Placeholder canvas
img

Latest Updates In React Nat­ive & Their Benefits

20 Apr 2021

React Nat­ive Com­munity is spread across the globe to con­nect developers and React Nat­ive users with each oth­er. Oth­er than the Glob­al Sum­mits, Con­fer­ences, and annu­al meets, the React­Flux chat, for­um-like groups, and com­pany-based com­munit­ies; enable com­mu­nic­a­tions about the plat­form & under­stand it in a bet­ter man­ner. Moreover, this wel­comes more quer­ies and con­cerns regard­ing the plat­form, fea­tures, and its com­pat­ib­il­ity with oth­er com­pon­ents & sup­port­ing lib­rar­ies avail­able on the web. 

Tech­no­logy keeps evolving & so is the React Nat­ive plat­form. That’s what makes it a choice of sev­er­al people, includ­ing both users and the developers. Devel­op­ment is a nev­er-end­ing cycle. With every update & need of the industry, the arrival of updates is a sure shot. Here, we will be talk­ing about the React Nat­ive updates that the com­munity came recently in 2020 and the first quarter of 2021

The latest releases of React nat­ive in the reverse chro­no­logy are: 

  • React Nat­ive 0.64- Sup­port of Her­mes on iOS 
  • React Nat­ive 0.63- Enabling Log­Box by default 
  • React Nat­ive 0.62- Sup­port of Flip­per by default 

React Nat­ive 0.64- Sup­port of Her­mes opt-in on iOS 

Earli­er, Her­mes sup­port was only avail­able for Android. Now, with the release of React Nat­ive 0.64 latest in March 2021, the sup­port extends to build­ing an iOS app as well. 

Her­mes is a JavaS­cript engine that is optim­ized to run React Nat­ive & impro­vise its per­form­ance. It helps by min­im­iz­ing the util­iz­a­tion of memory, redu­cing down­load size & redu­cing time to inter­act­ive’ (TTI). 

React Nat­ive 0.64 comes with: 

  • It is enabling Inline Requires as a metro con­fig­ur­a­tion to improve the star­tup time by delay­ing the exe­cu­tion. It per­forms Babel trans­form­a­tion on input mod­ules and imports it to inline. It was avail­able as an opt-in con­fig­ur­a­tion for few years, and with this update, the option is enabled by default. 
  • React 17 is com­ing with a new JSX trans­form to impro­vise it to be able to use JSX without importing. 
  • Her­mes with Proxy Sup­port to enable com­pat­ib­il­ity in migra­tion of pro­ject pack­ages to make JavaS­cript engine default for Android. 

To make your React Nat­ive app com­pat­ible with the latest ver­sion 0.64, here are cer­tain soft­ware depend­en­cies to be addressed: 

  • Man­dat­ory- Xcode 12 and Cocoa­Pods 1.10 
  • Node Sup­port ran­ging from Node 1012
  • Flip­per bumped to 0.75.1
  • Drop-in Android API levels ran­ging from 1620

React Nat­ive 0.63- Enabling Log­Box by default 

They were address­ing the issues of errors, warn­ing and log sys­tem with the redesigned ver­sion of Log­Box con­sid­er­ing primary goals of con­cise, format­ted, and action­able logs. The Red­box, yel­low box designed Log­Box is set by default to attain the per­form­ance goals with the fea­tures includ­ing log noti­fic­a­tions, code frames, com­pon­ent stacks, stack frame was col­lapsing, and syn­tax error format­ting. LogBox.ignoreLogs() and LogBox.ignoreAllLogs() are depre­ci­ated from the API of Log­Box. With the next update of React Nat­ive 0.64, these options will be totally removed, so keep that in mind when upgrad­ing next. 

Moreover, React Nat­ive 0.63 comes up with: 

  • Nat­ive col­ours that enable you to change the col­our of the plat­form with the Plat­form­Col­or option and that of a dif­fer­ent but­ton with Dynam­ic­ColorI­OS for giv­ing the free­dom to cus­tom­ize your plat­form as per your choice. These access­ib­il­ity set­tings are in addi­tion to the default themes set­tings of Light/Dark mode. 
  • Min­im­ized the com­pat­ib­il­ity checks by drop­ping iOS 9 ad Node.js 8 sup­port to optim­ize the per­form­ance and imple­ment the latest secur­ity fixes. 
  • Change of iOS Lauch­screen from xib to story­board to provide app’s launch screen com­pat­ible with all the iPhone screens. 
  • Enables trouble-free ren­der­ing of <View/> inside any <Text/> without any size restric­tions on these components. 

React Nat­ive 0.62- Sup­port of Flip­per by default 

From the early months of the 2020s, React Nat­ive ver­sion 0.62 enables the sup­port of Flip­per by default. It is a developer tool­set for debug­ging Android & iOS mobile apps, which is applic­able for both exist­ing & upcom­ing apps. It is an extens­ible plat­form; you can pull the plu­gins from the mar­ket­place & install cus­tom ones as per your project’s require­ments. The provided fea­tures of this tool enable metro actions, view­ing crash reports, an inspec­tion of nat­ive lay­out out­put, logs, data­bases, and preferences. 

