Building a TikTok-Style App with React Native & Expo: Interview w Skylight Social CTO, Reed Harmeyer

In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Danny Thompson sits down with Reed Harmeyer, CTO of Skylight Social, and Brandon Mathis, React Native engineer at This Dot Labs. They unpack the technical and strategic decisions behind Skylight’s meteoric growth: why they built on the AT Protocol, how they tackled video discovery and scaling challenges, and how a fast-tracked in-app video editor gave them an edge.

Keypoints from this episode:

• Skylight Social was built on the AT Protocol, allowing users to retain followers across platforms like Blue Sky and enabling creators to publish interoperable content in a decentralized social network.

• The team used React Native with Expo to achieve rapid development and cross-platform performance—launching a high-quality, TikTok-like video experience in just days.

• An in-app video editor was prioritized to reduce friction for creators, built using a native SDK wrapped with Expo Modules, enabling features like clip rearranging, overlays, voiceovers, and AI-generated captions.

• User behavior data—specifically watch time—drives content recommendations, not just likes or follows, helping Skylight offer a personalized experience while navigating scaling challenges from hypergrowth.

Follow Reed Harmeyer on Social Media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/reedharmeyer.bsky.social

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reed-harmeyer/