DigestAI news desk
● OpenAI board member warns company is not on track to prevent catastrophic AI loss of control ● OpenAI Unveils GPT‑6 Astra: Record‑Breaking 3D Rendering, Loop‑Transformer Architecture ● OpenAI launches Agents API beta for long-running cloud agents ● OpenAI solves Navier-Stokes problem, sparking academic controversy over data use ● OpenAI Introduces ChatGPT for Financial Services ● The Waymo effect: AI making research less collaborative ● RTK Token Savings Debunked: Cost Benchmarks Disagree ● Ypsilanti Township Residents Protest Nuclear AI Data Center Proposal
Enterprise & Industry updated 1 min read

Shopify Switches Back to Native Apps, Drops React Native

Shopify, a major e-commerce platform, has decided to switch back from React Native to separate Swift and Kotlin codebases for their native apps. This move was made in 2020 for three reasons: to stop building the same features twice, to allow developers to work across the stack, and to spend less time chasing feature parity and more time shipping value. However, the cost of building and…

1 source

Key points

  • Shopify switches back to native apps from React Native
  • Three reasons for the switch: reduce feature duplication, allow cross-stack development, and improve feature parity
  • Agents can now handle more of the implementation, reducing the importance of native development
Full story from Simon Willison · by Simon Willison Open source ↗

Native is now the future of mobile at Shopify

Simon Willison · 10 September 2026

10th September 2026 - Link Blog

Native is now the future of mobile at Shopify (via) Shopify are moving from React Native back to separate Swift and Kotlin codebases for their native apps, for the exact reason you would expect:

We decided to switch from native to React Native in 2020 for three reasons:

  • Stop building the same features twice
  • Allow developers to work across the stack
  • Spend less time chasing feature parity and more time shipping value [...]

Native still means building and maintaining software on two platforms, that cost has not disappeared. What changed is that agents can now do enough of the implementation, translation, testing, and review work that it’s no longer the deciding factor it was in 2020.

It's a well-written post, which gives full credit to React Native as a great platform for the six years they were using it.

Shopify are the maintainers of three significant React Native libraries: react-native-skia, flash-list, and restyle. The first two are finding new homes; the third "has a smaller user base than our other libraries" and will be archived at the end of 2026.

Recent articles

  • Some thoughts on the Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize Problem - 8th September 2026
  • The Pelican comparison grid for Astra is pretty interesting - 4th September 2026
  • OpenAI's rogue agents were caught communicating via public wikis - 4th September 2026

This text was published by Simon Willison and written by Simon Willison. It is reproduced here with attribution so you can read it in full; the rights remain with the publisher. Read it at the source ↗

Topics · follow one to build your own front page
Shopify

The headline, key points and digest above were generated by Digest AI's editorial model from the linked sources. Automated summaries can contain errors: the sources are the record. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Comments

via GitHub Discussions

Related stories