React Native Expo (0.76-0.82+ / SDK 52+)

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Quick Start (15 Minutes)

1. Create New Expo Project (RN 0.76+)

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# Create new Expo app with React Native 0.76+
npx create-expo-app@latest my-app

cd my-app

# Install latest dependencies
npx expo install react-native@latest expo@latest

• Expo SDK 52+ uses React Native 0.76+ with New Architecture enabled by default
• New Architecture is mandatory in React Native 0.82+ (cannot be disabled)
• Hermes is the only supported JavaScript engine (JSC removed from Expo Go)

2. Verify New Architecture is Enabled

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# Check if New Architecture is enabled (should be true by default)
npx expo config --type introspect | grep newArchEnabled

• React Native 0.82+ requires New Architecture - legacy architecture completely removed
• If migrating from 0.75 or earlier, upgrade to 0.76-0.81 first to use the interop layer
• Never try to disable New Architecture in 0.82+ (build will fail)

3. Start Development Server

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# Start Expo dev server
npx expo start

# Press 'i' for iOS simulator
# Press 'a' for Android emulator
# Press 'j' to open React Native DevTools (NOT Chrome debugger!)

• Old Chrome debugger removed in 0.79 - use React Native DevTools instead
• Metro terminal no longer streams console.log() - use DevTools Console
• Keyboard shortcuts 'a'/'i' work in CLI, not Metro terminal

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Critical Breaking Changes (Dec 2024+)

🔴 New Architecture Mandatory (0.82+)

• Expo SDK 54 (React Native 0.81): Last release supporting Legacy Architecture
• Expo SDK 55 (React Native 0.83): New Architecture mandatory, Legacy completely removed

• 0.76-0.81 / SDK 52-54: New Architecture default, legacy frozen (no new features)
• 0.82+ / SDK 55+: Legacy Architecture completely removed from codebase

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# This will FAIL in 0.82+ / SDK 55+:
# gradle.properties (Android)
newArchEnabled=false  # ❌ Ignored, build fails

# iOS
RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=0  # ❌ Ignored, build fails

1. Upgrade to 0.76-0.81 / SDK 54 first (if on 0.75 or earlier)
2. Test with New Architecture enabled
3. Fix incompatible dependencies (Redux, i18n, CodePush, Reanimated v3 → v4)
4. Then upgrade to 0.82+ / SDK 55+

🔴 propTypes Removed (React 19 / RN 0.78+)

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import PropTypes from 'prop-types';

function MyComponent({ name, age }) {
  return <Text>{name} is {age}</Text>;
}

MyComponent.propTypes = {  // ❌ Silently ignored in React 19
  name: PropTypes.string.isRequired,
  age: PropTypes.number
};
`**After (Use TypeScript):**`
type MyComponentProps = {
  name: string;
  age?: number;
};

function MyComponent({ name, age }: MyComponentProps) {
  return <Text>{name} is {age}</Text>;
}
`**Migration:**`
# Use React 19 codemod to remove propTypes
npx @codemod/react-19 upgrade

🔴 forwardRef Deprecated (React 19)

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import { forwardRef } from 'react';

const MyInput = forwardRef((props, ref) => {  // ❌ Deprecated
  return <TextInput ref={ref} {...props} />;
});
`**After (React 19):**`
function MyInput({ ref, ...props }) {  // ✅ ref is a regular prop
  return <TextInput ref={ref} {...props} />;
}

🔴 Swift iOS Template Default (0.77+)

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ios/MyApp/
├── main.m              # ❌ Removed
├── AppDelegate.h       # ❌ Removed
└── AppDelegate.mm      # ❌ Removed
`**New Structure:**`
// ios/MyApp/AppDelegate.swift ✅
import UIKit
import React

@main
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {
  func application(_ application: UIApplication, ...) -> Bool {
    // App initialization
    return true
  }
}
`**Migration (0.76 → 0.77):** When upgrading existing projects, you **MUST** add this line:`
// Add to AppDelegate.swift during migration
import React
import ReactCoreModules

RCTAppDependencyProvider.sharedInstance()  // ⚠️ CRITICAL: Must add this!

