React Native Available for Apple Vision Pro & February Community Updates

We are thrilled to announce that React Native has landed on Apple Vision Pro, allowing you to unlock the platform's full potential.

React Native for Apple Vision Pro

Bringing React Native to Apple Vision Pro came with many challenges in adapting code for visionOS specifics and overcoming simulator limitations.

Dive into the behind-the-scenes journey, including creating an out-of-tree fork and addressing unique platform nuances. We share all the details in our latest blog post.

Read the article

In the process, we partnered with Matt Hargett from Rebecker Specialties, helping with their first spatial React Native app 🚀

Podcast Episode

We also discuss bringing React Native to Apple Vision Pro and visionOS in our podcast. If you haven't watched it yet, you should definitely catch up!

What's Up in the Community?

The tech landscape is changing fast. To help you stay on top of the game, our Technology Team has picked top news, releases, and stories from the React Native world and beyond.

New Tools & Releases

• Expo has rolled out SDK 50 and it's a big one! Featuring React Native 0.73 and several noteworthy improvements such as Expo Router v3, EAS Build updates, Expo Updates with new fingerprints. It also came with New Expo Dev Tools Plugins empowering developers with browser-based plugins for debugging or improved SQLite and Camera APIs. Check Expo blog for more details.
• In the latest React Native visionOS release, SwiftUI becomes the app's default entry point. Newly created CLI apps will seamlessly adopt this integration, with upcoming updates promising support for launching immersive spaces.
• TanStack Router v1.10 got a handful of fresh upgrades, e.g. code-splitting and lazy-loading routes are now simplified with a single '.lazy.tsx' companion file, and there are new experimental APIs for meta/title, link, and script management.
• Node.js 21.6.0 brings new events to 'net.createConnection,' improving connection handling. The experimental permission model gets fixes and improvements, including '--allow-addons' for addon usage and support for relative paths through '--allow-fs-*' flags.
• Ever wondered about writing your regular expressions in an even more expressive Swift style? Wonder no more, because there's a new library supporting just that: ts-regex-builder. It's a small utility that allows developers to write regexps in a structured way, which makes the writing and reviewing process easier.
• Meet the Bun Shell - the new language and interpreter that makes shell scripting a breeze across different platforms. Think about it as the good parts of JS and Bash combined. More details in this blog post.
• There's a new library created to run Lottie animations using Skia's GPU-accelerated engine - react-native-skottie. It promises up to 63% of performance improvement for complex animations.

Other Tech News

• In a comprehensive guide, our developer and maintainer of the React Native Testing Library (RNTL), Maciej Jastrzębski, outlines crucial recommendations for RNTL in 2024. Following them will make your tests more solid and futureproof.
• What is Remix.run exactly? In his video, Alem Tuzlak explains how it works under the hood, enhances developer experience, and captivates users.
• The latest talk of our youngest developer, Szymon Rybczak, is now live. If you missed it at React Day Berlin 2023, you can now catch up and explore the possibilities of integrating React Server Components on mobile with Szymon.
• Ever curious about the inner workings of React Native's FPS monitor? The magic lies in CADisplayLink on iOS, a powerful class that enables your app to align its drawing with the display's refresh rate. More in this thread.
• Apple has announced changes to iOS, Safari, and the App Store in compliance with the Digital Markets Act in the European Union. Developers can now explore new app distribution options while users gain increased controls and privacy safeguards. Not without controversy, though.

Tech Leadership Insights

As a tech leader, you already have too much on your plate. That's why we've curated a digestible portion of recent insights at the intersection of business and tech.

• Do you have a data strategy for an AI future? This article explores the critical importance of a robust data strategy for enterprises navigating the AI future. It discusses the costs of poor data quality, emphasizes risks, and explores potential shifts to synthetic training data.
• Team alignment is crucial for business success. Here, you can read about signs of misalignment, such as messaging confusion and the negative impact on deals and overall company resources. The article also provides concrete tactics for leaders to enhance alignment.
• Francisco Trindade discusses strategies for Engineering Managers to gain support and alignment during organizational changes. Highlighting the significance of metrics, process documentation, and techniques, the author underscores the need for a stable environment and a concentrated effort to successfully implement system improvements.
• This article delves deep into the engineering investment metrics and how benchmarking them is pivotal in aligning development direction with organizational goals through context and best practices.
• Regardless of where you work or how senior you are, you have a finite capacity. There are only so many hours every day in which you are working effectively, and only so many hours that you can spend in a state of productivity and flow - and James Stainer is here to explain how to make the best of them.
• Microsoft integrates Microsoft Teams with Android Auto. It means you can participate in work calls directly from your car. This article will tell you more about it.