React Native’s recent development can be measured through release timing, repository activity, package metadata, and the scale of changes in each version. The React Native versions page lists releases from 0.77 through 0.85, while the project repository and npm package page provide additional measures of community and distribution activity. Together, these figures show a framework moving through frequent releases while changing its architecture, supported tools, and platform requirements.
Contents
- Release schedule and support status
- Repository scale and activity
- npm package measurements
- Commits and contributors by release
- React and architecture changes
- Build performance and developer requirements
- Android and iOS platform requirements
Release schedule and support status
The React Native versions page records both a branch-cut date and a release date for each version. The listed sequence shows a release cadence that generally places a new version several weeks after its branch cut, although the exact interval varies.
| Version | Branch cut | Release date | Status listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.85.x | 2026-03-02 | 2026-04-06 | Active |
| 0.84.x | 2026-01-05 | 2026-02-09 | Active |
| 0.83.x | 2025-11-03 | 2025-12-10 | End of Cycle |
| 0.82.x | 2025-09-01 | 2025-10-06 | Unsupported |
| 0.81.x | 2025-07-10 | 2025-08-12 | Unsupported |
| 0.80.x | 2025-05-07 | 2025-06-12 | Unsupported |
| 0.79.x | 2025-03-04 | 2025-04-08 | Unsupported |
| 0.78.x | 2025-01-15 | 2025-02-19 | Unsupported |
| 0.77.x | 2024-11-26 | 2025-01-21 | Unsupported |
The React Native versions page marks 0.85.x and 0.84.x as Active. Version 0.83.x is marked End of Cycle, while 0.82.x is marked Unsupported. Versions 0.81.x, 0.80.x, 0.79.x, 0.78.x, and 0.77.x are also marked Unsupported. These labels are useful when interpreting the release list: a version can be relatively recent in calendar terms while no longer appearing as a supported release.
The release dates span from January 21, 2025 for 0.77.x to April 6, 2026 for 0.85.x. The two most recent entries in this list, 0.84.x and 0.85.x, are both marked Active on the same schedule.
Repository scale and activity
The facebook/react-native GitHub repository shows several large community and maintenance figures. The repository has 126k stars, 25.2k forks, and 3.5k watchers. Its landing page shows 741 issues and 546 pull requests. It also lists 461 releases and 40,731 commits.
These measures describe different forms of repository activity. Stars indicate the size of the audience that has marked the repository for interest. Forks show how many repository copies have been created. Watchers represent accounts following repository activity. Issues and pull requests describe visible work and discussion queues at the time represented by the repository page. Releases and commits measure project history rather than only the newest version.
The repository’s 40,731 commits provide a long development record, while 461 releases indicate a substantial number of published release events. The 126k stars and 25.2k forks place the project within a large open-source ecosystem. Because repository counts can change, these values should be read as page measurements rather than permanent totals.
npm package measurements
The npm package page snippet reports 34 dependencies for the react-native package and 6,471 dependents. It lists 2,302 versions and shows a current version of 0.81.1. The same snippet says the package was published 6 days ago and that React Native includes built-in TypeScript declarations.
The package measurements give a different view from GitHub. Dependencies describe the package’s declared requirements, while dependents count packages that use it according to npm’s package information. The 2,302-version figure reflects the number of versions displayed by that package record, not the number of supported releases in the React Native versions schedule. Those are separate measures and should not be combined.
The current version shown by the npm snippet, 0.81.1, also differs from the versions page’s release-schedule entries, which include 0.84.x and 0.85.x. This difference is a reminder to attach a measurement date and source context to package statistics. The npm page says it was published 6 days ago; that statement is retained as reported by the package page and is not treated as a project-wide release-date calculation.
The npm page also states that React Native includes built-in TypeScript declarations. That is a package capability statement rather than a numeric adoption rate, but it helps explain what the package metadata represents: the package record contains both structural information, such as dependencies and versions, and implementation information about its included developer tooling.
