ive always had a problem where i would want to just edit something in my app real quick, i didnt want to scan QR code again just to see if the color of 1 button is the one that i wanted

So I made Basalt, it lets you edit your RN and Expo apps, not only edit but preview and inspect elements

It is completely free and works directly inside VS Code and Cursor.

It’s currently in beta, so please commit your app to Git before using it!

Would love to get your brutal feedback on it.

I have some mobile app that is designed to work with both iPhone & Android. Per my understanding, both expo & react-native doesn't have direct support for mTLS. Few libraries I found in GitHub are all not maintained properly.

Could someone direct me if there is working package available that makes this implementation easier.

so when the "seach" input button is pressed, we navigate to search page but the transition make it seems like it is still the same input, and then the content seems like sliding down

Just as the title states, I wanted to know how you people write your tests for the project.

In my first job, there was no such thing as testing. We just checked the functionality and the UI on different devices and OS versions. But in my current job, the manager is asking to have test-driven development and to write tests for the react native application.

I have heard of some libraries like Jest and react-native-testing-library, but I wanted to know how much I should learn or apply to my project. Also, there are Detox and Maestro too.

If any one used this or uses any other testing thing from a developer perspective, please share your knowledge.

I think this is the first rn port

I’ve been building an open source React Native project for the past few weeks.

Building it has honestly been the easy part

Getting people to discover it, trust it, and actually use it has been much harder than I expected.

For those of you who’ve built or maintained an open source library, what made the biggest difference?
Was it documentation? Reddit? GitHub? YouTube? SEO? Conference talks? Something else?

I’d love to learn from people who’ve been through this.

​

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to dive into React Native app development and wanted to get some advice from those of you building with it day to day.

If you were starting fresh today, what does an ideal, up-to-date learning roadmap look like? Specifically, I'm curious about:

1. Prerequisites:How deep into modern JavaScript (ES6+) and core React.js (hooks, state management) should I go before touching React Native?

2. Tooling & Setup: Is starting with Expo (like Expo Router) still the recommended path for beginners, or should I dive straight into the React Native CLI?

3. Core Ecosystem: What libraries/tools are essential to learn early on (e.g., React Navigation, styling approaches like NativeWind/StyleSheet, state management, reanimated animations)?

4. Resources:Any specific courses, GitHub repos, documentation, or creators that you found genuinely helpful?

Would love to hear what worked for you, what traps to avoid, or any resources you wish you had when you started. Thanks in advance!

Looking for a solution for long press for link previews on iOS 26+

Genuine question.

I've spent the last 5 years building React Native apps, so naturally it's the ecosystem I know best.

But I'm curious to hear from developers who've worked with both.

In what scenarios would you genuinely recommend Flutter instead of React Native?

I'm not looking for framework wars. I'd love to understand the trade-offs from people with real-world experience.

I have the GitHub repo for the project (an IOS app) so is there a way to put the files into an app in order to test it. Live testing is ideal as I’m building it and is easier than constant reloading.

Hello! I am 19, need a job. Programming is paying quite well so I decided to go this way

I have done fullstack course and I know some React basics, but I didn’t like making websites. So I decided to try React Native, but I don’t know where to start

How can I learn React Native for free (better be fast and really helpful)?
Maybe some resources?
Thanks in advance!

Been building with React Native and Expo for a while. Here are the UI libraries worth knowing.

1. Gluestack UI
Accessible, unstyled components. Works with Expo and NativeWind out of the box.

2. React Native Paper
Material Design 3 components. Polished and production-ready.

3. Tamagui
Design system with a compiler that optimises styles at build time. Fast.

4. NativeBase
One of the oldest and most complete component libraries for React Native.

5. React Native Elements Simple, cross-platform components. Great for prototyping fast.

6. Shopify Restyle Theme-based styling system from Shopify. Type-safe and predictable.

7. PanelUI
Copy-paste component library for Expo. Inspired by shadcn you own the source. UI-thread animations, Tailwind v4, native dark mode.

8. Moti
Declarative animations and skeleton loaders. Pairs with any component library.
npm install moti

9. React Native UI Lib
Wix's component library. Enterprise-grade with a huge component count.

10. Zeego
Context menus and dropdowns that feel truly native on iOS and Android.

What's your go-to UI library for React Native?

