Aug 28 2026: Issue 19

Metro 0.87: 2x faster source maps, half the memory, stable TS/ESM config support

Swift Package Manager (experimental): build iOS with just Xcode. No Ruby, no Bundler, no pod install. Not production-ready yet

AGP 9 support: with recommended opt-out flags for built-in Kotlin and the new DSL

Raised minimums: Node 22+, Kotlin 2.0+, compileSdk 37 (minCompileSdk 34)

React Native 0.87.1 is the first patch for the 0.87 line, bringing a newer Hermes build alongside fixes for Swift Package Manager, CocoaPods, Animated typings, and other iOS build tooling. SwiftPM also now fails with a clearer error when an autolinking plugin host is incorrectly referenced as a dependency.

Reanimated 4.6.0 adds official React Native 0.87 support and pairs with Worklets 0.12.x. It also brings CSS animation and transition callbacks to iOS and Android, introduces contrastColor(), and continues the work on platform-driven CSS transitions.

Reanimated 4.5.4 is an important maintenance update for apps staying on the 4.5 branch. It fixes crashes around stale events and exiting layout animations, Android sticky-header jumps, an iOS crash, and restores compatibility with React Native's LayoutAnimation.configureNext().

React Native Worklets 0.12.1 is a small runtime-focused patch that moves UI-thread detection into UIScheduler. It pairs with Reanimated 4.6 and continues tightening the scheduling infrastructure behind worklet execution.

VisionCamera 5.2.3 adds onUIRotationChanged(...) for reacting to UI orientation changes and upgrades to Nitro 0.37 for improved View support. It also updates the underlying camera libraries and includes additional camera and orientation fixes.

Nitro Modules 0.37.0 continues expanding Nitro's support for high-performance native Views by moving Props and ComponentDescriptor into the C++ core. The release also evolves its prop system, with ReactProp replacing the older CachedProp API while retaining compatibility.

React Native Skia 2.11.1 is a rendering-focused maintenance release with fixes around masks, fonts, compositing, paths, and snapshots. Among the fixes are correct boolean handling for Font.setSubpixel() / setEmbolden() and improved srcIn mask compositing.

React Native Keyboard Controller 1.22.4 improves compatibility across both old and new React Native setups. It restores older Turbo package support, fixes KeyboardExtender recycling on iOS, and makes its codegen setup more consistent.

React Native Safe Area Context 5.9.1 fixes an Old Architecture Android integration issue by correctly registering the Paper Java source set. It’s a small patch, but relevant for apps that still need to support pre-New-Architecture React Native setups.

React Native Gesture Handler 3.2.1 fixes PressableWithTouchable so press handlers are correctly forwarded through its testOnly_* props. The release also updates its Pressable prop definitions.

Metro 0.84.5 removes the external image-size dependency in favor of vendored image parsers. The change also resolves CVE alerts associated with the previous dependency, making this a worthwhile security-focused bundler update.

React Navigation Native 7.3.18 fixes a web issue where navigation state could reset if history.go() took longer than the expected timeout. It’s especially relevant for apps sharing navigation logic between React Native and web.

React Navigation Stack 7.10.23 improves stack animation lifecycle handling and avoids unnecessarily restarting animations. The changes should make navigation transitions more predictable, particularly during rapid state changes.

React Navigation Core 7.21.13 fixes the return type of getRootState() and corrects fallback-index handling while parsing paths. These are small fixes, but useful for apps with more complex linking and navigation state logic.

React Navigation Bottom Tabs 7.18.17 fixes pop-to-top behavior by reading the latest navigation state before deciding what action to perform. This prevents stale state from producing incorrect behavior when interacting with an already-selected tab.

React Navigation Native Stack 7.18.9 gets the same state-handling improvement for pop-to-top behavior, ensuring navigation decisions use the latest state rather than a stale snapshot.

React Navigation Drawer 7.13.9 also updates its pop-to-top behavior to read the latest state. It’s a small consistency fix across React Navigation's navigator implementations.

React Navigation 8.0 alpha continues moving toward the next major release, with recent updates across Native, Stack, Drawer, Core, and Native Stack. The latest alphas fix root-level linking, unnecessary stack animation restarts, navigation context cleanup, and stale-state issues around pop-to-top behavior.

