Reflections on Upgrading to THE Architecture in React Native and the state of community

Source: Dev.to

As a seasoned React Native developer since 2019 (and a developer in general for more than 15 years now), I’ve had the privilege—and sometimes the headache—of navigating multiple paradigm shifts in mobile development. The recent arrival of what the community now calls “THE architecture” marks one of the most significant transitions yet.

Listening to React Native Radio’s latest episode, which recapped 2025 from the developer’s perspective, I noticed a recurring sentiment on the show: the transition is finished. Yet, from the trenches, it feels more like a work in progress than a completed chapter.

The React Native ecosystem is, without a doubt, one of the most vibrant spaces for mobile development, especially for smaller teams aiming for speed of delivery and efficiency. Nothing else comes close. However, as I maintain and develop applications across telemedicine, e‑commerce, and IoT/industrial automation, I do not feel the transition is over.

Where the Upgrade Shines—and Where It Stalls

On the e‑commerce front, things have been relatively smooth. Our reliance on Expo has paid off: most functionalities have direct equivalents in the Expo ecosystem, making the transition nearly seamless.

When working outside of Expo in areas like telemedicine and IoT, I place a high value on retaining full ownership of my code and releases. It’s not the industry standard, but I’m intentional about not relinquishing that independence—especially given the risks seen in ecosystems like Unreal Engine or Redis. For these critical applications, I choose vendors carefully to ensure my projects remain truly under my control.

• There is still no reliable library for fetching device tokens for remote notifications outside of Expo. It’s astonishing that such a fundamental feature remains out of reach without Expo.
• WebRTC, another cornerstone for real‑time applications, remains absent from the new architecture; a work‑in‑progress exists, but we have seen no update for more than two months.
• Integration with essential platform services like CallKit and VoIP notifications is equally problematic—Expo does not help here either.

The Community Crossroads

The @react-native-community used to be a core contributor to the ecosystem, but lately it’s been quiet. Key libraries aren’t getting updates, so Expo is left handling most of the modern development work. Expo’s role is important, but I’m concerned about what happens next. Other major platforms—like Redis and Unreal Engine—have changed direction after being acquired or after a change in management, which has sometimes made things harder for independent developers. I’m cautious about Expo’s future and hope it doesn’t follow the same path.

Wix had a track record of building impressive tools for React Native, but lately it seems challenging for them to keep everything well maintained. Their main packages—react-native-navigation and react-native-notifications—used to be reliable and well‑maintained. Now, updates are slow, and it’s increasingly difficult to keep up with the latest React Native releases.

As a side note, this is why I have never adopted Detox; I hear great things about it, but I am too hesitant to bet on a library maintained by Wix at this point.

Bright Spots and Community Innovation

Not everything is doom and gloom. Community‑driven projects like Reanimated and react-native-gesture-handler have fully embraced THE architecture and deliver fantastic results. Sites like reactnative.directory help developers navigate the shifting landscape, highlighting which libraries are compatible—and which aren’t.

Tools like rn‑chk‑new‑arch (while humble and not actively developed) simply do the job and serve as a good enough replacement for expo-doctor outside of the Expo world. The number of downloads, however, shows that the community outside of Expo either does not exist or is not interested.

If there’s someone like me still trying to avoid Expo for certain applications, I would like to hear from you about your experience and what tooling helped you get onboard with THE architecture.

Looking Forward

Upgrading to THE architecture is, for many, a story of progress and setbacks. The ecosystem remains vibrant, but its future truly hinges on a renewed commitment from the independent React Native community, not just Expo.

As we look ahead, I remain hopeful—if cautious—that React Native will continue to empower developers and evolve with the needs of the industry, without becoming too tightly coupled to any single platform like Expo. The journey isn’t over; in many ways, it’s just beginning, and I sincerely hope to see strong, active community leadership that keeps React Native open and adaptable for everyone.