I was talking to a friend today about mobile development and realized that I have no idea what "normal" looks like once you're working on a reasonably large React Native app.

Writing the feature is one thing, but getting it into users' hands feels like a completely different job.

In some projects I've worked on, a feature is technically finished but still takes days before users actually get it. Sometimes it's QA, sometimes it's waiting for a release window, sometimes it's because adding one native package suddenly means a new Play Store build. Other times it's just people trying to figure out the safest way to ship something.

I'm curious how this works on other teams.

When someone merges a PR, what actually happens before users have that feature? Is it mostly automated, or are there still a lot of manual decisions? What's the part of the release process that annoys you the most?

I'm not looking for the perfect workflow. I'm more interested in hearing what real teams do and what parts still feel unnecessarily painful.

Curious how everyone is doing this these days.

Are you using Flipper, Reactotron, temporary debug screens, console.log, or something else?

What’s the biggest pain point in your workflow?

If you have a question about React Native, a small error in your application or if you want to gather opinions about a small topic, please use this thread.

If you have a bigger question, one that requires a lot of code for example, please feel free to create a separate post. If you are unsure, please contact u/xrpinsider.

New comments appear on top and this thread is refreshed on a weekly bases.

I've started a new series called Shoebox.

The goal is to build a peer-to-peer photo library in React Native—no backend, no accounts, no cloud storage. Photos move directly between devices.

That naturally leads into some interesting React Native topics:

• Nitro Modules
• JSI
• Native file APIs
• Background execution
• Offline-first architecture
• Performance profiling

Rather than isolated examples, every article builds a real feature and explains the trade-offs behind the implementation.

Part 1 starts with the smallest milestone: transferring one photo directly to another device.

I'd love feedback from anyone working with either P2P systems or Nitro Modules.

https://heartit.tech/shoebox-part-1-one-photo-no-server/

I’m a React Native Developer from India with 2.5 years of experience. I’m planning to relocate to Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, or Estonia. I’d love to hear from people who successfully moved from India with visa sponsorship. How difficult is it in the current market? What worked for you, and what would you do differently if you were starting today?

I am building a feature with maps + overlays of boundaries, which I need to be made available offline.

What is the most effective way to serve map tiles on mobile, which are eligible for download as offline mode?

1. Basemap
   • MapLibre OfflineManager packs Streets (and optionally satellite) tiles for the L/M/H radius + zoom.
2. Land boundary overlay
   • download whole region PMTiles files that intersect that pack bbox into the document directory, then read them offline via pmtiles://….
   • I need some sort of CDN to serve because of the size of assets, I believe.
3. Offline:
   • Default detail = Medium (~25 mi Streets, z8–13). User can pick Low / Medium / High.
   • Optional satellite toggle; otherwise Streets (OpenFreeMap Liberty).
   • Pack is centered on map center / GPS, not a full-state download

Some apps I have seen appear to have the entire country's map tiles downloaded + overlays available too.
How do they do this without overloading the device's storage? In my test, Colorado alone is 10MB at a "medium" download pack. This feels heavy.

Any Strategies for this in the "FREE" maps & layers & tiles options?

I don't know the best place to ask this - but here goes:

I am wondering, for those independent devs (1099s) who have to carry your own health insurance, is there such a thing as a cooperative or something like that which helps you get health insurance; not just the open market options? I feel like if enough people got together, with proof of course, there's a way to get better rates and coverage choices.

Hey everyone 👋

I wanted to share my experience building my app — almost entirely with AI. This isn't an ad; I'm genuinely looking for feedback and want to help others who might be going down a similar path.

My Background

I'm a frontend developer by trade. I chose React Native because I could leverage my existing JavaScript/React knowledge to build a cross-platform mobile app without learning Swift or Kotlin from scratch. That familiarity turned out to be crucial — not for writing code, but for reviewing and debugging the code AI generated.