Inside SWSH's automated mobile release pipeline with Expo SWSH shares how it runs around 300 builds a month with self-hosted EAS runners, automated E2E testing, EAS Submit, OTA updates, and production monitoring.

Haptics in React Native: easier than you think A practical look at building richer mobile interactions with haptics, including hands-on examples using Software Mansion's Pulsar library.

Introducing Observe: Performance monitoring for Expo apps Expo's new production monitoring stack tracks cold starts, time to interactive, screen performance, OTA download times, and regressions across real devices.

Automating React Native Evals With Airflow Callstack explains how it evaluates AI coding models on real React Native tasks, separating solver and judge models while keeping every result reproducible and reviewable.

Gesture Handler's Touchable: The Button We Wish We Had Sooner Gesture Handler 3's new Touchable replaces nine overlapping button APIs with one native-driven component that even beats React Native's Pressable in their benchmarks.

Building a native-first social platform with Expo A production Expo app pushes deep into native iOS with Siri App Intents, widgets, Spotlight, on-device Apple Intelligence, and config plugins while keeping a single Expo architecture.

Building a 3D AI assistant using React Native and GPT-Realtime Margelo builds a 60fps conversational 3D character with Filament, native WebSockets, streamed GPT-Realtime audio, lip sync, and calendar tool calling.

The Memory Hermes Can't See: Stale Shadow Nodes in React Native A fascinating Fabric deep dive showing how stale Shadow Nodes can retain tens of megabytes outside the JavaScript heap and why Hermes' GC struggles to see that memory.

Simon Grimm - React Native Tools That Actually Save Me Time

VisionCamera v5 With Marc Rousavy | React Universe On Air

Beto - Claude Opus 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol: Same App, Same Prompt

Simon Grimm - My Mobile Game Made $5,000… Then Everything Changed

Staff React Native Engineer (SME) at Canva (Australia, Remote/Hybrid) Join Canva’s Mobile Platform group and help shape the React Native foundations used across products serving hundreds of millions of users.

Staff React Native Engineer, Mobile at Affirm (US, Remote, $204k–$290k) Work on Affirm’s Mobile App Infrastructure team, owning shared foundations including networking, observability, experimentation, CI/CD, releases, and developer tooling.

Senior Fullstack React Native Engineer at Affirm (US, Remote, $173k–$255k) Join the Acquisition & Onboarding team to build and shape high-impact consumer experiences across mobile and backend systems.

Senior React Native Developer at Underdog (US, Remote, $150k–$220k) Build mobile experiences for one of the fastest-growing sports companies in the US, spanning fantasy sports, betting, and prediction markets.

Senior React Native Engineer at US Mobile (Montreal, Hybrid, $120k–$160k) Help build the mobile experience behind US Mobile’s wireless platform, which combines multiple major networks and services like Starlink in one product.

Senior React Native Engineer at OANDA (Krakow, Hybrid) Join a small mobile engineering team building trading experiences for one of the longest-running global online trading platforms.

Senior React Native Developer at Hargreaves Lansdown (Bristol, Hybrid) Build core trading journeys for the UK investment platform serving more than two million clients and managing around £150B in assets.

Lead React Native Engineer at Patrianna (Poland, Remote) Lead a React Native team and set the mobile architecture for a fast-growing social gaming platform serving users globally.

React Native Mobile Software Engineer at Fashion Nova (US, Remote) Design and build high-performance iOS and Android experiences for one of the largest online fashion brands.

React Native Engineer at Interviews Chat (US, Remote) Own the mobile experience for an AI interview platform whose copilot listens to live interviews and provides real-time suggestions.

React Native Mobile Developer at Haventree Bank (Toronto, Hybrid) Build mobile banking products for a Canadian federally regulated bank focused on customers underserved by traditional financial institutions.

React Native Mobile Engineer at wehorse (Germany, Remote) Work on a sports-tech mobile product combining video learning, community, activity tracking, and AI-powered training experiences.

React Native App Developer at Pets at Home (UK, Hybrid) Help evolve the mobile app used by customers of the UK’s largest pet care business, with a focus on accessible and reliable mobile experiences.

React & React Native Developer at Fourth (Sofia, Hybrid) Join an AI-first product engineering team building mobile and web products for the global hospitality industry.

React / React Native Developer at Youtap (Bangkok) Build fintech experiences across digital banking, payments, wallets, and point-of-sale products used by financial institutions around the world.