📅 Day 22
💡 tip

9 Open-Source React Native Apps Worth Studying in 2025

Level up your React Native skills by reverse-engineering 9 real-world open-source apps and templates, from AI-powered Expo projects to production-grade wallets and social apps.

React Native

Welcome to Day 22 of the React Native Advent Calendar!

One of the fastest ways to grow as a React Native engineer is to study living, breathing apps. Today’s tip highlights nine repositories that are both inspiring and practical. Clone them, read their commit history, and borrow their patterns.

AI and Expo Native Experiments

  • expo-ai shows how to use React Server Compnents with Expo Router to render native UI on ther server and stream it to the client. All of that happens in the context of an AI chat with AI SDK integration - it almost can’t get more practical and timely than that.
  • expo-rsc-movies demonstrates Expo + React Server Components, especially in combination with secret keys and working with another API from your RSCs. Highly recommended to study if you are thinking about getting more into server components.
  • evanbacon.dev is essentially a portfolio turned playground: great for seeing how to use Expo for both Web and Native, without any compromises on any platform.

Social, Wallet, and Template Masterclasses

  • bluesky-social is an open protocol plus clients; the mobile app teaches you about decentralized auth, feeds, and caching at scale.
  • Expensify/App is a TypeScript-heavy, multi-platform React Native behemoth—study its Onyx state management, localization, and CI setup for enterprise-ready patterns.
  • metamask-mobile illustrates secure key management, background services, and dapp browser integrations in a real wallet.
  • rainbow leans into gorgeous UI, custom gestures, and delightful micro-interactions—perfect for polishing your product sense.

Kickstart Your Own Project

  • react-native-template-obytes offers a batteries-included starter with navigation, testing, theming, and type-safe API hooks so you can ship quickly.
  • ignite is a CLI and template system from Infinite Red that bakes in best practices for folder structure, generators, and dev tooling.

How to Use This List

  1. Pick one repo that matches a feature you need.
  2. Trace how data flows from network to UI.
  3. Note the libraries and lint rules they rely on.
  4. Recreate a simplified version in your own sandbox.

Deep dives like these give you production-ready instincts—and they’re more fun than reading docs all day. Happy cloning!