Shopify is moving all of our mobile apps from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin.
Going all-in on React Native in 2020 was hugely successful for us. We saved a ton of time by building features once, enabled developers with no mobile background to contribute to our apps, and stopped constantly chasing feature parity.
Since then, LLMs have gotten dramatically better. They can use an iOS implementation to build the Android version and vice versa, help developers work outside their usual stack, and keep both platforms aligned through shared specs, tests, and review.
Native still means building and maintaining software on two platforms. That hasn’t gone away. But LLMs can now do enough of the implementation, translation, testing, and review that it’s no longer the deciding factor it was in 2020.
That has made greenfield rebuilds realistic. Shop went from proof of concept to a fully rebuilt native app in the app stores in 12 weeks. Other apps are also underway.
From the beginning, we wanted to contribute back to React Native and help make it better. We’re grateful for how the community embraced React Native Skia, FlashList, and Restyle, and we’re committed to transitioning them cleanly, with clear timelines and no surprises for the people who rely on them.
React Native was the right choice for us in 2020. Native is the right choice for us now. The goal hasn’t changed: build better apps and ship faster.
More details here: https://shopify.engineering/back-to-native
