React Native 0.80 brings JavaScript API changes, React 19.1 and frozen Legacy Architecture

React Native 0.80 introduces several changes aimed at enhancing developer experience and code quality. The release improves and stabilizes the public JavaScript API and formally deprecates deep imports. Developers will now receive warnings about these deprecated imports through ESLint and the JavaScript console, though these are limited to project source code and can be opted out of if necessary.

In conjunction with these updates, React Native offers a new Strict TypeScript application programming interface by shipping updated TypeScript types for the react-native package. The introduction of stricter types will benefit developers using TypeScript for improved tooling and safety.

While the Legacy Architecture is now marked as frozen, the team allows developers to temporarily opt out of the New Architecture in case they encounter bugs or regressions. As part of the migration effort, React Native DevTools now display warnings when developers use APIs that are incompatible with the New Architecture.

The 0.80 release ships with React 19.1.0, aligning with the latest stable version for improved compatibility. Additionally, React Native for iOS can now partially ship as a prebuild, which helps reduce overall build times. For Android, the release delivers significant reductions in the size of all built applications. Other updates include a redesigned New App Screen, along with further enhancements and bug fixes.