InjazAI

Shopify is moving from React Native to separate Swift and Kotlin codebases for its native apps, because AI coding agents now handle enough translation, testing and review work to offset the cost of maintaining two platforms.

1 min read

Shopify Drops React Native for Swift and Kotlin, Citing AI Coding Agents

What happened

FAQ

Why is Shopify moving from React Native back to native development?

Because AI coding agents can now handle Swift-Kotlin translation, testing and review well enough that maintaining two codebases is no longer the deciding cost it was in 2020.

What happens to Shopify's React Native libraries?

react-native-skia and flash-list are looking for new maintainers, while restyle will be archived at the end of 2026 due to its smaller user base.

Does this mean React Native is dead?

No. Shopify credited React Native as a strong platform for six years; the decision reflects a changed trade-off now that coding agents reduce duplication work.

Should MENA engineering teams rethink their mobile stack?

If a team chose React Native mainly to avoid duplicated work, it is worth recalculating with current AI agent tooling, while weighing local Swift and Kotlin hiring costs.

Source: Simon Willison (LLM & tools)

AI-assisted content, human-reviewed.