React Native for TV App Development

We’ve been talking about building mobile and web apps with React Native for quite a while. How about we touch on yet another space that can be transformed with this technology: TV. To do that, Łukasz (who, by the way, has been a part of a TV project for a while) invited two guests with first-hand experience in React Native TV app development:

• Yusuf Yildirim — Technical Lead at XITE
• Karol Latusek — Software Engineer collaborating with Callstack

From the challenges posed by disparate hardware capabilities in TVs to the unique focus management solutions, they navigate through the intricacies of unified codebases for various TV platforms. Our experts also explore the potential future of TV app development, including exciting developments from Expo in supporting TV platforms.

Topics covered

• Current state of the TV development space and the challenges posed by the variety of available devices to platforms
• Place of React Native and its community in the TV app development landscape
• Benefits of using React Native for TV platforms, emphasizing code optimization, unified development, and a shared learning curve
• Considerations that a React Native developer should have in mind when building apps for TVs
• Insights into the evolving landscape of TV development, including the promising support for TVs from Expo

Resources

• Yusuf’s article “Revolutionizing Focus Management in TV Applications with React Native”
• Yusuf’s repositories on GitHub