If you haven’t yet looked at the new React Native architecture, this blog is a must-read. React Native has experienced substantial modifications with its most recent release, which includes the Fabric Renderer and TurboModule System.

These improvements are intended to address the drawbacks of the old design, such as reliance on the Bridge, delayed data transfer, and asynchronous UI changes.

The new architecture promises increased performance, UI responsiveness, and shorter startup times. Fabric, which represents the UI layer, and TurboModule, an improved version of Native modules, are crucial components of this update.

They enable direct communication between Javascript and Native components, which reduces latency and increases efficiency. Understanding these improvements and their benefits will allow you to make use of the new architecture’s enhanced capabilities and create high-performance applications.

Dive into this blog to discover why the latest React Native architecture is a game-changer for modern app development.

Why New React Native Architecture is required?

To appreciate React Native architecture, we must first grasp the limits of the previous one. The former design was mainly based on a single-threaded approach with three significant threads: Javascript, leading, and shadow threads.

These threads communicated asynchronously over the Bridge, resulting in dependencies, uncertainty, and delays. The current structure of React Native has various flaws. First, the design relied mainly on the Bridge for thread communication, which was inefficient. The serializable Bridge required more copying than sharing memory across app threads, increasing overhead.

The asynchronous paradigm did not assure that messages arrived at their destination on time, resulting in delayed data transfer and unreliable message delivery. Furthermore, asynchronous UI changes frequently resulted in unexpected page jumps, providing a bad user experience.

Since its inception, React Native has been constantly evolving, and by the second quarter of 2018, preparations for re-architecting had already begun. These restrictions underlined the need for a new React Native architecture to address these issues while providing a more efficient and seamless development experience.

Everything About the New React Native Architecture

To address the limitations of the previous design, React Native version 0.70 was released in October 2022. This new design considerably improves the framework’s efficiency and versatility while utilizing the Hermes Javascript engine, which has been further optimized for React Native apps.

The revised React Native architecture seeks to bring performance closer to native apps while improving interoperability with Javascript-based hybrid frameworks.

Fabric is sometimes regarded as the completely new React Native architecture. However, it is essentially only the UI layer. Fabric supports direct Shadow tree construction in C++ via UIManager, which improves UI interaction by eliminating the need to switch threads.

Fabric employs the Javascript Interface (JSI) to interact directly with the UI and Javascript sides, prioritizing time-sensitive UI operations.

This direct interface allows the Javascript side to do activities concurrently, resulting in a better and more responsive UI experience

TurboModule is another critical component of the new design. TurboModules are an extension of the original Native modules, created to improve performance and behaviour.

This method minimizes startup time for applications with a large number of Native modules, resulting in better performance and more effective resource utilization.

Codegen automates synchronization and compatibility between Javascript and native threads, resulting in more native code generated during the build process rather than during runtime.

This reduces the requirement for code duplication and accelerates data transfer by reducing the necessity for data validation at each stage. Codegen defines the interface components TurboModules and Fabric use, resulting in smooth integration and enhanced performance.

The new React Native architecture primarily aims to replace the Bridge with the redesigned Javascript Interface (JSI). JSI enables direct communication between Javascript and Native components by referencing C++ Host objects to invoke methods.

This shift eliminates the Bridge, a significant bottleneck in the old system, and allows the JS bundle to function independently of Javascript Core (JSC). This independence means that alternative Javascript engines, such as Chrome’s V8, could be used, offering greater flexibility and performance enhancements.

Benefits of New React Native Architecture

The advantages of the new architecture are substantial. Direct communication without the Bridge reduces latency, significantly boosting performance.

UI responsiveness is enhanced through Fabric’s prioritized UI tasks, and lazy-loaded TurboModules ensure faster startup times by optimizing application initialization. Codegen improves code management by minimizing duplication and speeding up data transfer.

The new React Native architecture resolves previous limitations, providing developers with a more efficient and robust framework.

This eliminates the Bridge, a significant bottleneck in the old architecture. Additionally, JSI allows the JS bundle to operate independently of Javascript Core (JSC), enabling the potential use of other engines like Chrome’s V8 for greater flexibility and performance.

Enhanced performance stands out, as direct component communication without the Bridge reduces latency, which is the most vital advantage of New React native architecture. UI responsiveness is significantly improved, with Fabric enabling prioritized UI tasks.

Thanks to lazy-loaded TurboModules, which optimize application initialization, startup times are faster. Codegen enhances code management by reducing duplication and ensuring quicker data transfer. The new React Native architecture addresses previous limitations, offering developers a more efficient and robust framework.

How to Migrate to the New React Native Architecture?

Migrating to the new React Native architecture takes a few steps. First, ensure you have the correct version of React Native for a smoother transition.

The current modifications need the React nightly version, which must eventually be upgraded to the most recent stable release.

For Android, start by upgrading Gradle to the latest version. Then, install the latest React Gradle plugin using the code provided in the React Native reference guide. For iOS, activate C++ language feature support in your build settings.

There are two primary methods of migration. The first, RNNewArchitectureApp, involves transitioning from old to new architecture.

This method requires you to import native components from the latest React Native version and integrate them into the new architecture. Each commit follows a distinct migration process, and each branch illustrates the transition across different versions.

The second method, RNNewArchitectureLibraries, takes a more incremental approach. It focuses on gradually building TurboModule and Fabric components step-by-step.

This method is less about conversion and more about creating new components compatible with the updated architecture, ensuring a smoother and more controlled migration process.

This solution focuses on generating new components rather than converting existing ones, maintaining compatibility with prior versions of React Native.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is the new React Native architecture released?

Yes, the most recent stable version of the new React Native architecture, version 0.70, was published in October 2022. This release is a huge milestone, presenting new features such as the Fabric Renderer and TurboModule System.

These advancements address past restrictions, such as dependency on the Bridge for communication, resulting in improved performance and efficiency.

The new design includes lazy loading for TurboModules, which shortens startup times, and Codegen, which automates synchronization between Javascript and Native threads. Overall, version 0.70 provides a more robust and efficient foundation for creating high-performance, cross-platform apps, improving the user experience and developer efficiency.

Why is it vital to update the React Native architecture?

The update was essential to address the old architecture’s limitations, including reliance on the Bridge, slow data transmission, and asynchronous UI updates. These issues hindered performance and efficiency, necessitating the new architecture for improved communication, faster data handling, and better overall application responsiveness.

What are the major perks of React Native?

React Native assists in building high-performance, cross-platform applications with a single codebase without interruption. The new architecture enhances these strengths by improving performance, UI responsiveness, and startup times.

How do we overcome the significant limitations of the current React Native architecture?

Hire a skilled React Native developer from us to leverage the new architecture and enhance your cross-platform mobile application—benefit from improved performance, faster startup times, and better UI responsiveness. Our developers bring the best of the React ecosystem to ensure your app’s success and efficiency.

Conclusion

React Native is a fantastic tool for creating contemporary, cross-platform commercial apps. The new React Native design increases the framework’s efficiency and versatility, making it even more appealing to developers.

Understanding the changes and benefits of the new architecture allows you to use its sophisticated capabilities to construct high-quality apps. The new design solves the constraints of the previous architecture, providing a more efficient and robust platform for developers.

With incredible speed, UI responsiveness, shorter startup times, and better code management, the new React Native architecture is poised to transform the development experience and propel your apps to new heights.

Feel free to contact us to start your project or take your existing one to the next level. Our React Native developers are ready to implement your goals with speedy development and ensure your business success.