With React nat­ive ver­sion 0.62, we moved from Apple TV to react-nat­ive-tvos to bring Apple TV in line with oth­er plat­forms, namely React Nat­ive Win­dows and React Nat­ive macOS. If you are an exist­ing user of Apple TV pro­jects, you need to upgrade your Apple TV pro­ject to use react-nat­ive-tvos 0.62. also read about Top React Tools & Libraries

In addi­tion to these fea­tures, ver­sion 0.62 is com­ing with: 

  • The dark mode gives you the free­dom to switch between the col­our scheme. You can access it from the Appear­ance module. 
  • The exten­sion of React Nat­ive Upgrade help­er tools from ver­sion 0.61 to Upgrade-Sup­port in this ver­sion. It a Git­Hub issue track­er that sub­mits your issues regard­ing your con­tin­ued pro­jects to receive assist­ance from the community. 
  • Access­ib­il­ity improve­ments like the addi­tion of access­ib­il­ity­Value, miss­ing props on Touch­ables, onSlid­ing­Com­plete access­ib­il­ity events, change of switch­ing element. 
  • Tex­tIn­put changes by remov­al of onTex­tIn­put to assure W3C compliance. 
  • Remov­al of Prop­Types from core com­pon­ents to min­im­ize the size of React Nat­ive core app size. 
  • Upgrade to React DevTools v4 for per­form­ance gains, nav­ig­a­tion options, and sup­port for React Hooks. 

Get benefited from React Nat­ive updates by climb­ing the lad­der of Mobile app devel­op­ment for your busi­ness on  React Nat­ive plat­form. To dis­cuss your pro­ject require­ments, write to us at sales@wedowebapps.com. also, read about Why is React Nat­ive the future of mobile app devel­op­ment?

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the latest updates in React Native and how do they benefit app development?

The latest updates in React Native include improvements to performance, such as reducing startup time and improving memory usage. There is also improved support for AndroidX and 64-bit devices. One of the major benefits of these updates for app development is that they allow for faster and more efficient development of cross-platform mobile apps. This means that developers can build apps for both iOS and Android at the same time using a single codebase, saving time and money in the process. Additionally, the improved performance and support for newer devices ensures a better user experience for app users.

2. What are the benefits of using the latest React Native libraries like React Navigation v6 and Animated 3.x?

Using the latest React Native libraries like React Navigation v6 and Animated 3.x can offer several benefits for developers. Firstly, React Navigation v6 provides a more customizable and flexible navigation experience, allowing developers to easily create complex and dynamic navigation stacks. Additionally, Animated 3.x provides improved performance and ease of use for creating animations and transitions within React Native applications. This can result in a smoother and more engaging user experience, ultimately leading to better user retention and increased revenue for businesses. Overall, staying up-to-date with the latest React Native libraries can help developers stay ahead of the curve in terms of application development and user experience.

3. How do new features like the WebView component and Flipper support app development in React Native?

The WebView component and Flipper are two exciting new features that enhance app development in React Native, particularly in terms of debugging and performance optimization. The WebView component offers a way to embed web content into your app, allowing for greater flexibility and customization. Flipper, on the other hand, is a debugging tool that offers real-time insight into your app's performance, allowing for quick identification and resolution of issues. Both of these features help to streamline the development process, making it easier and more efficient to build high-quality apps for your users.

4. What are the best practices for upgrading to the latest version of React Native?

Before upgrading React Native to the latest version, make a backup of your codebase, especially any changes you've made to the libraries. It's also a good idea to test the upgrade on a separate branch before implementing it in your main codebase. Additionally, make sure to read the release notes for the latest version carefully, as there may be breaking changes that require you to modify your code. Once you've upgraded, run unit tests and end-to-end tests to ensure everything still works as expected. Finally, consider upgrading any third-party libraries that may also require upgrading to work with the new version of React Native.

5. What are the potential challenges and limitations of adopting the latest updates in React Native development?

One potential challenge is that new updates may require changes to existing code, which could lead to bugs and compatibility issues. Additionally, training developers on the latest updates may require resources and time. Another limitation could be that not all third-party libraries and tools may be immediately compatible with the latest React Native updates, which may slow down the development process. It's important to carefully consider the benefits and drawbacks of adopting new updates and to have a solid plan in place for implementing them effectively.

6. How do updates to React Native shape the future of mobile app development?

Updates to React Native are critical to shaping the future of mobile app development. These updates introduce new features, functionality, and performance improvements that make it easier for developers to create high-quality mobile apps. For example, recent updates have introduced support for new platforms like Windows and macOS, improved the performance of animations and navigation, and introduced new tools for debugging and testing. These new features and improvements will continue to drive innovation in mobile app development, making it easier and more accessible for developers to create the best mobile apps possible.

Share this post :