TypeScript, Expo and EAS, New Architecture
Hire React Native Developers Who Understand the Native Side Too
When you hire React Native developers through us, you get TypeScript engineers who build with Expo and EAS, work on the New Architecture, and can open Xcode or Android Studio when a native module needs fixing. You interview each candidate and begin with a two-week trial on your own tickets.
Below: skills by level, interview questions, an OTA update policy and a two-week onboarding plan.
- TypeScript first
- New Architecture and TurboModules
- Two-week trial on real tickets
- Code in your repository from day one
When it makes sense to hire React Native developers
React Native fits teams that already work in TypeScript and React. Web engineers can review mobile pull requests, share validation logic and API clients (handy with a Node.js backend), and move between codebases. For many products that makes hiring and retention easier than running separate Swift and Kotlin teams.
The framework has also changed under the hood. According to the React Native 0.76 release notes, version 0.76 (October 2024) enabled the New Architecture by default and declared it production-ready, bringing JSI, the Fabric renderer, TurboModules and bridgeless mode. Developers who learned React Native on the old bridge sometimes struggle with libraries that have not migrated, so ask about it directly.
React Native developer skills matrix by seniority
Most teams need a mid-level TypeScript developer plus a senior comfortable in Swift and Kotlin.
| Skill | Junior | Mid-level | Senior |
|---|---|---|---|
| TypeScript | Typed props and API responses | Generics, discriminated unions, strict mode across the app | Shared type packages with web; enforces types at API boundaries |
| New Architecture / TurboModules | Knows it exists; uses compatible libraries | Upgrades apps to the New Architecture; checks library compatibility | Writes TurboModules and Fabric components with Codegen |
| Expo / EAS | Runs Expo dev builds | Config plugins, EAS Build profiles, EAS Update channels | Release strategy mixing store builds and over-the-air updates safely |
| Reanimated | Simple animations with existing patterns | Worklets, shared values, gesture handler integration | Complex gesture-driven UI that stays smooth on low-end Android |
| Native module bridging | Uses community modules | Patches a module in Swift or Kotlin | Builds and maintains native modules for SDKs without React Native support |
| Detox / Maestro testing | Jest unit tests | Maestro or Detox flows for critical user paths | End-to-end test strategy running on CI devices |
| Store releases | TestFlight and internal testing uploads | Store review responses on both platforms | Release planning, OTA update policy and rollback plans |
Rates depend on seniority, hours and engagement length, and we quote each brief in writing. As market context, 13 of the 16 Pakistani firms with a stated rate on page one of Clutch’s directory (October 2026) list $25 to $49 an hour; that is market data, not our price.
Typical tasks for React Native developers
The tickets our React Native developers most often own.
Feature delivery
Screens built in TypeScript against your design system, with Jest tests and checks on both platforms.
New Architecture migration
Auditing libraries, replacing unmaintained ones and enabling the New Architecture without breaking releases.
Expo adoption
Moving a bare app onto Expo modules, config plugins and EAS Build to simplify native maintenance.
Native modules
Bridging analytics, hardware or payment gateway SDKs that have no React Native package.
Performance
List virtualisation, Reanimated for gestures, Hermes profiling and startup time work.
Release and OTA updates
EAS Update channels for JavaScript-only fixes, and store releases when native code changes.
Interview questions to ask when you hire React Native developers
React knowledge is necessary but not sufficient. Push into the native and release topics where weak candidates go quiet.
- What changed with the New Architecture, in practical terms? Synchronous JSI calls instead of the async bridge, Fabric rendering, TurboModules loaded lazily, and checking library support.
- A third-party library breaks on the New Architecture. What are your options? Check for an updated version or fork, use the interop layer, replace it, or write a TurboModule.
- When would you use EAS Update, and when must you ship a store build? OTA for JavaScript and asset changes only; native changes require a store build and runtime version matching.
- How do you keep a long FlatList smooth? Stable keys, memoised items, getItemLayout, avoiding inline functions, or switching to FlashList.
- Why does Reanimated run animations on the UI thread, and what is a worklet? Avoiding JS thread congestion; worklets are functions that run on the UI runtime.
- Walk me through bridging a native SDK. Codegen spec, Swift and Kotlin implementations, threading, events back to JavaScript, and an Expo config plugin.
- Detox or Maestro: which do you prefer and why? Either can be right; look for practical experience with flakiness, CI devices and test IDs.
- How do you manage secrets and environment config? Never in the JS bundle where avoidable; build-time config per profile, server-side for real secrets.
- How do you debug a crash that only happens in release builds? Source maps uploaded to Sentry or Crashlytics, Hermes stack traces, testing release builds locally.
- How do you share code with a React web app? Shared packages for types, API clients and validation; UI usually stays separate.
Close with a code review of a real screen from your app. It shows whether the candidate spots re-render issues and missing types without prompting.
