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React Native 0.85 is now available! This release includes the New Animation Backend, selection data in TextInput onChange events, Metro TLS support, and moves the Jest preset to a dedicated package. reactnative.dev/blog/2026/0...

New Animation Backend Built with Software Mansion, this new internal engine powers Animated and Reanimated. You can now animate layout props with native driver in Animated — the limitation stated in the docs no longer applies. Opt in via ReactNativeFeatureFlags.

React Native DevTools improvements - Multiple CDP connections — connect DevTools, VS Code, and AI agents simultaneously - Native tabs on macOS — system-level tab handling for power users - Request payload previews restored on Android

Metro TLS support The Metro dev server now accepts a TLS configuration, enabling HTTPS and WSS during development — useful for testing APIs that enforce secure connections. Configure in metro.config.js with cert, key, and ca.

Jest preset moved to new package The Jest preset has been extracted to @react-native/jest-preset, reducing core package size. Update your jest.config.js: preset: '@react-native/jest-preset'

Other changes - Dropped support for EOL Node.js versions - StyleSheet.absoluteFillObject removed (use StyleSheet.absoluteFill) - Metro bumped to ^0.84.0 - TextInput onChange now includes selection data