WhoBuilt

Q&A Panel

Nov 23, 2021· 1 h 8 min· 2.1K views·Watch on YouTube
#Mobile Development#Developer Experience

Speakers

Mike CyrilFounder at Callstack Team
Wojtek WitekCTO at Channels
Pavel Trisvadeveloper at Callstack Team
Mike GrabowskiCEO at Callstack
Satyaengineer at Callstack Team

Mike Cyril, co-founder of Callstack, hosts a React Native EU Q&A panel at Callstack’s Wrocław office with React Native contributors and maintainers Wojtek Witek, Pavel Trisva, Satya, and Mike Grabowski.

How the panelists got into React Native

The panelists describe varied routes into programming, from learning Bash and JavaScript for work to starting with HTML, CSS, PHP, or C++. Several adopted React Native when they needed to build mobile apps and could reuse JavaScript and React experience. Mike Grabowski says it helped him avoid building a separate Android app in Java.

What is changing in React Native

Pavel is interested in using JSI for synchronous code splitting in Re.Pack, while another panelist points to Fabric and synchronous layout measurement. The panel also highlights improving upgrades and a more coordinated release process, with Facebook and Microsoft contributors taking greater ownership. Satya explains JSI as the foundation for Turbo Modules and Fabric, which handle native modules and UI rendering.

Supporting platforms and libraries

One streaming application targets six React Native platforms, with plans to expand to nine to eleven; the panel estimates about 60% of its code is shared. Platform differences still require custom APIs and native code, and the panelists expect Windows and macOS library support to vary because each platform adds maintenance work. They also discuss wearable support, a Viro library for AR and VR, and React Navigation’s limitations on desktop.

Open source and the React Native ecosystem

Library maintainers say issue triage and housekeeping can take more time than coding, with one maintainer estimating that coding accounts for about 10% of the work. Pavel describes Re.Pack as plugins that make webpack usable for React Native bundling, and explains that it can work with Hermes. The panel advises evaluating UI libraries against a project’s design needs and notes that Microsoft contributes to Windows support and React Native tooling.

React Native’s outlook

Asked about React Native’s future and Airbnb’s departure, the panel says Airbnb’s experience reflected its native team and integration needs, and that the framework and integration options have since changed. Panelists point to Facebook, Microsoft, and less visible production apps as evidence of continued adoption. The closing view is that the new architecture and enterprise involvement could support further growth.

Takeaways

  • Choose React Native when shared JavaScript skills and cross-platform delivery fit the product’s needs.
  • Budget for platform-specific code; one production example shared about 60% across six platforms.
  • Treat open-source maintenance as ongoing issue triage and documentation work, not just coding.
  • Evaluate UI libraries against the actual design before adopting or replacing them.
  • Check library support and maintenance ownership for every platform the product must target.

Mentioned in this talk

Callstack TeamMetaChannelsMicrosoftAirbnbReact Native PaperReact Native Testing LibraryRe.PackReact NavigationVisionCameraReanimatedReact Native MMKVReact Native for WindowsHermes AgentReact Native SliderReact Native PageViewReact Native MapsReact NativeJSIFabricTurboModulescode generationViroFlutterwebpackMetroReact Native for macOSLean Core

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