What is the easiest way to add authentication to an Expo app?

Use a managed auth provider like Supabase, Clerk, or Firebase Authentication. They handle secure password storage, sessions, and OAuth, so you only wire up the UI and a session listener. Supabase is a popular choice because it also gives you a database and works well with Expo.

Can I use OAuth (Google, Apple, GitHub) in Expo?

Yes. Expo supports OAuth through expo-auth-session and through provider SDKs. With Supabase or Clerk you configure the provider in their dashboard and trigger the flow with a redirect back to your app's URL scheme.

How do I protect screens so only logged-in users can see them?

Load the session in a root layout, then redirect based on auth state — send signed-out users to the sign-in screen and signed-in users to the app. With Expo Router you do this in a layout using the Redirect component or by conditionally rendering route groups.

How to Add Authentication to an Expo React Native App

Adding authentication to an Expo React Native app comes down to three decisions: which provider to use, how to store the session securely, and how to gate your screens. For most apps the fastest reliable path is a managed provider (Supabase, Clerk, or Firebase) plus Expo Router for route protection — you avoid building password hashing and token handling yourself.

Pick an auth approach

You have four realistic options:

Supabase Auth — email/password, magic links, and OAuth, bundled with a Postgres database. Great when you also need data storage.
Clerk — polished drop-in auth UI and user management, fastest to a working sign-in screen.
Firebase Authentication — mature, generous free tier, good if you're already in the Google ecosystem.
Roll your own — full control, but you own security, sessions, and OAuth. Only worth it for unusual requirements.

For a typical app, start with a managed provider. This guide uses Supabase because it's a common Expo pairing.

Install the dependencies

npx expo install @supabase/supabase-js @react-native-async-storage/async-storage expo-secure-store

Create the Supabase client

Persist the session so users stay logged in between app launches:

import "react-native-url-polyfill/auto"
import AsyncStorage from "@react-native-async-storage/async-storage"
import { createClient } from "@supabase/supabase-js"

export const supabase = createClient(
  process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL,
  process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY,
  {
    auth: {
      storage: AsyncStorage,
      autoRefreshToken: true,
      persistSession: true,
      detectSessionInUrl: false,
    },
  }
)

Sign users in

Email and password is the simplest starting point:

const { error } = await supabase.auth.signInWithPassword({
  email,
  password,
})

To sign up instead, call supabase.auth.signUp with the same arguments.

Track the session

Listen for auth changes once, near the root of your app, and share the session through context or a store:

supabase.auth.getSession().then(({ data }) => setSession(data.session))

const { data: sub } = supabase.auth.onAuthStateChange((_event, session) => {
  setSession(session)
})

Protect your routes with Expo Router

Gate screens in a layout. Signed-out users get redirected to the sign-in screen; everyone else sees the app:

import { Redirect, Stack } from "expo-router"

export default function AppLayout() {
  const { session, loading } = useAuth()

  if (loading) return null
  if (!session) return <Redirect href="/sign-in" />

  return <Stack />
}

Put your authenticated screens under this layout and your sign-in/sign-up screens in a separate group so the redirect can't loop.

Add OAuth (optional)

Enable a provider in the Supabase dashboard, then trigger the flow with a redirect back to your app's scheme. Make sure your scheme is set in app.json — you can generate a valid one with our Expo App Config Generator.

Skip the boilerplate

If you'd rather not wire all of this up by hand, our Expo auth template ships sign-in, sign-up, session handling, protected routes, and OAuth already connected to Supabase — TypeScript-first and styled with NativeWind.