Many React Native apps ship without full observability. The result? Blind spots in performance, crashes, and user behavior once your app is in the wild.

In this episode of React Universe On Air, Łukasz Chludziński sits down with Jonathan Munz (Senior Software Engineer at Embrace) and Adam Horodyski (React Native Expert at Callstack) to unpack how OpenTelemetry can bring structure and clarity to mobile monitoring.

They break down why mobile observability is harder than observability on backend, what the OTLP protocol enables, and how to instrument React Native apps without locking into a single vendor. You’ll also hear how community-driven tooling like React Native OpenTelemetry and the Embrace React Native SDK can simplify setup and improve data portability.

You’ll learn:

➡️ How observability and OpenTelemetry work together

➡️ The 3 core OpenTelemetry signal types for mobile

➡️ Why mobile instrumentation is more complex than backend telemetry

➡️ How OTLP improves interoperability between tools

➡️ Where auto-instrumentation is still missing in React Native

➡️ The role of Embrace and open-source libraries in reducing setup overhead

Check out episode resources on our website 📚 https://clstk.com/4104nAF

Catch more React Universe On Air episodes 🎧 https://clstk.com/45EWnYe

Monitor what matters in your React Native app with Callstack’s help 🤝 https://clstk.com/3HoM3KI

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Chapters

00:00 Welcome to the React Universe

01:07 Meet our guests

03:07 Defining observability and OpenTelemetry

04:32 Signals in observability

11:57 Challenges with observability in React & React Native

16:04 Standardization and OpenTelemetry protocol

18:08 Embrace and Open Telemetry

21:29 Future of OpenTelemetry in mobile

27:23 Exploring React Native OpenTelemetry

29:54 Community involvement in OpenTelemetry

37:34 Real observability in React Native

46:41 Future of React Native observability

50:40 Hey, listeners, here’s what we want you to do

54:46 Conclusion and final thoughts