Welcome to issue 164 of the React Native Newsletter!

In this issue, we have two Expo-related Top Picks; a Tweet announcing the release of a stable version of the Expo Modules API, and an article demonstrating a way to use the file-based Expo-router to download server-side React Native components.

We also highlight two Tweets about React Native Testing Library. One describes new Jest accessibility matchers and the other announces a new set of *byRole queries.

Tune in to this week's video message from the editor-in-chief, Jon Major Condon, to hear all about the latest in React Native!

Watch the full update on YouTube

This week's top picks

For each issue, we select 4 articles/Tweets,/docs from your submissions and suggestions from Infinite Red’s team of engineers that we feel are interesting and informative to React Native developers.

Stable version of the Expo Modules API is finally out!

The details of this exciting development are in this Twitter thread, including nuggets of goodness such as using JSI to bypass the bridge, why it's designed for Kotlin and Swift rather than Objective-C/C++ or Java, and how it supports Fabric out of the box thanks to renderer-agnostic native views.

Expo-router and remote code

This article shows a clever technique for downloading server-side React Native components via Expo Router and the react-native-wormhole module. It provides a link to the author's monorepo that demonstrates how to do it yourself.

Tweet about the toHaveAccessibilityValue() matcher for React Native Testing Library

Jest accessibility matchers in React Native Testing Library are now out! This is a big step in making A11y a first class citizen and something that is expected rather than a bonus. You can read about the PR in jest-native here.

Tweet about *b yRole Queries with name option for React Native Testing Library

This Tweet announces new, more expressive *byRole queries in the React Native Testing Library. Read more about them in the API Reference Docs.

Sponsors of the newsletter

Runway

Spend less time in App Store Connect and Google Play Console.

Runway gives you a unified control center for React Native releases with automations that make the process smoother and easier to manage — from beta distribution to release and everything in between.

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Callstack

The React Native Show - a podcast series powered by Callstack

How to stay up to date with the React Native world news? With The React Native Show you know what’s up in the community. We dive deep into our topics - for each episode, we invite experts in the field.

The latest episodes include:

Module Federation in React Native, with Zack Jackson, maintainer of Webpack
React Native New Architecture, with Nicola Corti from Meta
React Native at Microsoft, with Lorenzo Sciandra from Microsoft

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React Native Live

Watch the live stream of cutting-edge React Native open source hacking and exploration

Join Infinite Red CTO, Jamon Holmgren, usually (but not always) on Mondays from 10am - 12pm PT for React Native Live!

Can't join live? Find the streams over on our Youtube channel!

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Follow Jamon on Twitter for updates!

Community highlights

We select 2 open source React Native projects/libraries/node modules/components from your submissions and suggestions from Infinite Red's team of engineers that enhance your React Native apps or offer instructive source code examples.

React Native Calendar Kit

This is a fully featured React Native calendar component. It supports pinch to zoom and drag-and-drop to create/update event. There are a number of library dependencies required to use it, but installation instructions are provided for both vanilla and Expo React Native projects.

Maestro

Maestro is a simple and effective mobile UI testing framework. The key to its effectiveness is that typically flaky/unreliable aspects of UI tests such as shifting positions of components, tap events not going through, and delays to load content, are expected - and embraced - by Maestro.

React Native Radio

Listen in every week to hear the latest in React Native from our team

Join our hosts Robin Heinze, Mazen Chami, Jamon Holmgren, and Jon Major Condon. Follow on twitter to hear about new episodes and upcoming guest speakers!

RNR 251 - Examining React Native 0.70
In this episode, Mazen and Robin review RN 0.70 to see what's new, what's broken, and everything in between. Mazen also continues his quest to get Robin hooked on sports-ball....

RNR 252 - Ionic's React Native Portals with Josh Thomas

Ionic’s Josh Thomas joins the podcast to talk about their new React Native Portals feature, allowing for highly performant microfrontends in React Native apps....

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