React Native 0.61 Release
Article Summary
React Native's hot reloading was so broken that most developers just turned it off. The 0.61 release completely reimagined it from scratch.
The React Native team shipped version 0.61 with Fast Refresh, a ground-up rewrite of the developer reloading experience. After community feedback revealed hot reloading as a top pain point (unreliable with function components, poor error handling), the team unified live and hot reloading into a single, more robust feature.
Key Takeaways
- Fast Refresh fully supports modern React including function components and Hooks
- Gracefully recovers from typos and errors, falling back to full reload when needed
- Preserves React local state in function components by default during edits
- React upgraded to 16.9 and new useWindowDimensions Hook added
- CocoaPods use_frameworks! support fixed for iOS integration
Critical Insight
Fast Refresh replaces the notoriously unreliable hot reloading with a feature robust enough to be enabled by default, finally making instant feedback work reliably for React Native developers.
