Lessons from Shopify's Migration to React Native with Mustafa Ali | React Universe On Air #46

In 2020, Shopify decided to switch to React Native for both new and existing apps. In November 2024, the migration of their mobile app was officially over, resulting in a remarkable 86% unification of code across platforms and a streamlined development process that stems from eliminating 1.8 million lines of redundant code, reducing build times, and achieving seamless feature parity between iOS and Android. Let’s take a closer look at the decision-making process involved in this transformation with Mike Grabowski ( https://twitter.com/grabbou ) as our host and Mustafa Ali ( https://twitter.com/mustafa01ali ), Shopify's Director of Engineering, as his guest. Learn about the motivations for this change, such as reducing duplicated efforts and enabling seamless developer collaboration across web and mobile, the challenges faced, particularly in optimizing performance for their high-usage point-of-sale app, and the essential role of native developers in ensuring exceptional app performance and user experience. Check out episode resources on our website 🧠 https://hubs.li/Q031_HNC0 Download free React Native Migration Guide 📖 https://hubs.li/Q031_Hxy0 Share your feedback on this episode ✨ https://bit.ly/feedback46 Get your React Universe Conf 2025 tickets 🎟 https://hubs.li/Q030Y5mp0 Check out other episodes of our podcast 🎧 https://hubs.li/Q031_Qmf0 Follow us on X 🐦 https://twitter.com/callstackio Chapters 00:00 Welcome to the React Universe 00:18 Meet our guest: Mustafa Ali 00:55 Mustafa's role at Shopify 02:00 Evaluating other technologies and choosing React Native 03:20 Motivation for change and benefits of React Native 05:40 Native engineers’ role and reactions to migration 09:35 Prototyping for React Native migration 12:38 Tracing the migration path for least disturbance and biggest impact 15:02 Various migration approaches at Shopify 17:27 Brownfield from Shopify’s experience 18:30 Factoring React Native limitations into the migration journey 20:30 Role of Open Source 23:28 Migration timeline at Shopify: Expectations vs. reality 25:15 The first and last React Native screens 27:50 Codebase changes in numbers 31:04 Code-sharing with React on web and other platforms 34:10 React Native’s impact on development workflow 36:12 Consistency and user experience across platforms 37:35 Advice for other businesses planning migration to React Native 39:40 Most exciting changes in React Native 41:13 Conclusion and final thought