0.75

August 14, 2024 by Gabriel Donadel

React Native 0.75 was released, and Expo SDK 51 now supports both React Native 0.74 and 0.75. Typically, an Expo SDK version is tied to a specific React Native version. For example, Expo SDK 50 is only tested against and expected to be compatible with React Native 0.73. We've decided that this isn't necessary for React Native 0.75, making this an even quicker upgrade than usual.

Why no full SDK release for React Native 0.75?

The 0.75 release includes bug fixes and improvements, but React Native engineers at Meta consider it a relatively small release compared to the upcoming 0.76 release in the fall. To minimize the frequency of SDK releases and continue rolling out the New Architecture, we opted to add support for both 0.74 and 0.75 to the same SDK release.

How to use React Native 0.75 with Expo SDK 51

The default React Native version for Expo SDK 51 will continue to be 0.74. You can opt in to using 0.75 with the following steps:

1. Exclude packages from version validations

All Expo packages work with both 0.74 and 0.75 versions. However, some libraries in the Expo SDK do not have releases compatible with both versions simultaneously. For example, react-native-reanimated@~3.10.0 does not support React Native 0.75; you will need react-native-reanimated@~3.15.0.

Add the expo.install.exclude property to your package.json file:

{
  "expo": {
    "install": {
      "exclude": [
        "react-native@~0.74.0",
        "react-native-reanimated@~3.10.0",
        "react-native-gesture-handler@~2.16.1",
        "react-native-screens@~3.31.1"
      ]
    }
  }
}

2. Install updated packages

npx expo install react-native@~0.75.0 react-native-reanimated@~3.15.0 react-native-gesture-handler@~2.18.1 react-native-screens@~3.34.0

3. Update your Android native project

• If you use CNG and have run prebuild locally, run npx expo prebuild --clean -p android to re-generate the native projects.
• If you do not use CNG, update your settings.gradle, app/build.gradle, and gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties. Refer to the Native Project Upgrade Helper for details. Keep Jetifier enabled to avoid issues with expo-camera.

4. Optional: Try out autolinking speed improvements

With Expo SDK 51 and React Native 0.75, the autolinking step for React Native libraries is now faster — up to ~6.5x faster on Android and ~1.5x faster on iOS.

When installing CocoaPods or running an Android build, autolinking speed improvements may not be immediately noticeable. However, for quick tasks like generating a project fingerprint with @expo/fingerprint, autolinking can represent significant execution time.

In an upcoming version of React Native, the React Native Community CLI and autolinking packages will be removed from React Native, and our new implementation will become the default. Set EXPO_UNSTABLE_CORE_AUTOLINKING=1 to try it with the latest version of Expo SDK 51 and React Native 0.75.

What's next?

We'll continue working on SDK 52 and React Native 0.76, with plans to have them ready early in the fall. If you encounter any issues with React Native 0.75 and Expo SDK 51, please file an issue on GitHub.