React Native Relay is where our team writes down what actually shipped — not what was demoed at a conference. We cover the New Architecture rollout, the post-CodePush update story, native module debugging, and the gestures-and-animations stack that ties it all together. Every article is built around a real iOS and Android build, tested on devices we own, with version numbers pinned so the steps still work six months from now.
The New Architecture — Fabric, TurboModules, and the bridgeless mode — is the default in React Native 0.76 and later, and Expo SDK 52+ ships with it enabled. The migration is not a checkbox; it changes how native modules expose their interfaces, how view managers register, and how synchronous calls cross the JS/native boundary. We walk through codegen specs, interop layers for unmigrated libraries, and the practical fallback when a critical dependency hasn't shipped a Fabric component yet.
We also publish migration diaries for real apps: what broke on first launch, which Hermes flags mattered, and how startup time and TTI changed once bridgeless mode was on. If you maintain a brownfield app embedded inside an existing iOS or Android host, our integration guides cover the bits the official docs gloss over.
Microsoft retired App Center CodePush in March 2025, leaving thousands of apps looking for a new over-the-air update path. The strongest replacement is EAS Update, which works for both Expo and bare React Native projects, but the mental model is different — updates are tied to runtime versions, channels map to release tracks, and rollbacks happen by republishing a known-good bundle rather than flipping a switch.
We document the migration end-to-end: configuring expo-updates in a bare app, wiring channels to your CI, handling assets that live outside the JS bundle, and staying inside Apple's guidance on what JavaScript-only updates are allowed to change. We also benchmark self-hosted alternatives like custom Expo update servers for teams that need their bundles to stay on infrastructure they own.
Animations are where most React Native apps still feel off, and the tooling has changed substantially. Reanimated 4 moves to a CSS-style animations API on top of the worklet runtime, and pairs with Gesture Handler 2.x for input that doesn't drop frames during heavy JS work. For anything beyond standard transitions — shared element transitions, frame-by-frame effects, custom shaders — React Native Skia is now the default answer.
Our team writes the kind of articles we wish existed when we first picked these libraries up: worklet pitfalls, how layout animations interact with FlashList, when to drop into Skia instead of fighting the layout system, and how to profile a janky screen using Hermes sampling profiler and Xcode Instruments together.
Browse the latest articles below for hands-on walkthroughs, upgrade notes, and the production-tested patterns we use on the apps we ship. New posts land most weeks, and older guides get revisited whenever React Native, Expo, or the underlying native SDKs move.
A practical walkthrough of Reanimated 4's worklets split on Expo SDK 53. Install react-native-worklets, fix the babel plugin path, migrate runOnUI calls, and avoid the silent runtime crash.
A field-tested look at the four real CodePush alternatives for React Native in 2026: Expo Updates, App.fly.io, Microsoft Hot Update, and self-hosted, with the migration costs I actually paid.
I've migrated two production React Native apps to the New Architecture (Fabric + TurboModules + Codegen) in the last few months. The official upgrade guide is fine for fresh apps, but for anything older.
Add pan, pinch, swipe, and long-press gestures to your React Native app with Gesture Handler 2 and Expo SDK 55. Reanimated worklets and code samples included.
A complete 2026 guide to implementing dark mode in React Native with Expo — from useColorScheme and NativeWind v4 to persistent theme switching, expo-system-ui, status bar tinting, and avoiding the splash-screen color flash.
expo-av is gone in SDK 55 — expo-audio is the replacement. Learn the new hook-based API, recording, background playback, and how to migrate without breaking your app.
Migrate from expo-av to expo-video in 2026: useVideoPlayer hook, HLS streaming, picture-in-picture, background audio, subtitles, and the gotchas that trip up most migrations.
A complete 2026 tutorial on building production-grade bottom sheets in React Native with @gorhom/bottom-sheet and Reanimated. Snap points, modals, scrollable content, keyboard handling, accessibility, and a full filter-sheet example for Expo apps.
react-native-mmkv v4 is now a Nitro Module - synchronous, JSI-backed, and roughly 30x faster than AsyncStorage. This 2026 guide covers how MMKV works, real benchmark numbers, install steps for Expo and bare React Native, encryption, and a complete AsyncStorage migration path.
FlashList v2 is a ground-up rewrite of Shopify's high-performance list for React Native's New Architecture. No size estimates, JS-only, pixel-perfect scrolling, and new hooks like useRecyclingState. Complete Expo guide, v1 migration walkthrough, and head-to-head comparison vs FlatList in 2026.
Learn React Native Skia from scratch — GPU-accelerated drawing, Reanimated animations, custom SkSL shaders, image filters, and gesture-driven graphics with full Expo support.
Learn how to reduce your React Native Expo app size by 30–70% using Expo Atlas bundle analysis, Metro tree shaking, image optimization, Android App Bundles, and CI monitoring. Practical guide with working code examples.
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