What’s New in React Native 0.79?

Home
Blog
What’s New in React Native 0.79? Faster Builds & Better Debugging

Quick Summary

React Native 0.79 brings major performance upgrades and developer-friendly improvements to streamline mobile app development. With changes like faster Metro bundling, quicker Android startup times, and simplified native module registration on iOS, React Native 0.79 enhances both speed and simplicity. If you’re working in the React Native ecosystem, this update is a must for improving your overall development workflow with minimal effort.

Introduction

React Native 0.79 is here, and it’s packed with exciting improvements that make development faster, smoother, and more future-proof. If you’re a React Native developer, especially if you’re newer to the ecosystem, this release brings some big wins without requiring deep technical changes on your part. It’s also a great time for businesses to collaborate with a React Native app development company, as the latest updates streamline workflows and enhance app stability right out of the box. Let’s dive into what’s new in a simple way.

Read More: Why React Native is Ideal For Startup Businesses In 2025?

Key Benefits of React Native 0.79

A Focus on Speed and Simplicity

React Native 0.79 focuses heavily on improving performance and streamlining how tools and components work. This means less waiting, less confusion, and better day-to-day development experiences.

Metro Got a Major Speed Boost

One of the most noticeable improvements comes from Metro, the JavaScript bundler used by React Native. Metro is what packages your app’s code and delivers it to your device during development.

In version 0.79, Metro has been updated to version 0.82, which brings in deferred hashing. This basically means that Metro doesn’t check every file right away when it starts. Instead, it delays some checks to speed up startup time by more than 3 times in many cases—especially in large projects or monorepos. That’s a huge productivity win. You’ll spend less time waiting for your app to load and more time building it.

Also, Metro now fully supports exports and imports fields in your package.json file. These features let you define how other parts of your codebase or external libraries are imported and exported. They’ve been around since React Native 0.72 but are now stable and turned on by default.

JavaScriptCore (JSC) Is Moving to the Community

React Native can run your JavaScript code using different engines. One of these engines is JSC (JavaScriptCore). While many developers now use Hermes (another engine built by Meta), JSC is still important for some use cases.

With React Native 0.79, JSC is no longer being updated directly inside the React Native core. Instead, it’s moving to its own package: @react-native-community/javascriptcore. This makes it easier for the community to update JSC more frequently, keeping it fresh and full of new features.

If you use Hermes, you’re not affected by this. But if you’re still using JSC, you’ll need to install the new package.

This change gives more control to the community and simplifies React Native’s core, making it more maintainable in the long run.

iOS Gets a More Modern Way to Register Native Modules

When you need to use native code (like something written in Swift, Objective-C, or C++) in your React Native project, you use something called a “Native Module.”

In version 0.79, React Native introduces a simpler and more standardized way to register these modules for iOS. Before, you needed to manually write some boilerplate code. Now, you can register your modules right inside your package.json file using a new field called modulesProvider.

Here’s an example:

json
CopyEdit
"codegenConfig": {
  "ios": {
    "modulesProvider": {
      "MyAwesomeModule": "MyAwesomeProviderClass"
    }
  }
}

With this setup, Codegen (a tool that auto-generates native code from your declarations) will do the heavy lifting for you. This new way works both for developers building apps and those maintaining libraries, bringing consistency and simplicity to the process.

Android Apps Start Faster

App startup time is a big deal, especially on Android where things can feel a little slower compared to iOS. In React Native 0.79, Android apps start faster thanks to a change in how the JavaScript bundle is handled.

Previously, the JS bundle was compressed inside the APK (the Android app file). That meant Android had to uncompress it before the app could start, which slowed things down.

Now, by default, the JS bundle is shipped uncompressed. This removes the delay, helping your app start faster. In real-world testing on the Discord app, this change reduced startup time by 400ms—about a 12% speedup—with just a simple one-line change.

Here’s how you can configure this if you want to toggle it manually:

gradle
CopyEdit
react {
  enableBundleCompression = false // faster startup, larger app size
}

Of course, storing an uncompressed bundle does mean your APK will be slightly larger, but the app will still be compressed when downloaded from the internet, so the impact on download size is minimal.

Say Goodbye to Remote JS Debugging

One important change in React Native 0.79 is the removal of Remote JS Debugging using Chrome. This old method was already deprecated in version 0.73 and now it’s officially gone.

Instead, developers are encouraged to use React Native DevTools, which offers a modern and more stable debugging experience.

If you previously used the popular react-native-debugger tool, it won’t work with React Native anymore. But don’t worry—you can use alternatives like Expo DevTools Plugins or standalone versions of Redux DevTools and other debugging tools.

This change helps React Native modernize its debugging workflow and reduce reliance on outdated methods.

What Does All This Mean for You?

If you’re a developer, especially one still learning the ropes, here’s the good news:

Your apps will start up faster, especially on Android.
Metro will be quicker and smarter, speeding up development and CI.
Native modules on iOS are easier to integrate and maintain.
Debugging is moving to better, more consistent tools.

And you don’t have to do much to get all of this. Upgrading to React Native 0.79 gives you most of these improvements out of the box. For some features, like JSC, you’ll need to follow a few setup steps if you’re not using Hermes.

Wrapping Up

React Native 0.79 is a clear step forward for the framework—offering faster builds, smarter tooling, and a smoother development experience without requiring massive code changes. Whether you’re building your first app or managing large-scale React Native projects, this update makes your workflow more efficient and your apps more performant. With enhancements like quicker Metro bundling, streamlined native module registration, and faster Android startup times, there’s never been a better time to level up your mobile app game.

If you’re looking to make the most of these upgrades and deliver high-quality apps faster, it’s the perfect time to hire React Native developers who are up-to-date with the latest practices. Their expertise can help you implement these improvements seamlessly and turn your mobile vision into a polished, high-performing reality.

React Native