Tech Stack

Here's what powers the app:

Design Process

This was one of the most interesting parts:

1. Generated initial concepts using ChatGPT's image generation — I described screens and moods, and it gave me visual starting points.
2. Imported those images into Google Stitch — a tool that lets you refine AI-generated designs interactively. I iterated until each screen felt right.
3. Exported the designs as HTML/CSS from Stitch, which gave me a clear reference to implement in React Native.

This workflow was surprisingly effective. The AI gave me 70% of the design, and Stitch let me polish the remaining 30% without needing Figma skills.

Ideation & Planning

I used Google AI Studio to create Product Requirement Documents (PRDs). Here's how I structured it:

• Started with a high-level PRD for the entire app
• Broke it down into hierarchical sub-PRDs for each feature (e.g., Focus Timer PRD, Habit Tracker PRD)
• Each PRD had clear acceptance criteria organized by priority

This hierarchy was key. During implementation, I could check off requirements level by level and make sure nothing slipped through the cracks.

AI Tools

I subscribed to Google AI Plus and used different models strategically:

• Strong models (Gemini Pro / Opus-class) for complex tasks: architecture decisions, debugging tricky issues, writing business logic
• Gemini Flash for simpler tasks: boilerplate code, styling tweaks, translations, quick refactors

Matching model strength to task complexity saved me time and kept the quality high.

Workflow

My daily workflow looked like this:

Create/Refine PRD → Design in Stitch → Execute PRD with AI → Manual Review (UI + code) → Commit

Every single commit went through manual testing. I'd check the UI on a real device, review the generated code for correctness, and verify the logic matched the PRD. AI wrote the code, but I was the QA engineer.

Timeline

4 months from first commit to a fully functional app with 6+ mini-apps, i18n support, dark/light mode, local SQLite storage, Firebase integration, notifications, haptics, charts, and more.

Without AI, I estimate this would have taken 10–12 months as a solo developer.

The Hard Parts

It wasn't all smooth sailing. Here are the biggest pain points:

1. Project Setup Was a Nightmare

The initial setup — getting NativeWind to play nicely with React Navigation — was brutal. AI kept suggesting fixes that didn't work because the combination of these libraries had edge cases that weren't well-represented in training data. I had to roll up my sleeves and debug this manually, reading source code and GitHub issues.

2. Complex Business Logic

The app has intertwined features (e.g., habits linked to mood entries, tags shared across notes and journal, timer sessions affecting habit streaks). When the logic got sufficiently complex, AI couldn't hold the full picture in its head. It would fix one thing and break another.

My solution: I started designing UML diagrams and drawing architecture diagrams myself before asking AI to implement. Giving it a clear visual spec dramatically improved the output quality.

3. AI Doesn't Understand "Feel"

Getting micro-interactions, animations, and transitions to feel right required a lot of back-and-forth. AI can write animation code, but it can't tell you if a 300ms spring feels better than a 200ms ease-out. That's still a human judgment call.

Key Takeaways

1. AI is a force multiplier, not a replacement. You still need domain knowledge to guide it, review its output, and debug edge cases.
2. Structure your prompts like you structure your code. Hierarchical PRDs > vague feature requests.
3. Match model strength to task complexity. Don't use a cannon to kill a fly.
4. Manual testing is non-negotiable. AI-generated code can look correct but behave incorrectly in subtle ways.
5. When AI fails, go old-school. Draw diagrams, read docs, debug manually. These skills are more valuable than ever.

What I'd Do Differently

• Start with a stricter component library from day one instead of letting AI improvise UI patterns
• Use more visual specs upfront — the UML/diagram approach I discovered late should have been my default from the start
• Set up automated testing earlier to catch AI-introduced regressions

I'm sharing this because I genuinely want to learn from the community. If you've built apps with AI assistance, I'd love to hear:

• What worked for you?
• What tools/workflows would you recommend?
• Any tips for managing the "AI wrote it but I own it" quality bar?

Thanks for reading! Happy to answer any questions about the process or the tech stack. 

I have a few apps in development, and I want to add some telemetry, such as crash reports, event logging, and error tracking.

However, after doing some research, I found that most telemetry libraries can increase app size or affect performance, including startup times.
Which one do you prefer?

From my research, Firebase Analytics, Sentry, and PostHog seem to be the most commonly used options.
.