Welcome to Issue #4! This week is all about high-octane performance and platform-native experiences. The mobile world just took a massive leap forward: Expo SDK 55 beta has officially crossed the Rubicon into a "New Architecture only" era, while React Navigation 8.0 is finally making native primitives the default. On the desktop side, React Native Windows is hitting near-complete parity with Fabric, proving that "write once, run anywhere" is getting closer to reality. Plus, we’re taking a peek under the hood of Next.js’s Turbopack to see how they’re redefining "fast" through incremental computation. Let’s dive in!

📰 Article

Channel surfing for Expo Updates: How to switch update channels at runtime

Expo's new 'Channel Surfing' feature allows apps to switch update channels dynamically at runtime. This breakthrough enables QA teams and product owners to test different OTA update streams (like a 'preview' channel) directly on a production build without needing to reinstall the app.

By Jacob Clausen

react-native • expo

📰 Article

Inside Turbopack: Building Faster by Building Less

A deep architectural dive into Turbopack's use of incremental computation. By caching results at a granular function level and avoiding re-computation of unchanged code, Turbopack achieves up to 10x faster Fast Refresh and significantly scales performance for massive Next.js applications.

By Next.js Team

react • nextjs

📢 News

Expo SDK 55 Beta is now available

Expo SDK 55 officially marks the end of the 'Legacy Architecture' era, moving exclusively to the New Architecture. Key highlights include Hermes v1 opt-in, bytecode diffing for EAS Updates (reducing download sizes by up to 75%), and a redesigned default template focusing on native platform conventions.

By Expo Team

react-native • expo

📢 News

React Navigation 8.0 Alpha

The first alpha of React Navigation 8.0 is here, making Native Bottom Tabs the default for improved performance and a true platform feel. It features a revamped type inference system that virtually removes the need for manual TypeScript annotations and introduces a new pushParams API for cleaner state management.

By Satyajit Sahoo

react-native

📢 News

🚀React Native Windows v0.81 is here!!

Microsoft has pushed React Native Windows to 95%+ parity with core Fabric components. This release adds Hermes Debugger support, resolves major modal crash issues, and introduces refined event handlers for ScrollView and TextInput to deliver a more responsive desktop experience.

By Ramya Oruganti

react-native