Shortlist React Native developers you can interview this way
Send the brief and the questions you plan to ask. We will match profiles against them and include our own interview notes for each candidate.
Onboarding plan for the first two weeks
The two weeks double as the trial, so each step produces evidence for the end-of-trial decision.
Days 1–2: access and running builds
Repository, Expo and EAS account, both store consoles, Sentry, Figma and the board. Goal: development builds running on an iPhone and an Android device.
Days 3–4: dependency audit
Run npx expo-doctor, which checks libraries against React Native Directory data for maintenance and New Architecture support, and list the risky ones. A small bug fix goes through review in parallel.
Days 5–7: first feature ticket
A scoped feature with Jest tests, checked in release mode on both platforms, not only in the dev client.
Days 8–10: both release paths
One store build with EAS Build and one EAS Update to an internal channel, confirming the runtime version matches. Then a one-page draft of your OTA update policy.
Day 10: trial review
Pull requests, estimates, the dependency list and the OTA draft reviewed together. Continue, request a replacement or stop.
OTA update policy: what may ship through EAS Update
Over-the-air updates are React Native’s biggest release advantage and its easiest way to break production. The store rules set the limits: Apple’s Guideline 2.5.2 bars downloaded code that introduces or changes features, and Google Play’s policy exempts code running in an interpreter, such as JavaScript. A senior hire should write a policy like this before the first OTA release.
| Change | How it ships | Rule behind it |
|---|---|---|
| JavaScript bug fix, copy or layout correction | EAS Update to the matching runtime version | An update loads only on binaries with a matching runtime version |
| New native module, SDK upgrade or permission change | Store build, with the runtime version bumped | Native code and configuration are fixed when the binary is built |
| New feature or changed app purpose, even in JavaScript only | Store build through App Review | Apple 2.5.2: downloaded code may not introduce or change features |
| Urgent crash fix | EAS Update with –rollout-percentage, then raise it | Only one update can be rolled out on a branch at a time |
| A bad update reaches users | eas update:rollback to the previous update or to the one embedded in the build | Clients that never launch an update successfully fall back to the embedded one |
Sources: Expo EAS Update and expo-updates documentation, Apple App Review Guidelines, Google Play Device and Network Abuse policy (checked October 2026).
How hiring works through us
You send a brief, we return a screened shortlist, you interview, and the developer you approve starts a two-week trial on real tickets, under an NDA and in your repository. Vetting steps are on hire mobile app developers; app development engagement models compares the options. To hand over the whole build instead, see React Native app development.
When you should not hire a React Native developer
If nobody in your company writes TypeScript and you are starting from scratch, the main React Native advantage, shared skills with web, does not apply. Compare it with hiring Flutter developers on its own merits.
For apps built around heavy graphics, background audio or deep hardware access, native developers usually cost less in the long run. Our honest Flutter vs React Native comparison covers where each framework struggles, and React Native vs native app development covers when Swift and Kotlin are the better hire.
Questions about hiring React Native developers
Can we push fixes without waiting for App Review?
For JavaScript-only fixes, yes. EAS Update delivers them to installed builds with a matching runtime version, and a percentage rollout limits the damage if something is wrong. Native changes, new SDKs and new features still go through a store build, because Apple’s Guideline 2.5.2 bars downloaded code that adds or changes features. A written OTA policy keeps that line clear.
Do your React Native developers use Expo?
Yes, where it fits. Expo with EAS Build and config plugins removes a lot of native maintenance, and it now works well for most production apps. Developers also work in bare React Native projects and can move an existing bare app onto Expo modules gradually.
Can they write native code in Swift and Kotlin?
Senior React Native developers can write and patch native modules in Swift and Kotlin, including TurboModules. For heavy native work, such as a complex hardware SDK, we may suggest pairing them with a native iOS or Android developer for that piece.
Which React Native version should our app be on?
As close to current as your libraries allow. As of October 2026 the latest release is React Native 0.88, and minors arrive roughly every two months. Since 0.82, React Native runs only on the New Architecture, and Expo SDK 55 and later do the same. An app still on 0.81, Expo SDK 54 or older needs a planned migration, which a senior developer can scope in the trial.
Is our app ready for the New Architecture?
A developer can audit it in the first weeks: React Native version, library compatibility, custom native modules, and any code relying on old bridge behaviour. The output is a short migration plan with the risky libraries listed, so you can schedule the work.
We still use CodePush. What should we do?
Plan a move. Expo notes that Microsoft App Center shut down on 31 March 2025, and CodePush with it. EAS Update is the replacement Expo documents, and its migration guide recommends uninstalling CodePush, because an app with both could fetch updates from both services. Changing the update provider needs a new store build, so schedule it alongside a normal release.
Find the React Native developer your app needs
Share your React Native version, Expo setup and hours. We will send matched profiles with interview notes, and you decide who starts the trial.