What’s New in React Native 0.76

React Native 0.76 ships with a handful of changes worth knowing about.

New Architecture by Default

The New Architecture is on by default. It’s a rewrite of React Native’s foundation (Fabric renderer, TurboModules, JSI) and brings better performance characteristics out of the box.

Faster Development with Metro

Metro’s module resolution got reworked:

• Import module finding is now 15x faster
• Warm builds up to 4x faster

Lighter Android Apps

Native code is consolidated into a single library, libreactnative.so. The result:

• 3.8 MB smaller Android app
• 15 ms faster startup

Enhanced Styling Capabilities

Box Shadow

boxShadow lets you control:

• Position
• Color
• Size
• Blur

Filter Effects

The new filter property supports:

• Brightness
• Saturation
• Blur

On iOS, only brightness and opacity work right now.

Improved Developer Tools

React Native DevTools replaces the old debugger:

• Chrome DevTools-based
• Breakpoints
• Stack inspection
• Step-through debugging
• Better component highlighting
• Zero config

Open the Dev Menu or hit j in the CLI.

What changes day-to-day

• Faster builds
• Smaller, faster-launching Android apps
• New Architecture as the default — expect to hit any remaining compatibility issues with older libraries
• Real Chrome-based debugging
• More styling primitives that match the web