[wmcparla]

Summary

First step of #145 (iPhone Duo), and unfinished: a draft to show where it stands, not a request to merge.

Built with Xcode 27.1 the app dies at launch on iOS 27 ("UIScene life cycle is required for apps built with this SDK"), and Expo ships a scene delegate only from SDK 57.0.23. This adds a config plugin that adopts scenes: it declares the scene manifest and moves the window and React Native's start from the app delegate into a scene delegate. It is off unless IOS_SCENE_LIFECYCLE=1 is set at prebuild, so the project generated for today's builds is the same as before.

Changes

• plugins/ios-scene-lifecycle.js (new): the scene manifest in Info.plist and a SceneDelegate appended to AppDelegate.swift; links and user activities go on through the app delegate. It stops the prebuild if the Expo template's AppDelegate no longer has the lines it moves.
• app.config.js: loads the plugin when IOS_SCENE_LIFECYCLE=1.
• docs/ios-release.md: the iPhone Duo under "What does not work on iOS yet".

Related issues

Part of #145

Type of change

• Bug fix (non-breaking change that fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change that adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)
• Documentation update
• Refactor / code quality improvement
• Chore / dependency update / CI change

Checklist

• I have read the Contributing Guide
• My code follows the project's code style and conventions
• npx tsc --noEmit, npx vitest run and npm run i18n:check are clean (not run locally; left to CI on this PR)
• I have tested my changes locally (on GitHub's runner only, see below)
• I have added or updated documentation if needed
• I have updated translations (no new strings)
• I have included screenshots or a screen recording for UI changes

How it was tested

On GitHub's xcode-27 runner (Xcode 27.1), Release builds for the simulator, started on the iPhone Duo simulator (iOS 27.1) with no account signed in:

Build	Result
Xcode 26.6, main	starts; reduced size on the outer display
Xcode 27.1, main	dies at launch: UIScene life cycle is required
Xcode 27.1, IOS_SCENE_LIFECYCLE=1	starts; fills the outer display

Not tested, and why this stays a draft:

• Anything past the sign-in screen.
• Links that start the app (mailto, webmail pairing, the sign-in redirect), push, the widget and the notification extension under scenes.
• An Xcode 26 build with the plugin on, an iPad, and a real device.
• The Duo's inner display: the simulator starts closed and its command-line tools cannot open it.

No unit test covers the plugin.

Screenshots

The Duo's outer display. Left: main built with Xcode 26.6. Right: this branch built with Xcode 27.1 and IOS_SCENE_LIFECYCLE=1.

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