React Native 0.85 Goes Live with Shared Animation Backend
React Native 0.85 is now available, bringing a new animation engine built in partnership with Software Mansion, along with a major Jest restructuring and several developer experience upgrades. The release is already rolling out to npm.
“This shared backend allows animations to run more efficiently by moving core logic into React Native itself,” said a React Native core contributor. “Reanimated can now achieve performance gains that were previously impossible.”
New Animation Backend: A Game-Changer for Performance
The centerpiece of React Native 0.85 is the Shared Animation Backend, a new internal engine that powers both Animated and Reanimated. By centralizing animation update logic, the framework enables layout properties like Flexbox and position to be animated with the native driver for the first time.
“Developers can now animate width, height, margins, and more without falling back to the JS thread,” explained a Software Mansion engineer. “This closes a long-standing gap in React Native animation capabilities.”
The feature is available as an experimental opt-in starting with React Native 0.85.1, which will be released shortly. Code examples are available in react-native/packages/rn-tester/js/examples/AnimationBackend/.
Breaking Changes: Jest Preset Moves to Dedicated Package
In a significant restructuring, the Jest preset has been moved to its own package: @react-native/jest. Developers must update imports from react-native/jest-preset to the new package to avoid test failures.
Other breaking changes include:
- Removal of
StyleSheet.absoluteFillObject - Dropped support for end-of-life Node.js versions (older than 18)
- Deprecation of several internal APIs
The React Native team advises reviewing the full changelog for migration steps.
DevTools Upgrades and Metro TLS Support
React Native DevTools now support multiple simultaneous CDP connections, letting VS Code, DevTools, and AI agents connect at once without session interruptions. On macOS, native tab handling has been added via Window > Merge All Windows.
“Request payload previews in the Network panel have been restored on Android,” noted a developer experience lead. “This was a regression we’re glad to fix.”
Additionally, the Metro dev server now accepts a TLS configuration object, enabling HTTPS and secure WebSocket connections for Fast Refresh during development.
Background
React Native has long struggled with animation performance on native drivers, especially for layout-related properties. Previously, native driver support was limited to transforms and opacity, forcing developers to use the slower JS-driven animations for layout changes. The new backend solves this by unifying the animation engine between Animated and Reanimated, ensuring consistent behavior and better stability across future React Native updates.
The Jest preset separation aligns with the broader push to modularize React Native, allowing independent versioning and reducing bundle bloat for projects that don’t use Jest.
What This Means
Developers can now create smoother, more complex animations without sacrificing performance. The ability to animate layout props with the native driver opens up new possibilities for interactive UIs, from expanding cards to animated grids. Reanimated users will benefit directly from the performance optimizations that were previously unattainable.
The Jest preset change requires a one-time migration but leads to cleaner dependency management. Meanwhile, the DevTools and Metro improvements streamline debugging and secure local development. React Native 0.85 sets the stage for a more performant, modular future—though the animation backend remains experimental until the 0.85.1 patch. Teams are encouraged to test it in non-production environments and provide feedback.