Commits and contributors by release
Release posts provide quantified information about work included in versions 0.77 through 0.85. The figures are reported as “over” counts, so they should be read as lower bounds rather than exact totals.
| Release | Reported commits | Reported contributors |
|---|---|---|
| 0.77 | over 1,061 | 161 |
| 0.78 | over 509 | 87 |
| 0.80 | over 1,167 | 127 |
| 0.81 | over 1,110 | 110 |
| 0.82 | over 868 | 93 |
| 0.83 | over 594 | 56 |
| 0.84 | over 650 | 95 |
| 0.85 | over 604 | 58 |
The React Native 0.80 release post reports the largest commit figure in this group, at over 1,167 commits, with 127 contributors. Version 0.81 follows at over 1,110 commits and 110 contributors. Version 0.77 reports over 1,061 commits and 161 contributors, the highest contributor count in the listed release posts.
At the other end of the supplied release figures, 0.78 reports over 509 commits from 87 contributors, while 0.85 reports over 604 commits from 58 contributors. The counts do not measure identical kinds of work or a fixed time interval, so they are best used to compare the release-post figures directly rather than to calculate productivity or average contribution size.
The sequence also shows that commit volume and contributor count do not move together. Version 0.85 reports fewer contributors than 0.84, but its reported commit count is lower by a smaller amount than the contributor difference alone would suggest. Since each release post uses “over” for the commit total, exact ratios would not be supported by these data.
React and architecture changes
The release posts identify several milestones in React Native’s underlying direction. React Native 0.80 ships React 19.1.0. React Native 0.82 ships React 19.1.1 and is described as the first React Native version that runs entirely on the New Architecture. Its release post also says that newArchEnabled=false on Android is ignored and RCT_NEW_ARCH_ENABLED=0 on iOS is ignored.
React Native 0.82 adds support for DOM Node APIs. React Native 0.83 ships React 19.2 and adds <Activity> plus useEffectEvent to React Native. The 0.83 release post specifies that [email protected] depends on [email protected].
These milestones are version-specific. The architecture statements concern 0.82, while the React 19.2 dependency and additions concern 0.83. Keeping them separated avoids treating several releases as one change. The versioned information also shows a progression from React 19.1.0 in 0.80, to React 19.1.1 in 0.82, and React 19.2 in 0.83.
React Native 0.85 introduces the new Shared Animation Backend. Its release post says the animation system is available across Animated and Reanimated. This is a capability description, not a quantified performance claim, so it belongs alongside the architectural milestones rather than in a numerical benchmark comparison.
Build performance and developer requirements
React Native 0.80 reports that an iOS prebuild benchmark run on an M4 machine was roughly 12% faster than building from source. The machine specification and comparison are part of the reported benchmark context. The 12% figure should therefore be understood as a result for that stated setup, not as a universal speed increase for every project or computer.
React Native 0.81 reports that precompiled iOS builds can cut compile times by up to 10x. “Up to” identifies a maximum reported improvement, not an average or guaranteed result. Read together with the 0.80 benchmark, the two figures describe different performance claims: one is a roughly 12% comparison in an M4 prebuild benchmark, and the other is a maximum compile-time reduction associated with precompiled iOS builds.
The same 0.81 release requires Node.js 20.19.4 or later and Xcode 16.1 or later. React Native 0.84 raises the Node.js requirement to 22.11 or later. The requirements therefore change between the cited releases, and the later version should not be represented as if it applied to 0.81.
Android and iOS platform requirements
React Native 0.81 defaults Android apps to targeting Android 16, identified in the release post as API level 36. The post also says Google Play submissions must meet the 16 KB page-size requirement starting November 1, 2025. This date is a stated submission requirement, not a measurement of how many applications had complied.
React Native 0.81 also includes a platform-related build change: precompiled iOS builds can reduce compile times by up to 10x. React Native 0.84 then ships precompiled binaries on iOS by default. The 0.81 statement describes a possible compile-time benefit, while the 0.84 statement describes a default distribution choice; they are related but not interchangeable claims.
The version schedule places 0.81.x’s branch cut on 2025-07-10 and release on 2025-08-12. Version 0.82.x follows with a 2025-09-01 branch cut and 2025-10-06 release date, and version 0.84.x has a 2026-01-05 branch cut and 2026-02-09 release date. Those dates provide the calendar context for the platform and architecture changes described in the release posts.
For Media & Streaming teams, the practical statistics are therefore distributed across several layers: release status, package metadata, repository scale, release contribution counts, and explicit platform requirements. The figures do not establish usage share or application performance across the whole ecosystem, but they do document the project’s release activity and the technical changes reported for versions 0.77 through 0.85.