I come to React Native development without previous experience in iOS development. I want to build release. .ipa file - ideally from the command line but the official docume
You have to set Scheme to Release.
From docs you have two ways.
To do this, go to Product → Scheme → Edit Scheme (cmd + <), make sure you're in the Run tab from the side, and set the Build Configuration dropdown to Release.
or
You can also use the React Native CLI to perform this operation using the option --configuration with the value Release (e.g. react-native run-ios --configuration Release).
Then you can generate your archive as usual.
https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/running-on-device.html#building-your-app-for-production