📅 Day 24
💡 tip

Why I Still Choose React Native in 2026

A personal look at why React Native remains my go-to in 2026—from community momentum and the New Architecture to Expo’s ecosystem and how it stacks up against Flutter.

React Native

Why I still use React Native in 2026

Every year I get bombarded with comments, asking me why I don’t use framework XYY (mostly Flutter tbh). And at the end of 2025, I’m more convinced than ever that React Native is the best choice for me. I already wrote about why the Time for React native is now a year ago, and today I am even more optimistic.

Community momentum

React Native’s biggest moat is still people. Which can be said for React in general. The Facebook-to-open-source pipeline used to be a liability; now it’s a flywheel where Meta, Shopify, Microsoft, Expo, and countless maintainers share fixes in days, not quarters. Ask a question in 2026 and you get an answer, a repro, and maybe a patch. That velocity means I spend more time shipping than spelunking.

React Foundation

And the React Foundation that was announced this year solidifies the foundation of React as a platform. It’s not just a library, it’s a foundation for building web and native apps, and for years to come.

New Architecture comfort

The New Architecture is the new normal. It’s the start of a new era.

-newArchEnabled=true
+newArchEnabled=false

Fabric + TurboModules graduated from “opt-in experiment” to the default. NitroModules give you unparalleled performance and a truly native experience.

Concurrent rendering, predictable bridging, and automatic memory management removed most of the spooky async bugs that scared ops teams. I can finally explain the render path to a native Android dev without apologizing.

Expo everything

Expo is the best way to build React Native apps. It’s the most complete platform for building React Native apps.

EAS is the best way to build and deploy React Native apps. And with EAS Hosting, Expo also introduced another new way to deploy your apps web version, API Routes and future Server Components.

Expo EAS

Expo Router keeps getting better better, supporting more native features like Native Tabs and Link Previews, while also adding QoL features like Server Middleware and Rewrites by now.

The platform feels like Vercel for native now.

Flutter is slowing down

Flutter still looks slick in demos, but its fully custom rendering stack is starting to feel heavy, especially as OEMs obsess over gliquid glass surfaces. Native-first rendering (React Native + the new arch) embraces whatever Apple or Google invent next, while Flutter must mimic it. That gap widens every design trend cycle.

There is critique on Flutter in the community about the way bugs and requests are handled. I honestly don’t know how long Google will keep pushing it.

It feels like a dead end.

Outlook for 2026

While 2025 was another great year for React Native, 2026 will have some special moments stories unraveling again:

  • Uniwind is making Tailwind-style styling almost as fast as StyleSheet
  • React Native DevTools will get even better with a desktop client
  • Expo RSC is still in beta, but once it hits stable we’ll get true server-driven React components in the native shell.
  • Expo UI for SwiftUI is already an awesome bridge for teams transitioning native components into shared libraries, and more features are coming
  • Jetpack Compose support is almost certainly landing next year, unifying Android-first teams.
  • Maybe, just maybe, we finally see a React Native 1.0 banner drop.

Looking back on the changes of 2025 and what’s ahead in 2026, it’s clear that React Native is the best choice for building native apps.

If you’re picking a stack for the next big app, follow where energy, tooling, and platform alignment are pointing. In 2026, they all still point toward React Native.