Q&A Panel

Panelists recommend making contribution steps clear, offering mentorship, and creating approachable starter issues. Emily describes Facebook issues that broke larger tasks, such as adding Flow types to native modules, into listed files and instructions; 40 to 50 files drew pull requests within a day. The panel also hears how a Mongolian React Native group grew to 1,100 members and funded translated documentation through meetups and donations.

Panelists identify package quality, compatibility across React Native versions, and the difficulty of maintaining JavaScript, Android, and iOS code as ongoing challenges. They describe Android support as improving, while noting that tooling and emulator gaps can lead teams to test iOS more often. One panelist recommends trying a physical Android device to reduce testing friction.

Hiring advice centers on JavaScript and React fundamentals, readable code, and willingness to learn native languages and platform behavior. On reaching 1.0, the panel says the label alone would not resolve concerns; the Lean Core effort is one example of making React Native smaller and more stable by moving components such as WebView into separate repositories. Panelists also point to documentation improvements, including better coverage of differences between iOS and Android.

Panelists advise developers to keep up with changes, build personal projects, help with issues, and learn how the underlying platforms work. Facebook tracks time to recent content, which goes beyond time to interaction to account for fetching fresh server content. The team also describes fixing flicker and animation issues to improve the perceived quality of React Native experiences.

The panel discusses support for platforms beyond iOS and Android, including Windows and macOS, and says the core team wants to make React Native easier for others to integrate and maintain. Panelists cite Hermes, Microsoft’s involvement, and the community’s growth as reasons for optimism. Albert highlights autolinking as a way to make native module dependencies easier to manage.