Welcome to the first edition of our React and React Native weekly digest. Every Monday we round up what actually happened in the ecosystem over the past week: releases, notable library updates, and things worth your reading time, each with our short take. This week the news writes its own headline: React Native 0.87 is out, and it is a bigger release than the version number suggests.
Releases
React Native 0.87: strict TypeScript by default, SPM on iOS, and a march toward 1.0
React Native 0.87 landed on August 11, and it reads like a maturity release:
- The Strict TypeScript API is now the default. Types are generated straight from source, and deep imports into
Libraries/are now a type error. If your codebase still reaches into internals, budget cleanup time before upgrading. - Metro jumps from 0.84 to 0.87, with source map generation about 2x faster and roughly half the memory use, plus stable TypeScript and ESM config support (
metro.config.mtsworks now). - Experimental Swift Package Manager support on iOS. An opt-in alternative to CocoaPods: no Ruby, no Bundler, no
pod installafter dependency changes. Experimental, but this is the clearest signal yet that the CocoaPods era is winding down. - Toolchain floors raised: Node.js 22, Android Gradle Plugin 9, Kotlin 2.0+.
- A serious deprecation cleanup: long-deprecated APIs including InteractionManager and the core SafeAreaView are gone, with more removals scheduled. The community read, which we share, is that the core team is clearing the deck for a 1.0.
Our take: upgrade deliberately, not casually. The TypeScript strictness and the removals will surface real work in older codebases, and the Upgrade Helper should be your first stop.
safe-area-context 5.9.0 picks up the SafeAreaView baton
With core SafeAreaView removed in 0.87, react-native-safe-area-context shipped v5.9.0 on August 12. It has been the recommended approach for years; now it is simply the approach. If you still import SafeAreaView from react-native, this is your migration path.
Reanimated 4.3.4 and the Worklets split
Software Mansion shipped Reanimated 4.3.4 plus Worklets 0.12.0 during the week. Worth noting if you have not tracked it: worklets, the mechanism that runs JavaScript on the UI thread, now live as their own package line (react-native-worklets), maintained and versioned separately from Reanimated itself. Cleaner dependency trees for libraries that need worklets without the full animation stack.
React Navigation v8 alphas keep rolling
The React Navigation v8 alpha train advanced again (core alpha.33, stack alpha.51 on August 10) alongside routine 7.x patches. Nothing to adopt in production yet, but if navigation is central to your app, skimming the alpha changelogs now beats a surprise migration later.
News
Expo connects to the Claude desktop app
Expo announced on August 13 that you can connect Expo in Anthropic’s Claude desktop app, wiring the AI assistant into Expo projects and services. AI tooling integrations are becoming table stakes for developer platforms, and Expo continues to move early here. Also on the Expo calendar: EAS Observe, their observability product, is scheduled to hit general availability on August 20, so expect more on that next week.
Also worth noting
- TanStack Query v6 reached release-candidate stage for its Solid adapter on August 12. The v6 line maturing across frameworks is the signal for React developers: the API you will eventually migrate to is settling.
- Next.js continued its steady 16.3.1 canary cadence all week; nothing stable shipped, following the 16.3 release earlier in the month.
- The excellent This Week In React newsletter was on a summer break this week, so if your feed felt quiet, it was them, not the ecosystem.
That’s a wrap
The theme of the week is housekeeping with intent: React Native shedding deprecated APIs, raising toolchain floors, and testing a CocoaPods exit all point the same direction. If you maintain a React Native app, the 0.87 upgrade is the one item from this digest that belongs on your actual todo list.
Back next Monday. If we missed something notable, tell us and we will include it in the next edition.