React Native Patterns
Performance and architecture patterns for React Native + Expo apps. Rules ranked by impact — fix CRITICAL before touching MEDIUM.
This is a starting point. The skill will grow as you build more mobile apps.
When to Apply
- Building new React Native or Expo apps
- Optimising list and scroll performance
- Implementing animations
- Reviewing mobile code for performance issues
- Setting up a new Expo project
1. List Performance (CRITICAL)
Lists are the #1 performance issue in React Native. A janky scroll kills the entire app experience.
| Pattern | Problem | Fix |
|---|
| ScrollView for data | <ScrollView> renders all items at once | Use <FlatList> or <FlashList> — virtualised, only renders visible items |
| Missing keyExtractor | FlatList without keyExtractor → unnecessary re-renders | keyExtractor={(item) => item.id} — stable unique key per item |
| Complex renderItem | Expensive component in renderItem re-renders on every scroll | Wrap in React.memo, extract to separate component |
| Inline functions in renderItem | renderItem={({item}) => <Row onPress={() => nav(item.id)} />} | Extract handler: const handlePress = useCallback(...) |
| No getItemLayout | FlatList measures every item on scroll (expensive) | Provide getItemLayout for fixed-height items: (data, index) => ({length: 80, offset: 80 * index, index}) |
| FlashList | FlatList is good, FlashList is better for large lists | @shopify/flash-list — drop-in replacement, recycling architecture |
| Large images in lists | Full-res images decoded on main thread | Use expo-image with placeholder + transition, specify dimensions |
FlatList Checklist
Every FlatList should have:
<FlatList
data={items}
keyExtractor={(item) => item.id}
renderItem={renderItem} // Memoised component
getItemLayout={getItemLayout} // If items are fixed height
initialNumToRender={10} // Don't render 100 items on mount
maxToRenderPerBatch={10} // Batch size for off-screen rendering
windowSize={5} // How many screens to keep in memory
removeClippedSubviews={true} // Unmount off-screen items (Android)
/>
2. Animations (HIGH)
Native animations run on the UI thread. JS animations block the JS thread and cause jank.
| Pattern | Problem | Fix |
|---|
| Animated API for complex animations | Animated runs on JS thread, blocks interactions | Use react-native-reanimated — runs on UI thread |
| Layout animation | Item appears/disappears with no transition | LayoutAnimation.configureNext(LayoutAnimation.Presets.easeInEaseOut) |
| Shared element transitions | Navigate between screens, element teleports | react-native-reanimated shared transitions or expo-router shared elements |
| Gesture + animation | Drag/swipe feels laggy | react-native-gesture-handler + reanimated worklets — all on UI thread |
| Measuring layout | onLayout fires too late, causes flash | Use useAnimatedStyle with shared values for instant response |
Reanimated Basics
import Animated, { useSharedValue, useAnimatedStyle, withSpring } from 'react-native-reanimated';
function AnimatedBox() {
const offset = useSharedValue(0);
const style = useAnimatedStyle(() => ({
transform: [{ translateX: withSpring(offset.value) }],
}));
return (
<GestureDetector gesture={panGesture}>
<Animated.View style={[styles.box, style]} />
</GestureDetector>
);
}
3. Navigation (HIGH)
| Pattern | Problem | Fix |
|---|
| Expo Router | File-based routing (like Next.js) for React Native | app/ directory with _layout.tsx files. Preferred for new Expo projects. |
| Heavy screens on stack | Every screen stays mounted in the stack | Use unmountOnBlur: true for screens that don't need to persist |
| Deep linking | App doesn't respond to URLs | Expo Router handles this automatically. For bare RN: Linking API config |
| Tab badge updates | Badge count doesn't update when tab is focused | Use useIsFocused() or refetch on focus: useFocusEffect(useCallback(...)) |
| Navigation state persistence | App loses position on background/kill | onStateChange + initialState with AsyncStorage |
Expo Router Structure
app/
