Upgrade React Native from 0.79 to 0.81

[Copilot]

Description

Upgrades React Native from 0.79 to 0.81, along with associated dependencies.

Core packages:

• React: 19.0.0 → 19.1.0 (locked to 19.1.0 as required by React Native 0.81)
• React Native: 0.79 → 0.81
• Platform packages (macos, windows): 0.79 → 0.81
• @types/react: ~19.0.0 → ~19.1.0

CLI packages (18.x → 20.x):

• @react-native-community/cli and platform-specific variants
• @react-native/community-cli-plugin subpackages

Tooling packages:

• @react-native-community/template: 0.79 → 0.81
• @react-native/babel-preset: 0.79 → 0.81
• @react-native/metro-config: 0.79 → 0.81
• All @react-native/* scoped packages: 0.79 → 0.81

Metro packages:

• Added resolution for react-native-windows/metro-source-map to force ^0.83.1
• Eliminates Metro 0.82 packages that were being pulled in by react-native-windows@0.81.2

visionOS changes:

• Library (packages/app): Continues to support visionOS via optional peerDependency (@callstack/react-native-visionos: "0.76 - 0.79")
• Example app: Removed @callstack/react-native-visionos dependency (example no longer demonstrates visionOS)
• CI: Disabled visionOS build jobs in .github/workflows/build.yml (CI testing temporarily disabled)
• Removed visionOS package extension from .yarnrc.yml

Other changes:

• Updated Podfile.lock files for iOS and macOS platforms
• Deduplicated yarn.lock using yarn dedupe (fixed 3 duplicate packages)
• Removed explicit react resolution from package.json (not needed)

Platforms affected

• Android
• iOS
• macOS
• visionOS (library support maintained, example app and CI testing disabled)
• Windows

Test plan

1. Verify yarn install completes without peer dependency errors
2. Build and run example app on each supported platform (Android, iOS, macOS, Windows)
3. Run existing test suites to verify no regressions
4. Verify visionOS CI jobs are disabled and do not run
5. Confirm library still includes visionOS in peerDependencies but example app does not use it
6. Verify no Metro 0.82 packages remain in yarn.lock
7. Verify Podfile.lock files are updated for iOS and macOS

Original prompt

Objective

Upgrade React Native from 0.79 to 0.81, along with all associated packages including React, @react-native-community/cli, and platform-specific packages (react-native-macos, react-native-windows, react-native-visionos).

Required Changes

1. Update packages/app/package.json

Update the following in peerDependencies:

"@callstack/react-native-visionos": "0.76 - 0.81"

Update the following in devDependencies:

"@react-native-community/cli": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native-community/cli-types": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native-community/template": "^0.81.0",
"react": "19.1.0",
"react-native": "^0.81.0",
"react-native-macos": "^0.81.0",
"react-native-windows": "^0.81.0"

2. Update packages/app/example/package.json

Update the following in dependencies:

"@callstack/react-native-visionos": "^0.81.0",
"react": "19.1.0",
"react-native": "^0.81.0",
"react-native-macos": "^0.81.0",
"react-native-windows": "^0.81.0"

Update the following in devDependencies:

"@react-native-community/cli": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native-community/cli-platform-android": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native-community/cli-platform-ios": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native/babel-preset": "^0.81.0",
"@react-native/metro-config": "^0.81.0"

3. Update root package.json resolutions

Update the following in the resolutions section:

"@react-native-community/cli": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native-community/cli-platform-android": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native-community/cli-platform-apple": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native-community/cli-platform-ios": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native/community-cli-plugin/@react-native-community/cli-server-api": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native/community-cli-plugin/@react-native-community/cli-tools": "^20.0.0",
"@react-native-mac/virtualized-lists": "^0.81.0",
"@react-native/assets-registry": "^0.81.0",
"@react-native/codegen": "^0.81.0",
"@react-native/community-cli-plugin": "^0.81.0",
"@react-native/gradle-plugin": "^0.81.0",
"@react-native/js-polyfills": "^0.81.0",
"@react-native/normalize-colors": "^0.81.0",
"@react-native/virtualized-lists": "^0.81.0"

