React Native 0.84 Upgrade: Faster iOS Builds and WebAssembly Support

⚡ React Native 0.84 dropped in February and it might be the quietest performance upgrade in years - but the numbers are anything but quiet. iOS clean builds just got 8x faster. Let that sink in. ⏱️ Here's what actually changed and what it means for your app: 🔥 Hermes V1 is now the default • Real-world benchmarks: 10-15% faster Time to Interactive on complex views • Better ES6+ support - some Babel transforms are no longer needed • Simpler toolchain, less config to maintain 🏗️ iOS builds: 8x faster out of the box • Precompiled .xcframework binaries are now downloaded automatically during pod install • Previously, Hermes was compiled from source on your machine every time • This alone is going to save your CI pipeline serious minutes per run 🌐 WebAssembly support lands in Hermes • WASM now runs inside the Hermes engine • Opens the door to running local AI inference directly on-device - no server, no latency • This one's going to age well 👀 🧹 Legacy Architecture is gone. For real. • No more dead code in your iOS builds • Smaller app size, faster startup, cleaner codebase • If you're still on the Old Architecture... now is the time ⚠️ ⚠️ One thing to check • React Native 0.84 requires Node.js v22.11 or later • If your CI is pinned to an older Node version, bump it before upgrading ✅ Should you upgrade now? • Using Expo? Wait for SDK 56 - SDK 55 ships RN 0.83 • Bare RN project? Yes, upgrade. The iOS build time win alone is worth it • Still on Legacy Architecture? Upgrade + migrate. 0.84 removes it entirely The WebAssembly + on-device AI angle is the part I'm most excited about. We're getting closer to a world where your mobile app can run meaningful inference without a round trip to the cloud. What's your team's upgrade strategy for RN releases - do you track them closely, or wait for Expo to ship them in an SDK? 👇 #reactnative #javascript #typescript #mobiledev #expo #ios #android #hermes #webassembly #frontend

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