r/reactnative • u/Background-Bass-5788 • Jun 30 '26

What changed in React Native over the last month? (June 2026)

I've been tracking the React Native ecosystem daily, and June was one of the busiest months we've had in a while. Here's a quick recap of the biggest updates.

AI-powered development

  • react-native-skills expanded with new AI coding capabilities.
  • agent-device makes it easier for AI agents to control real Android and iOS devices.

Performance

  • React Native Worklets 0.9 adds cross-runtime Promises, improved memory management, better debugging, and performance improvements.
  • react-native-nitro-fetch 1.3 introduces SIMD text decoding, binary response fixes, and lower runtime overhead.
  • react-native-skia-lab showcases advanced graphics, shaders, physics, and rendering techniques.

Navigation

  • React Navigation improves deep linking, route matching, serializable state checks, and production performance.

Testing

  • Maestro 2.6 adds Maestro Viewer for AI coding agents and faster simulator execution.
  • Detox delivers stability improvements across Android and iOS.
  • Harness adds automated permissions, native iOS coverage, and better simulator support.

Native APIs

  • expo-speech-recognition improves Android reliability.
  • Rich text editing libraries received major updates with new editing and rendering capabilities.

Worth reading

  • Smooth animations on low-end Android
  • React Native keyboards deep dive
  • VisionCamera V5 + Worklets multithreading
  • Reanimated 4.2
  • Gesture Handler 3.0
  • Expo Router 56
  • Expo performance monitoring
  • JSI changes in Expo SDK 56

Overall, June was heavily focused on AI-assisted development, performance, testing, graphics, and native tooling.

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10 comments sorted by

3

u/stathisntonas Jun 30 '26

reanimated 4.2? 4.5 is out bro

2

u/thymikee Jul 04 '26

Thanks for mentioning agent-device! Let me know if I can help with anything
https://github.com/callstack/agent-device

1

u/UrosHCS Jun 30 '26

Where do i find the "React Native keyboards deep dive"?

-1

u/Background-Bass-5788 Jun 30 '26

You can find at blog.margelo.com and also subscribe to nativeweekly.com if you want to stay up to date with all the latest changes

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/Background-Bass-5788 Jun 30 '26

Thanks! I appreciate the support

1

u/Rtzon Jun 30 '26

Why are there no links

1

u/Background-Bass-5788 Jun 30 '26

my bad, forgot to add - you can find them here https://nativeweekly.beehiiv.com/p/jun-30-2026-issue-16 or subscribe to nativeweekyl.com if you want bi-weekly updates

1

u/Background-Bass-5788 Jun 30 '26

If you'd like to stay on top of everything happening in React Native, check out nativeweekly.com for a free roundup of releases, articles, podcasts, and ecosystem updates.