Results of the State of React Native 2023 Survey

Bukowski says developers tend to choose built-in tools when they work well, citing fetch and StyleSheet. Kuczak observes that discussion has shifted from React Native’s stability toward specific topics such as navigation and Expo Router. The guests also describe how last year’s concerns about debugging helped prompt work on new tools from Meta and Expo.

The guests explain that the rankings view spaces technologies evenly, which can obscure differences between them. They recommend checking percentages and focusing on usage and retention: usage indicates how many respondents use a tool, while retention reflects whether users keep using it. Reanimated leads usage for graphics and animation, while Skia is fourth at 26%; they describe the tools as complementary.

The styling section grew from seven libraries in 2022 to about 14 in 2023. StyleSheet remains the most used option, while NativeWind and Tamagui are gaining ground; the guests suggest developers may choose familiar CSS or Tailwind syntax to reuse what they already know. The host notes that roughly 2,000 respondents may not represent the broader community, since promotion likely reaches especially active developers; about a third reported contributing to open source.

Debugging and profiling is the survey’s only new section, added after debugging ranked as a major pain point in the prior survey. Console logging remains a common default, while the guests discuss Chrome DevTools and Expo debugger plugins, including an AsyncStorage plugin. Debugging remains the top reported pain point, and respondents also cite unmaintained packages; the guests describe the extra work involved in maintaining native libraries across architectures.

Bukowski says he started the survey after finding React Native technology choices and advice scattered across the internet while evaluating a client project. The team adapted Devographics’ survey platform and improved the questions for the second edition. Responses grew by about 500, but the host and guests acknowledge that promotion still mainly reaches people already engaged with the React Native community.