What really happens when React Native’s core contributors gather behind closed doors?

In this episode of React Universe On Air, recorded live at React Universe Conf 2025, host Łukasz Chludziński sits down with Joel Arvidsson, Jay Meistrich, and Thibault Malbranche to unpack the hottest debates and wisest insights from the Core Contributor Summit.

They dive into:

➡️ How the cooperation between consultancies, big organizations like Meta or Microsoft, and OSS contributors looks like

➡️ 2025 as the “year of stability” for React Native

➡️ The promise (and pain) of React Native for desktop apps

➡️ Flipper’s decline and new community-driven DevTools

➡️ Whether React Native 1.0 is just a marketing label or a true milestone

➡️ How agencies and individuals balance open source with client work

➡️ Practical advice for engineers who want to contribute and join the conversation

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome to the React Universe

01:21 Meet our guests: Thibault Malbranche, Joel Arvidsson, Jay Meistrich

02:33 What is Core Contributor Summit

04:02 Meta vs. community usage of React Native

07:19 Year of stability & tooling challenges

09:00 Surprise session: React Native for Desktop

16:10 Concrete outcomes vs. planting seeds

21:02 Open Source dynamics & collaboration

27:30 React Native 1.0

33:45 Future directions & getting involved

36:50 Final thoughts

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