Skip to content

React Native (Primary Enterprise Mobile Platform)

Reference state: mid-2026. Fast-moving version/EOL claims (RN 0.82, Expo SDK 55) should be reverified at implementation time.

Adopt the New Architecture now — the legacy Bridge is end-of-life

The New Architecture replaces the asynchronous, JSON-serializing Bridge with four pillars:

  • JSI — synchronous C++ JS↔native interface (no serialization round-trip).
  • TurboModules — lazily loaded native modules.
  • Fabric — the new concurrent renderer.
  • Codegen — generates type-safe native interfaces from JS specs.

Timeline: - RN 0.76 (Oct 23, 2024) made the New Architecture the default; shipped React Native DevTools (zero-config, replaces Flipper), a ~15× faster Metro resolver and ~4× faster warm builds, and New-Architecture-only style props boxShadow and filter. Meta coordinated compatibility "with over 850 library maintainers." - RN 0.80 (June 12, 2025) brought React 19.1, froze the legacy architecture, and deprecated JavaScriptCore in favor of Hermes (Hermes is required). - RN 0.82 drops the legacy architecture entirely. - Expo SDK 53+ defaults to the New Architecture; SDK 55 (RN 0.83) cannot disable it.

Migration reality: audit every third-party native module for New Architecture compatibility. Run npx expo-doctor to validate against the React Native Directory. Reported gains (faster cold start, lower memory) are directional vendor/community figures, not controlled Meta benchmarks.

Project structure & state management

  • Structure: feature-first / domain-driven modularization.
  • Split server state from client state:
  • Server state → TanStack Query / React Query v5 (caching, background refetch, useInfiniteQuery for pagination).
  • Client state → Zustand (lightweight global state, selective subscriptions); Redux Toolkit + RTK Query for large apps needing middleware/devtools/time-travel and offline-first optimistic-write pipelines; Jotai for atomic/scoped state.
  • Type safety: TypeScript strict mode + Zod for runtime schema validation at API boundaries.
  • React Navigation v7 (stack, native-stack, bottom-tabs, drawer) with typed routes, deep-linking config, and conditional navigators keyed on auth state for auth flows.
  • Expo Router (file-based; v5 on SDK 53, v7 on SDK 55) — higher-level alternative with guarded route groups and prefetching.

Performance

  • Replace FlatList with Shopify's FlashList for large lists.
  • useMemo / useCallback / React.memo to control re-renders.
  • Reanimated 3 (UI-thread animations) + Gesture Handler 2 for 60fps interactions.

Testing

  • Unit/component (~70% of pyramid): Jest + React Native Testing Library.
  • E2E: Maestro (YAML, black-box via the accessibility layer, no native build changes, sub-1% flakiness) is now generally preferred over Detox (gray-box, synchronizes with the JS thread, sub-2% flakiness, deeper RN integration but heavy native setup). Jupiter's fintech case study found Detox succeeded "only 2 out of 10 times on physical devices" and switched to Maestro, slashing MPIN entry from 18s to under 1s via runScript.

Expo / EAS

  • EAS Build (cloud iOS/Android builds), EAS Submit (store submission), EAS Update (OTA; Hermes-bytecode diffing makes updates substantially smaller in SDK 55).
  • Continuous Native Generation (prebuild) gives managed-to-bare flexibility.

Azure integration (auth)

  • react-native-msal wraps MSAL for iOS/Android; supports Entra ID and Azure AD B2C / External ID.
  • iOS config: CFBundleURLSchemes = msauth.$(PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER); LSApplicationQueriesSchemes = msauthv2, msauthv3. MSAL uses ASWebAuthenticationSession.
  • Android config: BrowserTabActivity intent filter.
  • Use OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code + PKCE via the system browser (AppAuth pattern) — implicit flow is prohibited; refresh tokens must rotate. Validate RS256 JWTs server-side against the tenant JWKS endpoint. (See mobile-security for full auth/MFA detail.)

Crash / observability

  • Sentry React Native SDK (App Start, slow/frozen frames, Hermes profiling, session replay) is the leading App Center crash replacement; Firebase Crashlytics and Bugsnag are alternatives.
  • Sentry propagates W3C Trace Context for end-to-end traces to the backend.
  • OpenTelemetry → Azure Monitor Application Insights via @azure/monitor-opentelemetry-exporter. Caveat: OTel auto-instrumentation does NOT work on Hermes/JSC — create spans manually and correlate to backend traces via W3C Trace Context.

Re-platform off App Center (retired March 31, 2025)

Visual Studio App Center was retired except for Analytics & Diagnostics (extended runway, ~June 2026 → end of March 2027 — confirm the live date). Replace its pillars:

App Center function Replacement
CI/CD builds Azure DevOps Pipelines or GitHub Actions + Fastlane (certs in Azure Key Vault)
OTA CodePush (standalone) or EAS Update with mandatory-update enforcement
Crash/perf Sentry (or Crashlytics)
Analytics Azure Monitor

Cross-cutting

a11y via accessibilityLabel/accessibilityRole/screen-reader props; Universal Links (iOS) / App Links (Android) via AASA / Digital Asset Links; Turborepo or Nx for monorepos; i18n via i18next + react-native-localize. Note: Microsoft does not officially support the Intune App SDK on React Native (see mobile-azure-deployment).

Plugin: mobile-development · View SKILL.md on GitHub