TL;DR
Get the latest gadgets delivered free — and shop member deals
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Access to Prime Big Deal Days deals on October 6–7
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
Shopify has announced that native mobile development is now its strategic direction, ending its five-year commitment to React Native. The company cited AI coding tools that make native iOS and Android development faster, highlighted by a rewrite of its Shop app in 12 weeks.
Shopify has dropped React Native as the foundation of its mobile strategy, declaring native iOS and Android development “the future of mobile” at the e-commerce company, according to a detailed account published by The Pragmatic Engineer. The reversal comes five years after Shopify moved all six of its mobile apps to React Native, and the company attributes the change largely to AI coding assistants that have made writing native code dramatically faster — including a rewrite of its Shop app in just 12 weeks.
The announcement triggered strong reaction in the mobile development community, comparable to the stir Shopify caused when it originally moved to React Native in 2020, The Pragmatic Engineer reported. At that time, Shopify justified the switch by citing slow Android build times and the appeal of consistent iOS and Android apps. The company moved six apps to React Native and, five years on, the migration was still viewed internally as a good decision, according to the report.
The stated reason for the new reversal is the rapid improvement of AI coding models. The Pragmatic Engineer reported that current-generation AI tools are now strong at writing mobile and backend code, which reduces the relative advantage of cross-platform abstractions like React Native. Because React Native adds a layer of abstraction that native development does not have, the calculus around shared codebases has shifted.
As evidence of how fast native development has become, the report highlighted that Shopify rewrote its Shop app in native code in 12 weeks — a pace that would have been unrealistic in earlier years. Additional details came directly from Shopify’s mobile team, according to the report.
What Shopify’s Reversal Signals for Mobile Teams
Shopify is one of the most prominent React Native adoptees outside Meta, and its full commitment in 2020 was widely cited as validation of the framework for large-scale production use. Its exit is a high-profile data point for engineering leaders weighing cross-platform versus native approaches.
The rationale also matters beyond Shopify: if AI coding assistants meaningfully reduce the cost of maintaining separate iOS and Android codebases, one of the core selling points of cross-platform frameworks — write once, run everywhere — weakens. The Pragmatic Engineer noted that native apps have historically offered full control over platform capabilities, integrations, and performance, and that the main argument against native was development speed, an argument AI tools may now be defusing.
The report also pointed to Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) as a technology positioned between the two extremes, allowing shared business logic across platforms while each app stays native, and suggested KMP could gain traction in an AI-assisted development era.
Top picks for "shopify dropp react"
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
From 2020 React Native Bet to Pandemic-Era Android Woes
When Shopify went all-in on React Native in 2020, mobile was central to its business. Farhan Thawar, then Head of Engineering, wrote at the time: “Each quarter, the majority of buyers purchase on mobile (with 71% of our buyers purchasing on mobile in Q3 of last year [in 2019]).” He added that during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Shopify merchants saw an average of 69% of sales on mobile, up 3% year over year.
A key motivation was difficulty shipping native Android apps quickly. The report cited Clubhouse as an extreme example of the era’s Android problem: the app launched iOS-only in March 2020, took 14 months to reach an Android beta in May 2021, and only rolled out globally on Android in July 2021 — after its usage peak. Clubhouse’s installs grew from 600,000 in December 2020 to 3.5 million in January 2021, but the delayed Android release meant it missed its growth wave, according to the report.
The report also drew a parallel to Airbnb, which adopted React Native in 2016 and moved back to native two years later, citing performance. It noted that migrating to native can take years — Notion has been working on it for seven years.
“Each quarter, the majority of buyers purchase on mobile (with 71% of our buyers purchasing on mobile in Q3 of last year [in 2019]).”
— Farhan Thawar, then Shopify Head of Engineering (2020)
Questions the Report Leaves Open
The full timeline for migrating Shopify’s remaining apps from React Native to native code has not been laid out publicly, and the report did not specify which apps beyond Shop have been rewritten. The 12-week Shop rewrite figure comes from Shopify’s own account relayed through The Pragmatic Engineer and has not been independently verified.
It is also unclear whether the productivity gains Shopify attributes to AI tools will generalize to other companies with different app architectures, team sizes, and budgets. The report itself raised the question of whether Notion’s years-long native migration will ultimately slow its iteration speed, suggesting the trade-offs remain unsettled across the industry. The long-term implications for React Native adoption ecosystem-wide are likewise unknown.
Migration Pace and Industry Watchpoints
Shopify’s remaining React Native apps are expected to migrate to native over time, though the company has not published a public schedule. The Pragmatic Engineer noted that while native iOS and Android development has become easier with AI, the same is true for React, Flutter, and Kotlin Multiplatform — meaning the competitive landscape among mobile technologies is still evolving rather than settled.
Industry observers will be watching whether other large React Native adopters follow Shopify’s path, whether KMP gains share as a middle-ground option, and whether AI-assisted native development sustains the velocity Shopify demonstrated with its 12-week Shop rewrite. Further technical details from Shopify’s mobile team may emerge as the migration progresses.
Key Questions
Why did Shopify originally adopt React Native in 2020?
Shopify cited slow Android native build times and the benefit of consistent iOS and Android apps. Mobile was central to its business, with 71% of buyers purchasing on mobile in Q3 2019, according to then-Head of Engineering Farhan Thawar.
Why is Shopify leaving React Native now?
According to The Pragmatic Engineer, the main driver is AI coding models that have become highly capable at writing native mobile and backend code, reducing the advantage of React Native’s cross-platform abstraction. Shopify reportedly rewrote its Shop app natively in 12 weeks.
How long did the Shop app rewrite take?
The Pragmatic Engineer reported that Shopify rewrote the Shop app in native code in 12 weeks, a figure attributed to details from Shopify’s mobile team.
Has any other big company made a similar switch?
Yes. Airbnb adopted React Native in 2016 and returned to native two years later, citing performance as the underlying reason, according to the report.
Does this mean React Native is dead?
No. The report notes that AI tools have made building React, Flutter, and Kotlin Multiplatform apps easier too. KMP in particular was highlighted as a technology that could grow in popularity. Shopify’s exit is one company’s decision, not an industry-wide verdict.
Source: rss
Fall Picks
fall essentials
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