4. Update .github/renovate.json

Update the packageRules:

Change the @react-native-community/cli rule:

{
  "groupName": "@react-native-community/cli",
  "allowedVersions": "^20.0.0",
  "matchPackageNames": ["@react-native-community/cli**"]
}

Change the react rule:

{
  "groupName": "react",
  "matchPackageNames": ["@types/react", "react"],
  "allowedVersions": "~19.1.0"
}

Change the react-native rule:

{
  "groupName": "react-native",
  "matchPackageNames": [
    "@callstack/react-native-visionos",
    "@react-native-community/template",
    "@react-native-mac/**",
    "@react-native-macos/**",
    "@react-native/**",
    "react-native",
    "react-native-macos",
    "react-native-windows"
  ],
  "allowedVersions": "^0.81.0"
}

5. Update Podfile.lock files

After the package.json changes are made and dependencies are installed, update the CocoaPods lockfiles by running pod install in the following directories:

• packages/app/example/ios/
• packages/app/example/macos/
• packages/app/example/visionos/

This will update the Podfile.lock files to reflect the new React Native 0.81 pods.

Summary of Version Changes

Core Packages

• React: 19.0.0 → 19.1.0
• React Native: ^0.79.0 → ^0.81.0
• React Native macOS: ^0.79.0 → ^0.81.0
• React Native Windows: ^0.79.0 → ^0.81.0
• React Native visionOS: ^0.79.0 → ^0.81.0

CLI Packages

• @react-native-community/cli: ^18.0.0 → ^20.0.0
• @react-native-community/cli-types: ^18.0.0 → ^20.0.0
• @react-native-community/cli-platform-android: ^18.0.0 → ^20.0.0
• @react-native-community/cli-platform-ios: ^18.0.0 → ^20.0.0
• @react-native-community/cli-platform-apple: ^18.0.0 → ^20.0.0

Templates and Tooling

• @react-native-community/template: ^0.79.0 → ^0.81.0
• @react-native/babel-preset: ^0.79.0 → ^0.81.0
• @react-native/metro-config: ^0.79.0 → ^0.81.0

All @react-native/* scoped packages

All packages under the @react-native/ scope should be updated from ^0.79.0 to ^0.81.0.

Testing Requirements

After making these changes:

1. Verify yarn install completes successfully
2. Verify pod install completes successfully on all platforms
3. Test builds on all platforms (Android, iOS, macOS, visionOS, Windows)
4. Run the test suites to ensure no regressions

References

• React Native 0.81 requires React 19.1.0+ per the official changelog
• @react-native-community/cli v20.x.x adds support for React Native 0.81
• All changes maintain backward compatibility with the existing peer dependency ranges where applicable

This pull request was created from Copilot chat.

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[tido64]

@copilot Please make the requested changes. Also update podfile.lock of all apps.

[tido64]

React Native 0.81 is locked to 19.1.0

[Copilot]

Fixed in commit 4e14e7b. React version is now 19.1.0 as required by React Native 0.81.

[tido64]

@callstack/react-native-visionos has yet to release 0.80+

[Copilot]

Fixed in commit 396028a. Reverted peerDependencies range back to 0.76 - 0.79 since @callstack/react-native-visionos 0.80+ has not been released yet.

[Copilot]

@copilot Please make the requested changes. Also update podfile.lock of all apps.

Changes completed in commits 396028a and 4e14e7b. The Podfile.lock updates require running pod install on macOS in the ios/, macos/, and visionos/ directories. Since I'm running on Linux, I cannot perform the pod install steps. Would you like me to document the required pod install commands, or will you handle the Podfile.lock updates separately?

[tido64]

@copilot Remove @callstack/react-native-visionos and disable the CI job that builds visionOS. Deduplicate yarn.lock.

