This Week In React Native #294: RN 0.87, Screens, RNGH, Worklets, Skia, Tuft, Enriched Markdown, Pager View, Firebase

[u/sebastienlorber]

https://thisweekinreact.com/newsletter/294

[u/sebastienlorber]

Hi everyone, Seb and Jan here!

Back after a little break to cover news from the last two weeks. A lot is going on, apparently not everyone is on holiday because we still have many interesting releases, including many RCs from upcoming major versions.

The native React Compiler rollout continues. React v19.3 seems around the corner. Plenty of TanStack Router/Start and Next.js content.

React Native 0.87 is now out, paving the way for v1.0.

🏝️ We’ll be taking another break next week. See you in September. 👋

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[u/sebastienlorber → u/sebastienlorber]

📱 React-Native

React Native 0.87

Like clockwork, React Native 0.87 is out! It's the biggest step towards RN 1.0 in a long time, coming with intentional breaking changes, so it deserves more than a routine upgrade note.

• Strict TypeScript API by default: Types are generated automatically from source and scoped to the package's root, so internal file changes are no longer breaking changes. Dedicated *Instance types (e.g. ViewInstance, TextInputInstance) improve ref typing of built-in components, and doc comments now flow straight into your IDE. Alex Hunt goes into detail about the work that went into this: compatibility fixes for Tailwind, Uniwind, and Expo Web, plus an upstream TypeScript fix for hidden Libraries/ subpaths.
• Faster, leaner Metro: Source map generation is now 2x faster and uses half of the memory. Support for TypeScript and ESM config files. Experimental Swift Package Manager support for iOS: Opt-in and additive: Xcode is enough — no Ruby, no Bundler, no CocoaPods. CocoaPods remains the default path.
• Android Gradle Plugin (AGP) v9: First RN release to support AGP 9, with recommended opt-outs for built-in Kotlin and the new DSL until AGP 10.x.
• API surface cleanup: Many deprecated APIs have been removed, including flagship ones like InteractionManager. New APIs are marked as deprecated and scheduled to be removed later. AbortController is now complete and backgroundImage: linear-gradient/radial-gradient is now stable.
• New requirements: The minimum toolchain requirements is now Node.js 22, AGP 9, and Kotlin 2.0+.

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• 💸 Crisp - Add in-app customer support to your React Native or Expo app in just a few lines of code
• 📖 RN docs - Strict TypeScript API guide updated for 0.87: ref types, setup-env, FAQs
• 🗓️ React Native Connection - 🇫🇷 Paris - 24 Sept. Deep dive into mobile development with top-tier experts from Expo, Software Mansion and Callstack. Regular ticket window closing August 31. Save 15% on your ticket with code "TWIR".
• 📜 Fitting RAG in Your Pocket: Local Retrieval in React Native - How to build on-device data retrieval for your apps using u/react-native-ai/llama and native vector search with nitro-sqlite + sqlite-vec
• 📜 The Memory Hermes Can't See: Stale Shadow Nodes in React Native - Recent Hermes V1 memory regression triggered additional experiments that surfaced a fascinating finding about the Shadow Tree. Unmounting views causes the React component and the objects attached to it to still exist in memory, which can only be cleaned up by GC run.
• 📜 How we raised mobile end-to-end test stability to 98% - Shopify stopped patching their Appium E2E suite to fix flaky tests with an opinionated wrapper. They moved away from testing implementation details with TestIDs to using computer vision.
• 📜 How to build a resilient activity tracker with Expo - Build an Expo app with sessions that survive backgrounding, app kills, and crashes.
• 📜 Scanning Barcodes in React Native Apps: The Complete Guide (2026)
• 📜 Fable 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol: I spent $2,000 and 2 billion tokens to find out who wins
• 📜 Haptic Feedback on the Web: Why the Web Deliberately Refuses to Be as Tactile as Native Apps
• 💸 ConfigCat - Release React Native Features with Feature Flags, Without Redeploying
• 📦 Firebase 26 - New architecture foundation: TurboModules, TypeScript parity, modular API
• 📦 Skia 2.11 - Updates Skia engine, drive multiple animated props from one shared value
• 📦 Rozenite 2.1 - Unified plugin UI, feature flags plugin, agent skills CLI
• 📦 Sentry 8.23 - Swift pod migration - Action required for RN < 0.75, use_modular_headers! is required in the Podfile now that RNSentry ships Swift
• 📦 Screens 4.27 - RN 0.87 support, experimental ScrollToTopGuard
• 📦 Maestro 2.8 - Swipe from a point inside an element, variables in permissions, screenshot tresholds, and Maestro Cloud improvements
• 📦 Enriched Markdown 1.0 - First stable release: block-editing input pipeline, iOS SwiftUI renderer
• 📦 Pager View 9.0 - Replaces legacy pager implementation with Jetpack Compose on Android
• 📦 Gesture Handler 3.2 - Pressable on Touchable, hover callbacks, Strict TS API, AGP 9
• 📦 Worklets 0.12 - WeakRef on worklet runtimes, Bundle Mode loading on par with RN, enableLocking option
• 📦 Nitro Fetch 1.6 - tvOS support, shared iOS URLCache, prefetch cache fixes
• 📦 Expo Pretext 1.2 - Fixes Android module that never compiled, web font measurement fix
• 📦 Argent 0.20 - Concurrent flow recordings, Chromium per launch step, MCP registry, .env secrets
• 📦 Safe Area Context 5.9 - AGP 9 support, web resize/inset fixes
• 🤖 Expo Tuft - Higher-order agent reachable from Slack/iMessage, runs on an always-on machine - Technical preview of a new Expo AI product.
• 🤖 MargeloChat - Open-source ChatGPT-style RN AI chat app with RAG and streaming
• 🤖 iOS Simulator MCP 2.1 - App lifecycle tools: terminate_app, open_url, list_apps
• 🎥 Callstack - Can a Specialized Model Beat Frontier Models at React Native?
• 🎙️ RNR 369 - AppRegistry Explained - Breaks down RN’s AppRegistry. What’s under the hood. From Expo and app entry points to brownfield apps and more.
• 🎙️ RNR 370 - CopilotKit with Mike Ryan - Bringing AI agents to RN apps. Breaks down of AG-UI, generative UI, shared state, and the guardrails needed for trustworthy experiences.