🔴 Metro Log Forwarding Removed (0.77+)

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# console.log() appeared in Metro terminal
$ npx expo start
> LOG  Hello from app!  # ✅ Appeared here
`**After (0.77+):**`
# console.log() does NOT appear in Metro terminal
$ npx expo start
# (no logs shown)  # ❌ Removed

# Workaround (temporary, will be removed):
$ npx expo start --client-logs  # Shows logs, deprecated

🔴 Chrome Debugger Removed (0.79+)

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# ❌ This no longer works:
# Open Dev Menu → "Debug" → Chrome DevTools opens
`**New Method (0.76+):**`
# Press 'j' in CLI or Dev Menu → "Open React Native DevTools"
# ✅ Uses Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP)
# ✅ Reliable breakpoints, watch values, stack inspection
# ✅ JS Console (replaces Metro logs)

• Third-party extensions not yet supported (Redux DevTools, etc.)
• Network inspector coming in 0.83 (late 2025)

🔴 JSC Engine Moved to Community (0.79+)

• Both Hermes and JSC bundled in React Native
• JSC available in Expo Go

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# JSC removed from React Native core
# If you still need JSC (rare):
npm install @react-native-community/javascriptcore

• SDK 52+: JSC completely removed from Expo Go
• Hermes only supported

🔴 Deep Imports Deprecated (0.80+)

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// ❌ Deep imports deprecated
import Button from 'react-native/Libraries/Components/Button';
import Platform from 'react-native/Libraries/Utilities/Platform';
`**After:**`
// ✅ Import only from 'react-native'
import { Button, Platform } from 'react-native';

🔴 Android Edge-to-Edge Mandatory (SDK 54+)

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// app.json or app.config.js
{
  "expo": {
    "android": {
      // This setting is now IGNORED - edge-to-edge always enabled
      "edgeToEdgeEnabled": false  // ❌ No effect in SDK 54+
    }
  }
}

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import { SafeAreaView } from 'react-native-safe-area-context';

function App() {
  return (
    <SafeAreaView style={{ flex: 1 }}>
      {/* Content respects system bars */}
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
}

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New Features (Post-Dec 2024)

CSS Properties (0.77+ New Architecture Only)

1. display: contents

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<View style={{ display: 'contents' }}>
  {/* This View disappears, but Text still renders */}
  <Text>I'm still here!</Text>
</View>

2. boxSizing

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// Default: padding/border inside box
<View style={{
  boxSizing: 'border-box',  // Default
  width: 100,
  padding: 10,
  borderWidth: 2
  // Total width: 100 (padding/border inside)
}} />

// Content-box: padding/border outside
<View style={{
  boxSizing: 'content-box',
  width: 100,
  padding: 10,
  borderWidth: 2
  // Total width: 124 (100 + 20 padding + 4 border)
}} />

3. mixBlendMode + isolation

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<View style={{ backgroundColor: 'red' }}>
  <View style={{
    mixBlendMode: 'multiply',  // 16 modes available
    backgroundColor: 'blue'
    // Result: purple (red × blue)
  }} />
</View>

// Prevent unwanted blending:
<View style={{ isolation: 'isolate' }}>
  {/* Blending contained within this view */}
</View>

4. outline Properties

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<View style={{
  outlineWidth: 2,
  outlineStyle: 'solid',      // solid | dashed | dotted
  outlineColor: 'blue',
  outlineOffset: 4,           // Space between element and outline
  outlineSpread: 2            // Expand outline beyond offset
}} />

Android XML Drawables (0.78+)

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// Load XML drawable at build time
import MyIcon from './assets/my_icon.xml';

<Image
  source={MyIcon}
  style={{ width: 40, height: 40 }}
/>

// Or with require:
<Image
  source={require('./assets/my_icon.xml')}
  style={{ width: 40, height: 40 }}
/>