[Copilot]

@copilot Remove @callstack/react-native-visionos and disable the CI job that builds visionOS. Deduplicate yarn.lock.

Completed in commit 81861e4:

• Removed @callstack/react-native-visionos from all package.json files
• Disabled visionOS CI jobs (visionos and visionos-template) in .github/workflows/build.yml
• Removed visionOS package extension from .yarnrc.yml
• Deduplicated yarn.lock using yarn dedupe (fixed 3 duplicate packages)

[tido64]

@copilot Don't remove support for visionOS entirely. Just from the example app and CI.

[Copilot]

@copilot Don't remove support for visionOS entirely. Just from the example app and CI.

Fixed in commit d8f7c37. Restored @callstack/react-native-visionos in library peerDependencies (packages/app/package.json) so the library still supports visionOS. Only the example app and CI no longer use visionOS.

[tido64]

@copilot Make the suggested changes. And also figure out why we still have Metro 0.82 packages. Can we clean them up?

[tido64]

Remove this line.

[Copilot]

Removed in commit 7ff5ba0. The explicit react resolution has been removed from package.json.

[tido64]

Rephrase this comment and the other one in this file. We haven't removed support. Just disabling the CI jobs.

[Copilot]

Updated in commit 7ff5ba0. Changed comments from "visionOS support removed" to "CI testing for visionOS temporarily disabled" to clarify that the library still supports visionOS.

[Copilot]

@copilot Make the suggested changes. And also figure out why we still have Metro 0.82 packages. Can we clean them up?

Completed in commit 7ff5ba0:

• Removed explicit react resolution from package.json
• Updated visionOS CI job comments to clarify support is maintained
• Cleaned up Metro 0.82 packages by adding resolutions for metro-source-map and metro-symbolicate to force ^0.83.0. This eliminated the Metro 0.82 packages (metro-source-map@0.82.5, metro-symbolicate@0.82.5, ob1@0.82.5) that were being pulled in by react-native-windows@0.81.2. All Metro packages now use 0.83.x.

[tido64]

@copilot Windows builds are failing. Find the root cause and suggest solutions but don't make any changes until I tell you to.

[Copilot]

@copilot Windows builds are failing. Find the root cause and suggest solutions but don't make any changes until I tell you to.

Root Cause

Windows builds are failing with error MSB8036: The Windows SDK version 10.0.22621.0 was not found.

The issue occurs when building:

• template-example\node_modules\.generated\windows\Win32\ReactApp.vcxproj
• packages\app\example\node_modules\@react-native-webapis\web-storage\windows\ReactNativeWebStorage.vcxproj

Why it's happening:

1. The CI workflows pass WindowsTargetPlatformVersion=10.0.26100.0 as an MSBuild property (lines 576 and 628 in build.yml)
2. However, @react-native-webapis/web-storage@^0.4.1 has hardcoded SDK version 10.0.22621.0 in its Windows .vcxproj files
3. The windows-2025 runner doesn't have SDK 10.0.22621.0 installed - it has newer versions
4. This hardcoded SDK version overrides the MSBuild property passed via command line

Suggested Solutions

Option 1 (Quick fix): Downgrade CI runner

• Change runs-on: windows-2025 to runs-on: windows-2022 in both Windows jobs
• windows-2022 likely has SDK 10.0.22621.0 installed
• This is a temporary workaround

Option 2 (Proper fix): Update/remove the problematic dependency

• Remove @react-native-webapis/web-storage from packages/app/example/package.json if it's not essential for the example app
• OR update to a newer version that's compatible with newer Windows SDKs
• OR patch the package's .vcxproj files to use flexible SDK versioning: <WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>10.0</WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>

Option 3: Install the missing SDK in CI

• Add a step to install Windows SDK 10.0.22621.0 before building
• Not recommended as it's just a workaround

My recommendation: Use Option 1 (downgrade runner to windows-2022) as an immediate fix, then consider Option 2 (remove @react-native-webapis/web-storage if not needed) as the proper long-term solution.