stays Invisible)

The app never talks directly to Salesforce or Shopify.

Instead, it communicates through a cloud integration layer hosted on Amazon Web Services.

This gives us:

• Consistent API contracts
• Security and validation in one place
• Retry and error handling outside the app
• Freedom to evolve backend logic later

From the app's perspective, the backend is stable — even if systems behind it change.

That's intentional.

Testing and Rollouts That Respect Reality

For the museum, testing isn't about perfection — it's about confidence.

We prioritize:

• Core visitor flows
• Ticketing and access paths
• Content updates
• Sync integrity

Rollouts are:

• Phased
• Observable
• Reversible

No "big bang" launches. No surprise regressions. No scrambling to explain outages.

Why This Sets the Stage for Scale

By the time the app is live:

• Visitors have a cohesive mobile experience
• Staff keep working in Salesforce and Shopify
• Data stays synchronized
• The cloud layer quietly coordinates everything

And importantly:

If the museum later decides to:

• Introduce custom backend services
• Replace ticketing
• Add new digital experiences
• Expand beyond mobile

The app doesn't need to be rebuilt. It already knows how to evolve.

Ship Once, Grow Intentionally

For nonprofit museums and cultural organizations:

• Mobile doesn't need to be risky
• Modern doesn't have to mean disruptive
• Scaling doesn't require upfront commitment

A React Native app, deployed with Expo and backed by a stable cloud layer, lets you:

• Solve today's mobile problem
• Protect existing investments
• Prepare for tomorrow — quietly