Expo SDK 50: Top 5 things you need to know 🚀

Hello friends 👋. In today's episode, we spotlight some of the 5 things you need to know about Expo's newly released SDK 50. So, without further ado, let's get started.

Just a month following the exciting announcement of the live beta for Expo SDK 50 (as tweeted here), Expo has now unleashed the stable version, introducing the impressive 𝝠 Expo SDK 50! Dive into their official blog, and here's a captivating breakdown of the top 5 essential aspects you need to know about this groundbreaking SDK release.

Expo Dev Tools Plugins:

Expo SDK 50 introduces a groundbreaking feature with the Expo Dev Tools Plugins API. This allows library authors and adventurous app developers to create browser-based plugins for debugging and interacting with various aspects of their library or app. The API comes with pre-built plugins for popular tools like Apollo Client, TanStack Query, TinyBase, React Native Async Storage, and React Navigation.

@expo/fingerprint for Compatibility:

Introducing @expo/fingerprint, a solution to the common question faced by React Native developers:
How to determine if an app JavaScript bundle is compatible with a specific build of the app?
The @expo/fingerprint CLI or API generates a fingerprint representing the unique native characteristics of a project, enabling developers to track and manage compatibility changes.

Expo Router v3 and EAS Build Improvements:

Expo Router v3 marks the next major release for file-based routing and advanced web support. It includes bug fixes, stability improvements, better documentation, and experimental support for building universal server endpoints with API Routes. EAS Build has also seen continuous enhancements, including defaulting to Xcode 15.2 for macOS workers, JDK 17 and Ubuntu 20 as default for Linux workers, and Node 18 as the default.

Enhanced SQLite and Camera APIs:

The expo-sqlite/next is a complete rewrite of the SQLite library in Expo SDK 50, modernizing the API and adding features like support for prepared statements, update callbacks, Blob data type, and more. Additionally, expo-camera/next, a revamped version of the camera library, aligns with native platform best practices for improved simplicity and reliability.

EAS Update and First-class Expo Support in Sentry:
The new useUpdates() hook in EAS Update provides a user-friendly JavaScript API for easy tracking and interaction with the updates API. Additionally, Sentry-expo has been merged into @sentry/react-native@ 5.16.0, marking first-class Expo support in Sentry. This integration simplifies the process of publishing updates and uploading corresponding sourcemaps.

These five highlights showcase the major advancements in Expo SDK 50, ranging from powerful development tools and improved APIs to streamlined compatibility management and enhanced third-party integrations.

And that's a wrap, folks! 🎉 What a wild ride through all these updates. But guess what? The adventure continues in the next episode. Join me in the next episode for more highlights and breaking changes. Drop your thoughts in the comments below and let me know what you think about this release!

More information on Expo's official blog here

Until next 🥂