React Native Weekly
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· #46

React Native Weekly #46 React Native 0.88, Expo SDK 58, React Native Skia v3 and more

React Native 0.88 Released#

React Native 0.88 has been officially released. The event dispatch model has transitioned to a Web-standard EventTarget API base, alongside support for variable fonts and iOS SceneDelegate. It is a non-breaking major release that also introduces ArrayBuffer support for Turbo Modules on Android. https://twitter.com/reactnative/status/2111081620505784531

Expo SDK 58 Officially Released#

Expo SDK 58 is officially out, introducing support for iOS 27 and the foldable iPhone Duo, while cutting Android clean build times in half. It also includes App Intents integration with Siri and native support for variable fonts. https://twitter.com/expo/status/2111093147103310022

Batch of PRs to React Native Core Cuts Yoga Layout Calculations by 86%#

Benchmark results from over 20 pull requests to React Native core show an 86% reduction in Yoga layout calculations and a 24% drop in JS thread CPU usage. Scroll hitching on iOS has also been reduced by 40%. https://twitter.com/tomekzaw_/status/2112627064025358658

Test Execution Speed Boost in agent-device v0.21.29#

Mobile E2E testing tool agent-device v0.21.29 has been released, making instant screenshots 18x faster and Android taps and input verification 2x faster. Execution time across the full 42-test suite was also cut by 18%. https://twitter.com/thymikee/status/2112586730087882828

Baseline Profile for react-android Improves Startup Time by up to 13%#

A pull request bundling Baseline Profiles directly into react-android has been submitted. By avoiding interpreted execution on cold starts via AOT compilation, Time to Full Display (TTFD) is expected to improve by up to 13%. https://twitter.com/shubhporwal24/status/2112437912470225341

Nitro Decouples from React Native into nitro-core#

nitro-core has been announced, decoupling the Nitro native module framework from React Native-specific dependencies. Other cross-platform frameworks supporting JSI, such as Lynx and NativeScript, will now be able to share Nitro’s bindings and TypeScript definitions. https://twitter.com/mrousavy/status/2111448600878215398

react-native-edge-to-edge Deprecated#

The deprecation of react-native-edge-to-edge has been announced, directing developers to React Native’s built-in core functionality starting from 0.86. The recommended approach is setting edgeToEdgeEnabled=true in android/gradle.properties. https://twitter.com/zoontek/status/2112173666511536583

Benchmarking Infinite Loop Animations on Android’s New Architecture#

Profiling results on Android under the React Native New Architecture show that standard Animated (with useNativeDriver enabled) is more efficient than Reanimated 4 for decorative infinite loop animations like pulses and spinners. The difference is attributed to per-frame processing overhead in Reanimated. https://twitter.com/patzatorski/status/2112456526807916782

react-native-actions-sheet v11 Adds UI Thread Support#

react-native-actions-sheet v11 has been released, driving gestures and animations directly on the UI thread. It brings flick-to-snap and dismiss gestures, multiple nested scroll views inside sheets, and gesture-blocking components designed for Maps and WebViews. https://twitter.com/ammarahm_ed/status/2111810620521906341

TeamReach Deploys 12 OTA Fixes in 36 Hours After Migrating to Expo#

A case study was published detailing how TeamReach, an app with roughly 800,000 DAUs, completed an overnight migration to an Expo rebuild. Without resubmitting to app stores, the team pushed 12 OTA updates in the first 36 hours post-launch to quickly iron out initial bugs. https://twitter.com/expo/status/2110370987871227977

React Native Skia v3 Adds Video Rendering Support#

Version 3 of React Native Skia has introduced video support, allowing video frames to be handled directly inside the rendering pipeline. https://twitter.com/wcandillon/status/2112134527477072123

Custom Tracks in DevTools Available Starting in React Native 0.86#

Starting with React Native 0.86, native libraries can render custom tracks inside the React Native DevTools Performance panel. By wrapping C++ scopes with PerformanceTracerSection, custom traces are visualized right alongside standard commit and layout events. https://twitter.com/jpudysz/status/2113160981924753411

One More Thing#

An 86% cut in Yoga layout calculations is an eye-popping number! It’s super reassuring to see massive performance wins like this landing purely in the core layer without having to pull in third-party libraries.