Build a Realtime Chat App with React Native and Firebase

Chat is one of those features that sounds hard until you pair Firestore's realtime listeners with Gifted Chat's ready-made messaging UI. Messages sync instantly between devices, auth works with email and password, and you never build a message bubble by hand. I put the whole app together from a blank Expo project in the video.

One detail most tutorials skip: I show you how to keep your Firebase keys out of your codebase with environment variables.

What's inside

• Enable email and password auth in the Firebase console
• Hide Firebase keys with a .env file and app.config.js
• Set up Firestore and understand its test-mode security rules
• Navigate between login, signup, home, and chat screens
• Sync messages instantly across devices with Firestore listeners
• Get a native-feeling messaging UI from Gifted Chat

Resources

CourseReact Native course

Go deeper in Backend Basics: 55 minutes on connecting your app to real backends the right way.