From Idea to Play Store: Shipping SanatanApp in 4 Weeks

I started with a personal frustration: 5 apps on my phone for Hindu devotion — Chalisa, Gita, Aarti, Ramayan, Mahabharat. Each averaging 50MB, each with interstitial ads during prayers, each solving one slice of the problem.

Before writing any code, I did three things:

1. Installed every competitor — Sri Mandir (85MB, feature-heavy), Dharmayana (Panchang-focused), various Chalisa apps (ad-heavy). Mapped their strengths and gaps.

1. Defined the constraint — One app, under 20MB, offline text, streamed audio, 5 languages, zero ads during reading/listening. No backend, no accounts.

1. Designed 5 screens — Home, Library, Verse Reader, Audio Player, Settings. Used Figma with a dark theme and saffron accent (#E8732A) for Devanagari text — because that's how these verses feel: warm against dark.

The design spec took 3 days. In hindsight, this was the most valuable time spent — every engineering decision flowed from these constraints.

Day 1-2: Expo scaffold + navigation

npx create-expo-app@latest SanatanApp --template blank-typescript
npx expo install expo-av expo-sqlite expo-font @react-navigation/native @react-navigation/bottom-tabs

Bottom tabs with 4 screens. React Navigation over Expo Router — I knew the API better and didn't want to learn new patterns while shipping fast.

Day 3-4: Content pipeline

Sourced Hanuman Chalisa text from public domain, structured as JSON with sanskrit/hindi/english fields per verse. Same for Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 and Om Jai Jagdish Aarti. Total: 3 content files, ~50KB.

The architecture decision that saved the most time: content as data, not code. Each scripture is a JSON file with a predictable schema. The Verse Reader component doesn't know or care whether it's rendering Chalisa or Gita — it just iterates over a verses array.

Day 5: i18n setup

react-i18next for UI strings (80 keys), inline translations for verse content. This split was critical — trying to run 3,500 Gita verse translations through i18next would have been a disaster.

Audio streaming — expo-av with global AudioContext. Background playback enabled. MiniPlayer component pinned above tab bar. Progress saved to SQLite every 5 seconds.

Offline storage — expo-sqlite for favorites, reading progress, and sadhana streaks. Three tables, ~30 lines of SQL. No ORM, no abstraction layer — raw SQL is fine for 3 tables.

Daily sadhana tracker — Checklist component with streak counter. Stores completed tasks as JSON in SQLite keyed by date. Streak calculation: count consecutive dates backward from today.

AdMob integration — Banner ads on Home and Library screens only. The hard rule: zero ads during verse reading or audio playback. This is a devotional app — interrupting prayer with ads is a UX crime. I'd rather make less money.

The polish phase was mostly typography. Getting Devanagari text to render beautifully at the right size, with the right line height, in saffron (#E8732A) against a dark background (#0D0D0D) — this took more iterations than any feature.

EAS Build simplified the entire build pipeline:

# Generate APK for testing
eas build --platform android --profile preview

# Generate AAB for Play Store
eas build --platform android --profile production

The production build took ~8 minutes on EAS servers. Output: a signed AAB file ready for Play Store upload.

Play Store submission checklist:

1. Developer account — $25 one-time fee, approved in 48 hours
2. App listing — Title, description, screenshots (4 required), feature graphic (1024×500)
3. Content rating — IARC questionnaire, rated "Everyone"
4. Privacy policy — Required even for apps with no data collection. Hosted on GitHub Pages.
5. AAB upload — Upload the signed bundle, select countries, set pricing (free)
6. Review — Google review took 3 days for the first submission

Gotchas I hit: - Play Store requires minimum 4 screenshots — I initially had 2 - The feature graphic (banner image) has strict dimensions — 1024×500, no transparency - Privacy policy URL must be HTTPS and publicly accessible - First review is slower (~3 days). Updates review in ~24 hours after that.

| Decision | Choice | Why | |----------|--------|-----| | Framework | React Native + Expo | Managed workflow, EAS build, no native config | | Content storage | Bundled JSON | Offline-first, zero latency, trivially simple | | Audio | expo-av streaming | No native modules needed, background playback | | Local DB | expo-sqlite | Bookmarks, progress, streaks — 3 tables | | i18n | react-i18next + inline | UI strings via i18n, content translations inline | | Navigation | React Navigation | Known API, bottom tabs + stack | | Ads | AdMob banners | Home/Library only, never during devotion | | Backend | None | $0/month, privacy-first, no auth needed | | Audio hosting | Archive.org | Free, public domain, reliable |

Total monthly cost: $0. The only expense was the $25 Google Play developer fee.

What this project demonstrates: - Full mobile app from idea to Play Store - Offline-first architecture with bundled content - Multi-language support (5 languages) with practical i18n strategy - Audio streaming with background playback and progress persistence - SQLite for local state management - Play Store submission and review process

The app is live: [SanatanApp on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sanatandevotional.app).