Stop Writing React Native Styles Like It's 2022

I reveal five React Native style properties that many developers and even AI tools overlook. Using these styles can instantly level up your UI and code quality without installing third-party libraries. If you want to avoid outdated styling patterns and write modern React Native styles, this video is for you.

I show practical examples of how to use Linear Gradient, Filter, Box Shadow, Gap, and Mix Blend Mode in React Native. These are now supported natively or experimentally, and they work cross-platform with some caveats. You’ll also get tips on staying updated with React Native news.

What's inside

The five React Native styles you probably never use
Using Linear Gradient with the new experimental background image style
Applying Filter effects like blur and brightness, with platform differences
Simplifying Box Shadow with the new string syntax instead of old props
Using Gap, rowGap, and columnGap for spacing instead of manual margins
Applying Mix Blend Mode for creative overlay effects
Staying updated with React and React Native news via This Week in React newsletter
A surprise tip to prevent AI from generating outdated style code

The five React Native styles you probably never use

React Native has five powerful style properties that most developers miss, and AI tools often generate outdated code ignoring them. These styles improve UI polish and reduce dependencies on third-party libraries. Knowing them helps you write cleaner, more modern React Native code.

I emphasize that these styles are either experimental or recently added, so they might not be widely known yet. Using them correctly will save you time and improve your app’s look without extra installs.

Using Linear Gradient with the new experimental background image style

Linear Gradient has been available on the web for ages, but React Native required third-party libraries like Expo Linear Gradient until recently. Now, React Native supports Linear Gradient natively through an experimental style property.

You just pass a CSS-like linear-gradient string to , exactly as you would on the web. This API is powerful and compatible with web standards. For example, you can define color stops precisely, like red from 0% to 20%, orange from 20% to 40%, and so on, creating smooth fades.

This works seamlessly on Android and iOS, letting you avoid extra dependencies for gradients.

Applying Filter effects like blur and brightness, with platform differences

React Native 0.76 introduced the style property with the new architecture. You can pass CSS-like filter strings such as , , or to views.

However, filter support is limited on iOS: only and work natively. Effects like , , and are currently Android-only. For iOS blur, you still need a third-party library, but blur support should arrive on iOS soon.

This lets you add cool visual effects like blurring backgrounds or changing brightness without extra native modules on Android.

Simplifying Box Shadow with the new string syntax instead of old props

Box shadows in React Native have traditionally required multiple properties: , , , and on Android. This is cumbersome and inconsistent across platforms.

Now you can use a single string property, similar to CSS, to define shadows. For example: . This new syntax works seamlessly on both iOS and Android, making shadows effortless.

You can even define multi-layer shadows by passing multiple shadows in an array. This simplifies styling and avoids AI-generated outdated shadow code.

Using Gap, rowGap, and columnGap for spacing instead of manual margins

Before, spacing between multiple items in React Native required manually adding margins to each element, which was awkward and error-prone.

React Native now supports the CSS property, plus and . You can set consistent spacing between children in a container with a single property, just like on the web.

For example, setting adds uniform spacing between items. You can customize row and column gaps separately. This works on Android and iOS, making layout spacing much cleaner.

Applying Mix Blend Mode for creative overlay effects

React Native supports the style property, which controls how an element’s content blends with its parent and background.

You can apply blend modes like , , , , or to images or views to create interesting visual effects. For example, overlaying a color with or changes how colors combine.

This property is useful for creative UI effects and is compatible with the MDN documentation for blend modes. You can experiment with different blend modes and background colors for unique looks.

React Native evolves quickly with new features dropping every week. To keep up, I recommend subscribing to the This Week in React newsletter curated by Sebastian.

It covers React and React Native news, releases, and links - including sometimes my own videos. Staying informed helps you avoid outdated patterns and leverage new APIs like the ones shown here.

A surprise tip to prevent AI from generating outdated style code

At the end, I share a surprise: a snippet you can give your AI coding assistant to prevent it from generating old React Native style code like the old shadow props.

This snippet lists the modern style properties and usage patterns, so your AI stays up to date and writes clean, modern React Native styles every time.

Check my blog linked in the description for the snippet and more details.

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