Home / Alternatives / EAS Simulator
Alternative
Expo's cloud sim for RN teams — the verification half of EAS, waitlist-only, no TV, no sharing story, no public price.
EAS Simulator runs a remote iOS Simulator or Android Emulator on Expo infrastructure, driven from the CLI (eas simulator:start), a REST API, or an AI agent via agent-device, Argent (MCP) or Appium — with an eas-simulator skill as the front door. iOS sessions include a browser preview URL; Android preview is coming soon.
The catch is access and scope: it is a limited-access preview, not included with paid or free plans, open only to select partners via waitlist. It consumes EAS Build artifacts (or Expo Go), covers phones only, and session pages live behind expo.dev login. For Expo teams inside the preview it's the shortest path; for everyone else — non-RN stacks, TV apps, public sharing, self-hosting — Sidekick is the open equivalent.
$ sidekick agent-setup # skill + MCP, one command $ sidekick xcode build . --scheme MyApp # no Mac needed $ sidekick ios create # agent drives, you watch in the browser
| What you are deciding | Sidekick | EAS Simulator |
|---|---|---|
| Build | ||
| Remote Xcode build (no Mac needed)Sidekick: Claim-logs-finish loop unit-tested (fakeRunner); no Mac fleet witnessed | 🛣️ Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Android / Gradle cloud buildSidekick: Daemon runs xcodebuild only; no Gradle path implemented | 🛣️ Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Signing handled (certs, profiles, keystores)Sidekick: No signing code yet | 🛣️ Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Store submit from terminal (TestFlight + Play)Sidekick: Play dry-run validated in unit tests only; no live upload witnessed | 🛣️ Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Devices | ||
| iOS simulatorsSidekick: Provision/verb loop unit-tested (fakeDevice); needs a Mac fleet | 🛣️ Roadmap | ✅ Yes |
| Android emulators + adb tunnel | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Apple TV / tvOS + Android TVSidekick: No TV code yet | 🛣️ Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Roku (real hardware)Sidekick: Backlog: needs real hardware pool | 🛣️ Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Foldables (posture + rotate verbs) | ➖ Partial | ❌ No |
| Real physical devices | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Agent control | ||
| CLI with device verbs (tap, type, screenshot) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Agent skill file (skill install) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| MCP server | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| UI / accessibility tree reads | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Batch actions (ms precision) | ➖ Partial | ❌ No |
| Session video recording | ✅ Yes | ➖ Partial |
| App logs + network capture | ✅ Yes | ➖ Partial |
| Sharing | ||
| Live share links (no login needed)Sidekick: webrtc_url plumbed; no media server witnessed | 🛣️ Roadmap | ➖ Partial |
| Embeddable player (iframe / SDK)Sidekick: No iframe/SDK implemented | 🛣️ Roadmap | ❌ No |
| Live collaboration + human takeoverSidekick: Not implemented | 🛣️ Roadmap | ➖ Partial |
| Testing | ||
| Record once, replay everywhere | ✅ Yes | ➖ Partial |
| Visual regression per step | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| AI / plain-English testing | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| CI runner + GitHub checksSidekick: Actions + checks | 🛣️ Roadmap | ➖ Partial |
| Platform | ||
| Self-hostable (BYO Mac minis) | ➖ Partial | ❌ No |
| Source-available (FSL → Apache-2.0) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Public pricing + free tier, no card | ✅ Yes | ➖ Partial |
| Per-instance sandbox tokens + region pin | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Sidekick 13 Yes · 11 Roadmap · 3 Partial · 1 No · EAS Simulator 6 Yes · 0 Roadmap · 7 Partial · 15 No. ✅ Yes · 🛣️ Roadmap = public, lands in the open (self-host nightlies available) · ➖ Partial · ❌ No. Last updated 28 Sep 2026 — EAS Simulator claims checked at https://docs.expo.dev/preview/eas-simulator/introduction/. EAS Simulator pricing: Waitlist preview — no published price; sessions draw plan compute allowance.
Fast Refresh from any OS, Expo Go version matched to your SDK, build fingerprints resolving to installable artifacts. Inside the Expo world this integration is deeper than ours.
agent-device, Argent with MCP, Appium, plus a REST API and PR session links. A serious programmatic surface for a preview-stage product.
You're an Expo shop already inside the preview: EAS Simulator. Nothing beats the Metro-to-cloud path when your builds, Go runtime and dashboard already live on EAS.
You can't get preview access: Sidekick is available now with public pricing — no waitlist, no partner gate.
Your app isn't Expo / React Native: EAS Simulator installs EAS artifacts or Expo Go. Sidekick boots any Xcode/Gradle build.
You need TV, Roku or a public share link: EAS Simulator is phones-only with expo.dev-authenticated session pages. Sidekick does TV today and share links need no login.
You must self-host or audit the source: Sidekick is FSL source-available with $0 self-host. EAS Simulator runs on Expo's cloud only.
No. Expo's docs (checked 28 Sep 2026) call it a limited-access preview for select partners — not included with paid or free plans. Join the waitlist; Sidekick needs no invite.
There is no published simulator price — Expo says sessions use your plan's compute allowance. Sidekick publishes every plan (Free/Dev/Team/Scale) plus $0 self-hosting.
Yes — agent-device, Argent (MCP) and Appium, fronted by the eas-simulator skill. Sidekick offers the same agent shape (skill + MCP + UI-tree verbs) for any stack, not just Expo projects.
No TV/Roku, and session pages require expo.dev login. Sidekick runs tvOS/Android TV today with login-free share links.
Published Sep 2026 · EAS Simulator homepage and docs verified 28 Sep 2026 ·t Scores count roadmap as delivered because every roadmap item is public and source-available.