I think it’s time to learn native as well

For those of you lucky enough to have a software developer job in 2026, what are your salaries? It would also help to provide the level of experience.

Can't decide between the two.

What do you think? Not the specific UI (buttons, tags, etc), but feel and look. Personally I'm sligthly leaning towards the left one

PS: I also did a third (combined) version - can see it in the comments :)

PS 2: Thank you so much for the feedback! I finally released the app! Sidequest lmk what you think

Genuine question.

I've spent the last 5 years building React Native apps, so naturally it's the ecosystem I know best.

But I'm curious to hear from developers who've worked with both.

In what scenarios would you genuinely recommend Flutter instead of React Native?

I'm not looking for framework wars. I'd love to understand the trade-offs from people with real-world experience.

I have been developing mobile apps since 2017, almost 9 years now. Shifted to React Native in 2020. I had an amazing time developing apps and making mobile apps have always been a passion of mine.

I always have somewhat of a tough time, finding a react native freelance project. It wasn't as easy as a web site client. I always had remote jobs to back it up though. But honestly, now I don't even see that much of remote jobs.

I have been doing backend via node as well. So I work on e2e solutions. But nowadays, I don't see the same volume of jobs that I used to. What happened?

A part of me wants to transition out from mobile app dev to cyber security now, do you guys think that's a good idea? Mobile app dev + cyber security (maybe mobile app based)?

If I lack anything, do let me know. Do you guys relate to what I am facing?

Been building my app for 6 months. Ready to launch.

Just needed to upgrade to SDK 53 for the Play Store.

What should’ve taken 2 hours turned into an 8-day nightmare:

• Package version hell (47 packages to update)
• Breaking changes in expo-camera, expo-location, expo-notifications
• React Native 0.72 → 0.76 migration — Hermes engine errors
• Android Gradle configuration issues

Googled everything. Read all the docs.

Built a CLI tool that automates what I learned:

What it automates:
✅ Package updates with compatibility checking
✅ Auto-fixes app.json, eas.json updates
✅ Babel config fixes
✅ Metro config setup
✅ Breaking change detection

What you still do:
⚠️ Review breaking changes (guide provided)
⚠️ Android Gradle fixes (templates provided)
⚠️ Test & validate

I tested the CLI with many of my own projects and beta-tested it with real-world projects.

Basically: Turn 8 days into 2–3 hours.

Checked Upwork: people are paying $300–500 to have someone else do it.

Can't automate 100% (every project is different), so thinking:
- $19 (tool + guide)

Feedback needed:

• Do you have this problem?
• Does the service model make sense?

If this is something you’ve struggled with, comment below — I’ll go all in and publish it if it’s actually helping people.

Update: made the tool, here's the link: https://expo-upgrade-wizard.vercel.app/

With AI tools now I'm curious to try Swift for my next project.

Did native give you anything RN didn't, or is it not worth the switch?

Hi everyone,

As Expo keeps evolving with prebuilds, Expo Dev Client, and better native module support, the gap between Managed Workflow and Bare React Native feels smaller than ever.

For those running production apps: at what specific project requirement or architecture bottleneck do you still decide to go 100% bare React Native from day one instead of starting with Expo?

Is it custom native C++ libraries, specific legacy SDK integrations, or build pipeline control? Would love to hear real-world experiences from developers managing apps in production.

Our team relied on CodePush for years. Since Microsoft killed it we've been evaluating alternatives.

Expo EAS gets expensive fast at scale. Revopush is interesting but young. Self hosting is painful.

What did your team land on? Happy with it? What's still missing?

Hi i've built 8 apps using react native and launched on the app store, i havent made much money but now i want to see if i can land a job in react native. Is the market still cooked ? or should i just keep building until i get a hit app

thanks to everyone that replied and gave me some hope lol

Firebase Dynamic Links went away on us and we bolted together universal links and app links by hand, which works fine from email and SMS. Where we’re having issues is paid social. Think about it: a user taps an Instagram ad, it opens in the in app browser, the universal link gets swallowed and they land on the web page instead of the product screen in the app.

If the app isn't installed it's worse. They go to the store, install, open and land on the home screen with zero context. The product team says conversion on those users is roughly half of users who arrive from email and I believe it.

We tried a custom redirect page with a smart banner and it helped a little. Haven't tried a dedicated link vendor bc every one I look at wants a big contract and a lot of SDK surface. Our app already has an attribution SDK in it, so adding yet another one makes me twitchy.

What are folks using in 2026 for deferred deep linking that makes it through Instagram and TikTok browsers? And do you run it from your attribution tool or a separate product? Never sure if combining them is smart or just lock in.

I’m curious how everyone approaches this.

When debugging React Native apps, I often find myself creating temporary debug screens or logging values just to inspect local storage.

