react-native-maps not working with standard instructions

I started a new react native project with expos script: npx create-expo-app@latest
I installed react-native-maps with npm: npm install react-native-maps
I checked that my google maps api has android sdk enabled.
I specified my API in two ways as mentioned in setup and troubleshooting sections of this page

First in android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:

   <meta-data
     android:name="com.google.android.geo.API_KEY"
     android:value="Your Google maps API Key Here"/>

Second in google_maps_api.xml in android/app/src/main/res/values:

<resources>
  <string name="google_maps_key" templateMergeStrategy="preserve" translatable="false">(api key here)</string>
</resources>

I also installed google play sevices in my android emulator.

I still get a beige/gray screen with MapView:

export default function HomeScreen() {
  return (
    <View style={{ width: 200, height: 200 }}>
      <MapView
        style={{ width: "100%", height: "100%" }}
        initialRegion={{
          latitude: 37.78825,
          longitude: -122.4324,
          latitudeDelta: 0.0922,
          longitudeDelta: 0.0421,
        }}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

GMaps blank map view

What might be the problem here?