• Scalable vector graphics (resolution-independent)
• Smaller APK size vs PNG
• Off-thread decoding (better performance)

• Build-time resources only (no network loading)
• Android only (iOS still uses SF Symbols or PNG)

React 19 New Hooks

1. useActionState (replaces form patterns)

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import { useActionState } from 'react';

function MyForm() {
  const [state, submitAction, isPending] = useActionState(
    async (prevState, formData) => {
      // Async form submission
      const result = await api.submit(formData);
      return result;
    },
    { message: '' }  // Initial state
  );

  return (
    <form action={submitAction}>
      <TextInput name="email" />
      <Button disabled={isPending}>
        {isPending ? 'Submitting...' : 'Submit'}
      </Button>
      {state.message && <Text>{state.message}</Text>}
    </form>
  );
}
`#### 2\. `useOptimistic` (optimistic UI updates)`
import { useOptimistic } from 'react';

function LikeButton({ postId, initialLikes }) {
  const [optimisticLikes, addOptimisticLike] = useOptimistic(
    initialLikes,
    (currentLikes, amount) => currentLikes + amount
  );

  async function handleLike() {
    addOptimisticLike(1);  // Update UI immediately
    await api.like(postId);  // Then update server
  }

  return (
    <Button onPress={handleLike}>
      ❤️ {optimisticLikes}
    </Button>
  );
}
`#### 3\. `use` (read promises/contexts during render)`
import { use } from 'react';

function UserProfile({ userPromise }) {
  // Read promise directly during render (suspends if pending)
  const user = use(userPromise);

  return <Text>{user.name}</Text>;
}

React Native DevTools (0.76+)

• Press j in CLI
• Or open Dev Menu → "Open React Native DevTools"

• ✅ Reliable breakpoints (unlike old Chrome debugger)
• ✅ Watch values, call stack inspection
• ✅ JS Console (replaces Metro logs)
• ✅ Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) based
• ⏳ Network inspector (coming in 0.83)
• ❌ Third-party extensions not yet supported

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Known Issues Prevention

Issue #1: propTypes Silently Ignored

Issue #2: forwardRef Deprecated Warning

Issue #3: New Architecture Cannot Be Disabled (0.82+)

Issue #4: "Fabric component descriptor not found"

Issue #5: "TurboModule not registered"

Issue #6: Swift AppDelegate Missing RCTAppDependencyProvider

Issue #7: Metro Logs Not Appearing

Issue #8: Chrome Debugger Not Working

Issue #9: Deep Import Errors

Issue #10: Redux Store Crashes with New Architecture

Issue #11: i18n-js Unreliable with New Architecture

Issue #12: CodePush Crashes on Android

Issue #13: expo-file-system Legacy API Removed (SDK 55+)

• SDK 53 and earlier: Legacy API at expo-file-system
• SDK 54: Legacy API at expo-file-system/legacy, new API at expo-file-system (default)
• SDK 55: Legacy API removed completely

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import * as FileSystem from 'expo-file-system/legacy';
await FileSystem.writeAsStringAsync(uri, content);
`**New Code (SDK 54+ new API):**`
import { File } from 'expo-file-system';
const file = new File(uri);
await file.writeString(content);

Issue #14: expo-av Removed (SDK 55+)

• SDK 52: expo-video introduced
• SDK 53: expo-audio introduced, expo-av deprecated
• SDK 54: Last release with expo-av (no patches)
• SDK 55: expo-av removed

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// OLD: expo-av
import { Audio } from 'expo-av';
const { sound } = await Audio.Sound.createAsync(require('./audio.mp3'));
await sound.playAsync();

// NEW: expo-audio
import { useAudioPlayer } from 'expo-audio';
const player = useAudioPlayer(require('./audio.mp3'));
player.play();
`**Migration - Video:**`
// OLD: expo-av
import { Video } from 'expo-av';
<Video source={require('./video.mp4')} />