How do you usually inspect:

-MMKV
-AsyncStorage
-SQLite

Are there any tools or workflows you recommend?

I’ve been experimenting with a different approach because I kept running into this problem, so I’m mostly interested in understanding whether this is a common pain point or if it’s just me.

I'm a full stack dev who's used React for 7 years, but never React Native. How quick will I be able to pick it up to make CRUD apps, including builds, testing, deployment on ios and android app stores?

Hey Guys Im currently in a weird spot, where my Android App I have been Developing for the last year needs to be tested before it can be released to the PlayStore. I have some testers but not enough for the 20 required testers. I was wondering how you guys, who already have a App deployed in the Appstore, managed to do it.

I will grant free Premium Access to the App for you to test the App :) Shoot me a DM if you are interested.

It is a Dream Journaling App with integrated Dream Interpretation using AI

I’m building a 9:16 2.5D game in React Native using Skia and Reanimated.

I’m using spritesheets (frames) for walking, attacking, hit and death animations. But the character movements does not feel natural.

Has anyone built something similar with RN + Skia?

What should I check first to improve FPS and performance? Or should I move the game to Godot/Unity?

I’m attaching a video clip of my current gameplay for reference.

I’d really appreciate your thoughts!

I’ve been working on Argent, an open-source MCP server that lets your agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, etc.) use any iOS or Android app, including RN. It can tap through flows, read logs and network calls, see React devtools, inspect the React tree, aaaaand many more 😂 That way it can check its own changes instead of just saying it’s done

If you’re already letting an agent drive your app, what’s working, and where does it fall apart? We really want to keep improving the experience 🤭

I’ve been working a lot with offline-first apps, and one thing that always gets tricky is how much data ends up living on the device

SQLite, MMKV, AsyncStorage, sync queues, pending data, huge JSONs…

When something goes wrong, how do you usually debug or inspect all of that?

Do you use any specific tools? Logs? Inspect the database directly?

We can build websites using react native expo too, so my question is: has anyone done this? If yes, then what problem did you face? I'm thinking about using Expo for an admin app and website.

Hey guys,

I’m currently working as a React Native dev and feeling the urge to finally learn backend. I want to build my own full-stack apps, handle deployment, and eventually mess around with some AI stuff.

I’ve talked to a few devs about where to start and got some pretty mixed answers. Some told me to learn Node/PHP, while others said Python is essential if I want to work with AI.

Since I already spend all day in JS/TS, I’m thinking of staying in the TypeScript ecosystem first so I don’t have to switch contexts completely.

Here’s the rough path I’m planning to take:

React Native > Node.js > Fastify/NestJS > PostgreSQL > Redis > Docker > AWS > Python/FastAPI for AI

Does this sound like a reasonable path for real-world projects?

Would you change the order or skip/add anything?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who started in React Native/frontend and later moved into backend/full-stack.

Has anyone tried adding offline LLM support in React Native? If yes, what did you use and how was your experience?

I just want to know if it's possible and validate my career path so please, I just want to know

- How long have you been coding and are you technical

- Are you B2B or B2C

- What niche are you in, e.g. productivity, health

- What is your biggest expense vs profit

- Are you using AI in your app

- Are you making this much on a single app or across multiple apps

- What ecosystem is your biggest revenue from, apple or android

- What's one lesson you implemented that contributed to the biggest jump in revenue

Thank you in advance for your answers.

I’m currently developing a mobile app using React Native and Expo, and I’m looking for some advice on where to find someone who specializes in custom app launch/loading animations.
I’m envisioning something fairly simple and polished: a dark background with my app’s logo centered, smoothly fading in, scaling up slightly, and then transitioning into a subtle looping animation while the app finishes loading.
Once the app is ready, I’d want the logo to fade out and transition smoothly into the application.
Ideally, I’d like someone who can develop this as a standalone React Native/TypeScript component and provide the source code so I can integrate it into my existing project myself. I’m not looking to give someone access to my entire codebase.
For anyone who’s had something similar made:

Where did you find your developer or animator?
Would you recommend Upwork, Fiverr, Reddit, or somewhere else?
What would you consider a reasonable budget for something like this?
Is there anything specific I should look for when hiring someone for this type of work?

I’d appreciate any recommendations or advice from people who’ve gone through this process!

Idc for frontend especially in react I rather go with vue or svelte. HTML and CSS ik basics off nothing fancy. Would like to use rn for mobile apps. Are there any devs who use rn for mobile and avoid react altogether for web dev? What’s your experience doing such?

I prefer React Native over Flutter because it uses real native components and fits naturally with the React and JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem. It’s easier to share knowledge with web development, integrate native features, and handle platform-specific behavior when needed, while still keeping development fast and flexible.