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Expo kept 599 MB of Expo Go builds, one for every SDK you have used

~/.expo caches Expo Go for the iOS Simulator and Android emulators, per SDK version. Measured at 599 MB, plus a retired global CLI at 209 MB.

4 min read

Every time an Expo project opens in a simulator or emulator, Expo installs a matching build of the Expo Go app there. Those builds are cached in ~/.expo, and a new one arrives with each SDK upgrade.

FolderSizeWhat it is
expo-go239 MBExpo Go downloads
android-apk-cache188 MBExpo Go APKs for Android emulators
ios-simulator-app-cache172 MBExpo Go app builds for the iOS Simulator
Everything else1.4 MBTemplates, schemas, version lists

Clearing it

All of it is downloaded, so all of it is safe to remove. The next npx expo start fetches only the Expo Go build for the SDK you are on now, which is usually much less than the pile of older ones.

du -sh ~/.expo/* | sort -h
rm -rf ~/.expo/android-apk-cache ~/.expo/ios-simulator-app-cache ~/.expo/expo-go

# The old global CLI, replaced by npx expo
npm uninstall -g expo-cli

Clearing the cache folder does not remove Expo Go from simulators that already have it. The simulators themselves are the larger cost, measured in iOS Simulator taking up space and Android emulator images.

The project side

A React Native project carries its own caches too, and they are bigger than this one: Metro's bundler cache, CocoaPods, Gradle and native build folders. Those are in React Native and Metro caches.

Common questions

Where is the Expo cache on a Mac?

In ~/.expo in your home folder. The large parts are the Expo Go builds for iOS Simulator and Android emulators.

Is it safe to delete ~/.expo?

Yes. It holds downloaded Expo Go builds, templates and version lists. Expo downloads what it needs again next time.

Do I still need the global expo-cli?

No. It was replaced by the local CLI you run with npx expo. A global copy can be removed with npm uninstall -g expo-cli.

How big is the Expo cache?

It grows with each SDK version you use. On the Mac measured it was 599 MB.

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