React Native Weekly #47 Expo Maps Stable Release, React Native Performance Gains, Nitro Modules on Node.js and more

Native Cook launches with over 750 mobile UI blocks#

Native Cook, a library offering over 750 mobile UI blocks compatible with React Native, Swift, and Kotlin, has been released. You can preview component behavior via video and copy prompts directly into AI coding agents for easy integration. https://twitter.com/ngocdevv/status/2117645490057892004

Expo Maps library reaches stable release#

The Expo team announced that the Expo Maps library has reached stable release, delivering cross-platform native map capabilities. https://twitter.com/expo/status/2117407396897419314

react-native-skia-layout brings Yoga Flexbox to Skia#

react-native-skia-layout has been released, integrating Yoga’s Flexbox engine with Skia canvas rendering. Layouts such as wrapping items—which previously required manual coordinate calculations—can now be arranged automatically using Flexbox rules. https://twitter.com/ReactNativeRwd/status/2117189234272391595

Margelo’s Mobile Dev Plugin is now available on the Codex store#

Margelo’s Mobile Dev Plugin, designed to assist mobile app development, is now available on the Codex store. https://twitter.com/margelo_com/status/2117318069097746784

Unistyles 3.8.0 released with zero-Babel transform configuration support#

Unistyles 3.8.0 has been released, introducing support for a Zero Babel transforms setup that completely eliminates code transformations via Babel plugins. https://twitter.com/jpudysz/status/2117249399114117544

Argent e2e: A multi-platform E2E testing tool introduced#

Argent e2e has been announced, allowing developers to record test workflows into YAML format simply by interacting with their app once. Generated tests can run agentless in CI environments and support a wide variety of platforms, including iOS, Android, Chromium, Electron, and Fire TV. https://twitter.com/argent_ai_/status/2117243326810177707

Official README for E2E testing tool Argent adds Japanese support#

Japanese and Chinese README translations have been added to the official GitHub repository for the cross-platform testing tool Argent. https://twitter.com/argent_ai_/status/2116180515569225974

Live editing with NativeScript and AppKit on Expo Desktop#

A technique for live-editing macOS-native AppKit components directly in the browser via NativeScript inside an Expo Desktop environment was showcased. You can try it out with the npx @nativescript/cloudflare-cli live --expo command. https://twitter.com/wwwalkerrun/status/2117081989069377958

Heads-up: Shader compilation blocking the UI thread on first Skia Canvas mount#

An issue was highlighted where shader compilation blocks the UI thread and animations the first time a Skia Canvas mounts after app launch. Since it only happens once in development environments, it is easy to miss, and developers are advised to watch out for it. https://twitter.com/KennethBrattli/status/2116989798770503872

react-native-screens v5 Form Sheet adds background effects support#

Form sheets in react-native-screens v5 now support background effects. https://twitter.com/kmichalikk/status/2116160694349598747

Simlock: An open-source simulator management tool for AI agents#

Simlock, an open-source tool that turns your local machine into an automated simulator environment, has been released. It automatically assigns independent iOS/Android simulators or physical devices to multiple AI agents, enabling them to work in parallel. https://twitter.com/ChmalSzymon/status/2116118360270495865

React Native 0.88.1 fixes underline display bug for Japanese input#

In React Native 0.88.1, an issue where underlines for uncommitted text strings were not displayed during text input has been resolved. https://twitter.com/mitsuki_dev/status/2115874047582257272

Case study on adopting TesterArmy E2E tests in a React Native app#

An article by kazutoyo from Teller Novel was published, sharing practical insights on introducing AI-powered TesterArmy E2E testing into a React Native app. https://twitter.com/kara_mage/status/2115289947158749530

ABEMA Dev Conf to feature talk on TV app development with React Native#

A presentation has been announced for the ABEMA Developer Conference on December 8, covering initiatives around developing TV apps using web technologies and React Native. https://twitter.com/3846masa/status/2115649722774122942

Talk at FlutterKaigi 2026 by an experienced RN developer trying Flutter#

At FlutterKaigi 2026, a session titled “Surprises after 30 days of Flutter from a React Native developer’s perspective” was presented. https://twitter.com/3sai_to/status/2115634680682963424

React Native delivers massive performance gains for text updates and touch processing#

On Android, removing accessibility delegate rebuilding boosted text updates by 21–28%, while on iOS, sharing the measurement cache improved text update speeds by 22–27%. Android touch events were also refactored to construct payloads natively, making them 31% faster. https://twitter.com/G_Moskaliuk/status/2115404694444982465

Expo UI 58.0.23 supports row recycling in List.ForEach#

@expo/[email protected] has been released, adding support for row recycling in the List.ForEach component. https://twitter.com/expo_devlog/status/2115044743486771501

Expo introduces a CLI for AI agents to detect dev build requirements#

Expo has released a dedicated CLI that allows AI agents to detect native configuration changes and definitively determine whether a dev build is required without any guessing. https://twitter.com/expo/status/2115210335758245959

Nitro Modules v1 now runs on Node.js#

Nitro Modules v1 now supports Node.js environments. This allows developers to build and verify native modules for React Native as simple Node.js projects. https://twitter.com/birch_js/status/2114726433734156536

Legend Spark: A desktop framework for React Native & Expo#

Legend Spark has been announced for building desktop apps using React Native and Expo. Based on Expo Desktop, it comes out of the box with essential desktop modules such as window management and menu bar icons. https://twitter.com/jmeistrich/status/2114659099392786444 https://twitter.com/jmeistrich/status/2114659102769156140

One-step rollback feature for Expo OTA updates#

The Expo team highlighted a rollback feature that lets you revert to the previous good state in just one step if an issue arises with an OTA-deployed update. https://twitter.com/expo/status/2114352156522463555

One More Thing#

The optimization metrics—over 20% faster text updates and 31% faster Android touch events—were seriously impressive! Seeing such tangible gains in the framework’s core layer is always exciting as a developer.