2026-03-18 · #24
React Native Weekly #24 Reanimated 4.3.0-rc.0, Expo SDK 55 ExpoUI, react-native-ease and more
Reanimated 4.3.0-rc.0 and Worklets 0.8.0-rc.0 Released#
Release candidates for React Native Reanimated 4.3.0-rc.0 and Worklets 0.8.0-rc.0 are now available.
This release includes a fix for layout animation crashes on Android.
We just released Reanimated 4.3.0-rc.0 and Worklets 0.8.0-rc.0. They come with a lot of features and optimizations but we want to make sure we didn't ship any breaking changes. Please let us know if upgrading to these RC versions causes any issues. List of what to watch for
react-native-ease: An Animation Library with Zero JS Overhead#
react-native-ease has been released, leveraging iOS’s Core Animation and Android’s Animator directly.
Its standout feature is that animations continue to run smoothly even when the UI thread is under heavy load.
Compared to Reanimated — which is powerful but can get complex when specifying animations — react-native-ease looks like a great fit for simpler animation use cases.
Finally got to build this. Create animations that use Core Animation on iOS and Animator on Android with zero JS overhead. Same animation. But one keeps running smoothly even when the UI thread is lagging. Introducing react-native-ease 🍃
React Native Streamdown: A Streaming-Ready Markdown Library#
Software Mansion has announced “React Native Streamdown.”
By processing Markdown in the background using Worklets’ Bundle Mode, it eliminates jank during streaming display in AI apps with zero impact on the JS thread.
This looks like a great solution for AI chat apps and similar scenarios where Markdown is streamed in from an LLM and rendered in real time.
Introducing React Native Streamdown – our new streaming-ready Markdown library 🚀 We’ve built it on top of RN Enriched Markdown, remend, and Worklets Bundle Mode to fix the "streaming jank" in AI apps. 🔹 Zero UI lag – background processing via Worklets. JS thread stays 100%
React Navigation Docs Now Return Markdown for LLMs#
React Navigation’s documentation can now be returned in Markdown format by sending a request with the Accept: text/markdown header.
A new page summarizing the differences between the Dynamic API and Static API has also been added.
React Navigation docs now return markdown instead of HTML for any request with a Accept: text/markdown header 📝 Anything else we can improve to make using the documentation easier with LLMs? reactnavigation.org/docs/llms
We now have a page that lists all differences between dynamic and static APIs. Previously, it wasn't worth migrating if you already have types and deep links with the Dynamic API. But with LLMs, this could now be an option to simplify code and get better DX, and we want to make
Version-by-Version Download Charts Added to React Native Directory#
React Native Directory’s package version pages now include a chart showing download counts by top version over the past week.
You can now visually track how quickly a new version is being adopted.
📊 New on React Native Directory: package version pages now show a Top Versions download chart. Quickly see which versions were installed most in the last week and how adoption of new releases is looking. 🌐 Start exploring: reactnative.directory
Expo SDK 55: ExpoUI’s Jetpack Compose Moves to Beta#
With the recent release of Expo SDK 55, ExpoUI’s Jetpack Compose support has graduated from alpha to beta.
Just as the SwiftUI version was updated to align its naming with native SwiftUI APIs, the Jetpack Compose version now follows the same naming conventions as Material3 components.
This means it conforms to SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose conventions, so you can refer directly to the official documentation — making things clearer for both humans and AI alike.
🤖 New in Expo SDK 55: Jetpack Compose in React Native. Not a JS approximation. The real thing. Material Design 3 components, Compose modifiers, native rendering. SwiftUI on iOS. Compose on Android. One codebase. Get all the details in @kudochien's blog post below ↓
Expo UI in SDK 55: Jetpack Compose now available for React Native appsExpo UI in SDK 55 brings Jetpack Compose to beta and aligns SwiftUI APIs with Apple's conventions, so your native framework knowledge transfers directly.Expo Blog
VoltRN CLI: A Developer CLI Tool for React Native / Expo#
“VoltRN CLI” has been released for React Native and Expo projects.
It comes packed with features including project scaffolding, a screen generator, and a project doctor.
Finally it is out!!! 🚀 Just released VoltRN CLI A developer focused CLI for React Native/Expo. ⚡ Fast project scaffolding 🧩 Feature adders 🏗 Screen generators 🔧 Project doctor 📦 Opinionated templates Start a React Native/Expo project in seconds. GitHub
react-native-reanimated-dnd v2.0 Released#
react-native-reanimated-dnd, a drag-and-drop library for React Native, has reached v2.0.
Built on React Native Reanimated, it offers high performance and a solid set of features.
I made a React Native Drag and Drop library that finally works! [v2.0 release] 10 months ago v1 became the top post of the month on r/reactnative. Since then: hundreds of stars, tons of community feedback, and all of it shaped this release. Demos below (1/5)
One More Thing#
The ExpoUI article mentioned that they’re working on a shared component API using @expo/ui/swift-ui and @expo/ui/jetpack-compose.
Right now, the SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose APIs are separate, so you need to implement things for each platform individually — but having a shared component that wraps both could make adoption a lot easier.
The recently announced Expo Agent touched on building with SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose, and it feels like the broader goal is to leverage ExpoUI to help developers ship higher-quality apps.
Also, an ExpoUI Skill has been added to Expo Skills — definitely worth checking out!