Ask HN: How can I deploy a private iOS app?

Thinking of writing an app for me and some friends. I do not want this to go on the app store at all, and I've never written an iOS app before. How can I do this for the lowest price possible? I'm going to use react native to make cross platform easier if that makes a difference. I also don't own an iOS device right now so I'm really blind to the whole process atm.