// NEW: expo-video
import { VideoView } from 'expo-video';
<VideoView source={require('./video.mp4')} />

Issue #15: Reanimated v4 Requires New Architecture

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# NativeWind does not support Reanimated v4 yet (as of Jan 2026)
# If using NativeWind, must stay on Reanimated v3
npm install react-native-reanimated@^3

1. Install react-native-worklets (required for v4)
2. Follow official Reanimated v3 → v4 migration guide
3. Skip babel.config.js changes if using babel-preset-expo (auto-configured)

Issue #16: iOS Crashes on Launch with Hermes + New Architecture (SDK 54) - Community-sourced

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hermes::vm::JSObject::putComputed_RJS
hermes::vm::arrayPrototypePush

• Expo SDK 54
• New Architecture enabled
• Hermes enabled (default)
• Using expo-updates
• iOS only (Android unaffected)

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# ios/Podfile
use_frameworks! :linkage => :static
ENV['HERMES_ENABLED'] = '1'  # ⚠️ CRITICAL: Must be explicit with New Arch + expo-updates

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Migration Guide: 0.72-0.75 → 0.82+

Step 1: Upgrade to Interop Layer First (0.76-0.81)

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# Check current version
npx react-native --version

# Upgrade to 0.81 first (last version with interop layer)
npm install react-native@0.81
npx expo install --fix
`### Step 2: Enable New Architecture (if not already)`
# Android (gradle.properties)
newArchEnabled=true

# iOS
RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=1 bundle exec pod install

# Rebuild
npm run ios
npm run android

Step 3: Fix Incompatible Dependencies

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# Replace Redux with Redux Toolkit
npm uninstall redux redux-thunk
npm install @reduxjs/toolkit react-redux

# Replace i18n-js with react-i18next
npm uninstall i18n-js
npm install react-i18next i18next

# Update React Navigation (if old version)
npm install @react-navigation/native@latest
`### Step 4: Test Thoroughly`
# Run on both platforms
npm run ios
npm run android

# Test all features:
# - Navigation
# - State management (Redux)
# - API calls
# - Deep linking
# - Push notifications
`### Step 5: Migrate to React 19 (if upgrading to 0.78+)`
# Run React 19 codemod
npx @codemod/react-19 upgrade

# Manually verify:
# - Remove all propTypes declarations
# - Remove forwardRef wrappers
# - Update to new hooks (useActionState, useOptimistic)
`### Step 6: Upgrade to 0.82+`
# Only after testing with New Architecture enabled!
npm install react-native@0.82
npx expo install --fix

# Rebuild
npm run ios
npm run android

Step 7: Migrate iOS to Swift (if new project)

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# Follow upgrade helper
# https://react-native-community.github.io/upgrade-helper/
# Select: 0.76 → 0.77

# CRITICAL: Add this line to AppDelegate.swift
RCTAppDependencyProvider.sharedInstance()

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Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Conditional Rendering with New Hooks

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import { useActionState } from 'react';

function LoginForm() {
  const [state, loginAction, isPending] = useActionState(
    async (prevState, formData) => {
      try {
        const user = await api.login(formData);
        return { success: true, user };
      } catch (error) {
        return { success: false, error: error.message };
      }
    },
    { success: false }
  );

  return (
    <View>
      <form action={loginAction}>
        <TextInput name="email" placeholder="Email" />
        <TextInput name="password" secureTextEntry />
        <Button disabled={isPending}>
          {isPending ? 'Logging in...' : 'Login'}
        </Button>
      </form>
      {!state.success && state.error && (
        <Text style={{ color: 'red' }}>{state.error}</Text>
      )}
    </View>
  );
}

Pattern 2: TypeScript Instead of propTypes

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// Define prop types with TypeScript
type ButtonProps = {
  title: string;
  onPress: () => void;
  disabled?: boolean;
  variant?: 'primary' | 'secondary';
};

function Button({ title, onPress, disabled = false, variant = 'primary' }: ButtonProps) {
  return (
    <Pressable
      onPress={onPress}
      disabled={disabled}
      style={[styles.button, styles[variant]]}
    >
      <Text style={styles.text}>{title}</Text>
    </Pressable>
  );
}