├── _layout.tsx # Root layout (tab navigator)
├── index.tsx # Home tab
├── (tabs)/
│ ├── _layout.tsx # Tab bar config
│ ├── home.tsx
│ ├── search.tsx
│ └── profile.tsx
├── [id].tsx # Dynamic route
└── modal.tsx # Modal route
4. UI Patterns (HIGH)
| Pattern | Problem | Fix |
|---|
| Safe area | Content under notch or home indicator | <SafeAreaView> or useSafeAreaInsets() from react-native-safe-area-context |
| Keyboard avoidance | Form fields hidden behind keyboard | <KeyboardAvoidingView behavior={Platform.OS === 'ios'? 'padding': 'height'}> |
| Platform-specific code | iOS and Android need different behaviour | Platform.select({ios:..., android:...}) or .ios.tsx / .android.tsx files |
| Status bar | Status bar overlaps content or wrong colour | <StatusBar style="auto" /> from expo-status-bar in root layout |
| Touch targets | Buttons too small to tap | Minimum 44x44pt. Use hitSlop={{top: 10, bottom: 10, left: 10, right: 10}} |
| Haptic feedback | Taps feel dead | expo-haptics — Haptics.impactAsync(Haptics.ImpactFeedbackStyle.Light) on important actions |
5. Images and Media (MEDIUM)
| Pattern | Problem | Fix |
|---|
| Image component | <Image> from react-native is basic | Use expo-image — caching, placeholder, transition, blurhash |
| Remote images without dimensions | Layout shift when image loads | Always specify width and height, or use aspectRatio |
| Large images | OOM crashes on Android | Resize server-side or use expo-image which handles memory |
| SVG | SVG support isn't native | react-native-svg + react-native-svg-transformer for SVG imports |
| Video | Video playback | expo-av or expo-video (newer API) |
6. State and Data (MEDIUM)
| Pattern | Problem | Fix |
|---|
| AsyncStorage for complex data | JSON parse/stringify on every read | Use MMKV (react-native-mmkv) — 30x faster than AsyncStorage |
| Global state | Redux/MobX boilerplate for simple state | Zustand — minimal, works great with React Native |
| Server state | Manual fetch + loading + error + cache | TanStack Query — same as web, works in React Native |
| Offline first | App unusable without network | TanStack Query persistQueryClient + MMKV, or WatermelonDB for complex offline |
| Deep state updates | Spread operator hell for nested objects | Immer via Zustand: set(produce(state => {state.user.name = 'new'})) |
7. Expo Workflow (MEDIUM)
| Pattern | When | How |
|---|
| Development build | Need native modules | npx expo run:ios or eas build --profile development |
| Expo Go | Quick prototyping, no native modules | npx expo start — scan QR code |
| EAS Build | CI/CD, app store builds | eas build --platform ios --profile production |
| EAS Update | Hot fix without app store review | eas update --branch production --message "Fix bug" |
| Config plugins | Modify native config without ejecting | app.config.ts with expo-build-properties or custom config plugin |
| Environment variables | Different configs per build | eas.json build profiles + expo-constants |
New Project Setup
npx create-expo-app my-app --template tabs
cd my-app
npx expo install expo-image react-native-reanimated react-native-gesture-handler react-native-safe-area-context
8. Testing (LOW-MEDIUM)
| Tool | For | Setup |
|---|
| Jest | Unit tests, hook tests | Included with Expo by default |
| React Native Testing Library | Component tests | @testing-library/react-native |
| Detox | E2E tests on real devices/simulators | detox — Wix's testing framework |
| Maestro | E2E with YAML flows | maestro test flow.yaml — simpler than Detox |
Common Gotchas
| Gotcha | Fix |
|---|
| Metro bundler cache | npx expo start --clear |
| Pod install issues (iOS) | cd ios && pod install --repo-update |
| Reanimated not working | Must be first import: import 'react-native-reanimated' in root |
| Expo SDK upgrade | npx expo install --fix after updating SDK version |
| Android build fails | Check gradle.properties for memory: org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx4g |
| iOS simulator slow | Use physical device for performance testing — simulator doesn't reflect real perf |
