• Today we are excited to release React Native 0.81! • This ships with support for Android 16 (API level 36) and includes a variety of other stability improvements and bugfixes, as well as experimental support for faster iOS builds using precompilation. • Highlights​ Android 16 support SafeAreaView deprecation Community-maintained JavaScriptCore support Experimental Precompiled iOS builds Highlights​ Android 16 support​ Android apps built with React Native 0.81 will now default to targetingAndroid 16(API level 36). • As previously announced by Google, Android 16 requires thatapps are displayed edge-to-edgewith no support foropting out. • To support this, we are deprecating thecomponentas previously announcedin favor of alternatives.See belowwhich will provide better edge-to-edge support. • We are also adding a new gradle propertyedgeToEdgeEnabledto let you choose if you wish to enable edge-to-edge on all supported Android versions below 16.

Article Summaries:

  • React Native 0.81 has been released, adding support for Android 16 (API level 36) and introducing several stability improvements. Apps now default to targeting Android 16, which requires edge‑to‑edge rendering and adaptive layouts; the legacy SafeAreaView component is deprecated in favor of more flexible solutions. A new Gradle property lets developers enable edge‑to‑edge on older Android versions, and predictive back gestures are enabled by default. The built‑in JavaScriptCore engine has been moved to a community‑maintained package, while Hermes remains unchanged. Additionally, experimental precompiled iOS builds are available to speed up iOS compilation times.

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