New Animation Backend, TextInput Selection Data, New Jest Preset Package · React Native

React Native 0.85 is now available with several notable changes. The headline feature is the new Shared Animation Backend, built with Software Mansion, which powers both Animated and Reanimated and now allows animating Flexbox/layout props with the native driver. TextInput onChange events now include selection data. The Jest preset has been extracted into a dedicated @react-native/jest-preset package, requiring a one-line config change. Metro gains TLS/HTTPS support for development. DevTools improvements include multiple simultaneous CDP connections and native macOS tabs. Breaking changes include dropped support for EOL Node.js versions (v21, v23, and pre-20.19.4), removal of StyleSheet.absoluteFillObject, and various Android/iOS legacy architecture cleanups. The release includes 604 commits from 58 contributors.