React Native 0.85 is now available! This release includes the New Animation Backend, selection data in TextInput onChange events, Metro TLS support, and moves the Jest preset to a dedicated package. reactnative.dev/blog/2026/04/0…

New Animation Backend React Native 0.85 introduces a preview of the Shared Animation Backend, built in collaboration with Software Mansion. This is a new internal engine that will power both Animated and Reanimated. It expands first class native animation support in core, and unlocks even faster native performance for Reanimated. This is an experimental feature and will be available in 0.85.1 (shortly).

React Native DevTools improvements - Multiple CDP connections: Connect DevTools, VS Code, and AI agents simultaneously - Native tabs on macOS: System-level tab handling for power users

Metro TLS support The Metro dev server now accepts a TLS configuration, enabling HTTPS and WSS during development.

Jest preset moved to new package The Jest preset has been extracted to `@react-native/jest-preset`, reducing core package size. Update your jest.config.js:

Other changes - Dropped support for EOL Node.js versions (v21, v23) - StyleSheet.absoluteFillObject removed (use StyleSheet.absoluteFill) - Metro bumped to ^0.84.0 - TextInput onChange now includes selection data