2026-04-14 · #27
React Native Weekly #27 React Native 0.85, Reanimated :active/:hover, Nitro Player 1.0.0 and more
React Native 0.85 and Shared Animation Backend#
React Native 0.85 has been released, featuring a preview of the Shared Animation Backend. It serves as the internal engine powering both Animated and Reanimated, and also includes TextInput selection data, TLS support for Metro, and a separated Jest preset.
React Native 0.85 is now available! This release includes the New Animation Backend, selection data in TextInput onChange events, Metro TLS support, and moves the Jest preset to a dedicated package. reactnative.dev/blog/2026/04/0…
React Native DevTools now supports multiple CDP connections simultaneously, allowing DevTools, VS Code, and AI agents to all connect at the same time.
On macOS, native tab support has also been added, further improving the development experience.
React Native DevTools improvements - Multiple CDP connections: Connect DevTools, VS Code, and AI agents simultaneously - Native tabs on macOS: System-level tab handling for power users
Reanimated Is Getting Support for :active and :hover Transitions#
Reanimated is planning to add support for CSS transitions on pseudo-selectors such as :active, :hover, and :focus.
This should make it much easier to build interaction expressions in React Native that feel close to the web experience.
Reanimated will support CSS transitions for :𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎, :𝚑𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 and :𝚏𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜 pseudo-selectors 🤯 twitter.com/wisniewskij514/sta…
Expo Will Now Auto-generate AGENTS.md#
In the next version of Expo, create-expo-app will automatically generate an AGENTS.md file containing official Agent skills.
A symbolic link to CLAUDE.md will also be created, making it easier to guide AI agents toward the latest APIs and domain knowledge.
In the next version of expo create-expo-app will auto-generate an AGENTS.md file with official Expo Agent skills this guides agents towards the latest APIs and domain-specific knowledge also creates a symlink to the non-standard `CLAUDE.md` disable with --no-agents-md
agent-device v0.12.2 Can Now Detect Visual Diffs#
“agent-device,” which lets AI agents operate iOS and Android devices, can now detect visual differences in what’s displayed on screen. This makes it easier for AI agents to spot rendering discrepancies and fix them.
New in agent-device: image diffs are now visual + machine-readable. Agents can tell: → where the change happened → text movement vs visual change → which part of the screen changed From “close enough” to “Wi-Fi moved 17px”. This cuts design→code iterations by 40–60%.
Rozenite 1.7.0 Released#
Rozenite 1.7.0, a tool for extending React Native DevTools, has been released.
This update adds support for the SQLite plugin and filesystem plugin with third-party libraries beyond Expo. Session stability and speed for agents have also been improved.
Rozenite v1.7.0 is here 🚀 This release brings a couple of nice things: - SQLite plugin - support for custom filesystem packages via adapters - Rozenite for Agents speed-up Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Nitro Player 1.0.0 — A Music Playback Library — Is Now Available#
A music playback library built with Nitro Modules has been released.
It’s packed with features including an equalizer, offline downloads, and support for in-car apps like Android Auto and CarPlay.
I finally released 1.0.0 of Nitro Player. The most stable Release ever. Its full internal rewrite which both fast and safe. Also asked cursor to create a cool docs (while i was watching Project Hail Mary) nitroplayer.riteshshukla.in
Nitro PlayerA powerful audio player library for React Native with playlist management, playback controls, and support for Android Auto and CarPlay.nitroplayer.riteshshukla.in
Expo Weekly Downloads Temporarily Exceed 3.8 Million#
Since the rise of AI agents, Expo downloads appear to have grown 8x.
The best way to make an app is almost 8x more popular since agents. twitter.com/icanvardar/status/…
There was already a noticeable increase from 2024 to 2025, but the growth rate since entering 2026 is on another level — pretty remarkable.
React Nativeの伸び率エグいな。 2026年になって更に週間DL数が伸びている
Sonner Native Is Getting Stacked Toast Support Soon#
Sonner Native, a toast notification library for React Native, is planning to add a feature for displaying multiple toasts in a stacked layout.
The stacking is expressed through depth and scale, expanding on tap, and it leverages synchronous getBoundingClientRect() inside useLayoutEffect from the New Architecture.
Sonner Native is soon getting a major upgrade — stacking toasts. Multiple toasts will stack with depth, scale down to show layers behind, and expand on tap. All powered by React Native's New Architecture: synchronous getBoundingClientRect() in useLayoutEffect.
Demo of react-native-nitro-fetch Integrated into Bluesky#
A demo has been published showing react-native-nitro-fetch — a library focused on fast fetching — integrated into the open-source Bluesky app.
Compared to regular fetch, it reportedly shaved about 0.5 seconds off startup time.
Integration apparently took only about 3 minutes, so it’s worth trying out if you’re working on a performance-sensitive app.
We plugged our 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚝-𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎-𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚛𝚘-𝚏𝚎𝚝𝚌𝚑 library into @bluesky's app and configured prefetching - it took us a whole 3 minutes and made the app load 500000000000000000000 zeptoseconds faster! 🤯 Try Nitro Fetch today! 📲
React Native & Flutter Meetup#
A joint event between the React Native and Flutter communities in Japan is being held on April 24th.
There haven’t been cross-platform joint events like this before, so it’s something to look forward to!
火花バチバチ(?)なイベントが立ったので、再来週来てくれよな！！！ React Native & Flutter Meetup react-native-meetup.connpass.c… #ReactNativeJP
React Native & Flutter Meetup (2026/04/24 19:00〜)# React Native & Flutter Meetup @Scoville ## イベントの概要 / Overview React Native および Flutter に関する知見を共有するLT会を開催します！ 発表は日本語で行われます。 * * * ## LT登壇者を募集します！ / Calling for LP Speakers! * 内容はReact Native/Flutterに関することならなんでもOKです * LT時間は約10分の予定 * ご都合のよい時刻（LTの順番）も調整可能です * * * * Any topic related ...connpass
One More Thing#
The Shared Animation Backend introduced in React Native 0.85 looks great — it means you can do high-performance layout animations in React Native on its own! https://twitter.com/reactnative/status/2041925682981396684
On April 13th, I gave a talk at a Findy event sharing my work with React Native. Hope it’s useful for your own React Native development!
少人数でもモバイルとWebを妥協なく開発する React Nativeの実践戦略 - Slidev"## React Native Lunch Talk 〜いま選ばれる理由とアプリの現在地〜\n"findy-talk.kazutoyo.jp
And if anything here caught your eye or you have questions, feel free to reach out via DM on X anytime!