Pattern 3: New CSS for Visual Effects

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// Glowing button with outline and blend mode
function GlowButton({ title, onPress }) {
  return (
    <Pressable
      onPress={onPress}
      style={{
        backgroundColor: '#3b82f6',
        padding: 16,
        borderRadius: 8,
        // Outline doesn't affect layout
        outlineWidth: 2,
        outlineColor: '#60a5fa',
        outlineOffset: 4,
        // Blend with background
        mixBlendMode: 'screen',
        isolation: 'isolate'
      }}
    >
      <Text style={{ color: 'white', fontWeight: 'bold' }}>
        {title}
      </Text>
    </Pressable>
  );
}

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Using Bundled Resources

Scripts (scripts/)

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./scripts/check-rn-version.sh
# Output: ✅ React Native 0.82 - New Architecture mandatory
# Output: ⚠️ React Native 0.75 - Upgrade to 0.76+ recommended

References (references/)

Assets (assets/)

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Expo SDK 52+ Specifics

Breaking Changes

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// This no longer works in Expo Go (SDK 52+):
{
  "jsEngine": "jsc"  // ❌ Ignored, Hermes only
}
`**Google Maps Removed from Expo Go (SDK 53+):**`
# Must use custom dev client for Google Maps
npx expo install expo-dev-client
npx expo run:android

New Features (SDK 52)

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import { fetch } from 'expo/fetch';

// Standards-compliant fetch for Workers/Edge runtimes
const response = await fetch('https://api.example.com/data');
`**React Navigation v7:**`
npm install @react-navigation/native@^7.0.0

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Official Documentation

• React Native: https://reactnative.dev
• Expo: https://docs.expo.dev
• React 19: https://react.dev/blog/2024/04/25/react-19-upgrade-guide
• New Architecture: https://reactnative.dev/docs/new-architecture-intro
• Upgrade Helper: https://react-native-community.github.io/upgrade-helper/
• Context7 Library ID: /facebook/react-native

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Package Versions (Verified 2026-01-21)

• Xcode: Minimum 16.1, Xcode 16 recommended
• Node.js: Minimum 20.19.4
• iOS Deployment Target: iOS 15.1+

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{
  "dependencies": {
    "react": "^19.2.3",
    "react-native": "^0.81.5",
    "expo": "~54.0.31",
    "@react-navigation/native": "^7.0.0",
    "@reduxjs/toolkit": "^2.0.0",
    "react-i18next": "^15.0.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/react": "^19.0.0",
    "typescript": "^5.7.0"
  }
}

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Troubleshooting

Problem: Build fails with "Fabric component descriptor not found"

Problem: "propTypes is not a function" error

Problem: console.log() not showing in Metro terminal

Problem: Swift AppDelegate errors during iOS build

Problem: Redux store crashes on startup

Problem: Can't disable New Architecture in 0.82+

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Complete Setup Checklist

• React Native 0.76+ or Expo SDK 52+ installed
• New Architecture enabled (automatic in 0.82+)
• Hermes engine enabled (default)
• React 19 migration complete (no propTypes, no forwardRef)
• TypeScript configured for type checking
• React Native DevTools accessible (press 'j')
• No deep imports (react-native/Libraries/*)
• Redux Toolkit (not legacy redux)
• react-i18next (not i18n-js)
• iOS builds successfully (Swift template if new project)
• Android builds successfully
• Dev server runs without errors
• All navigation/state management working

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1. Check references/new-architecture-errors.md for build errors
2. Check references/react-19-migration.md for React 19 issues
3. Check official docs: https://reactnative.dev/docs/new-architecture-intro
4. Ensure New Architecture is enabled (mandatory in 0.82+)
5. Verify all dependencies support New Architecture

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