--- title: Why Shopify is moving its mobile apps back to native description: Shopify is migrating its mobile apps from React Native to separate native Swift and Kotlin implementations, arguing that coding agents have reduced the cost... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/4k4kz3ph1 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Why Shopify is moving its mobile apps back to native | daily.dev og:description: Shopify is migrating its mobile apps from React Native to separate native Swift and Kotlin implementations, arguing that coding agents have reduced the cost... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/4k4kz3ph1 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/4K4kz3ph1.png og:image:alt: Post cover image og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Why Shopify is moving its mobile apps back to native **[Rajeev R. Sharma](https://daily.dev/sources/vcvyeh9h4cczsbsvu21b0)** · [@ra_jeeves](https://daily.dev/ra_jeeves) · 29 upvotes · 14 comments ## Summary Shopify is migrating its mobile apps from React Native to separate native Swift and Kotlin implementations, arguing that coding agents have reduced the cost advantage of a shared cross-platform codebase. Shop, rebuilt in 12 weeks with SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose, saw cold startup fall 23% on iOS and 50% on Android, session stability rise above 99.95%, and the Android build shrink 109 MB. The larger Shopify app migration continues, using an internal agent system called Pi with parity checks via a tool called Tardis, plus a checkpoint-based reviewer system called Helix for the main app. Shopify will sponsor React Native Skia through 2026 before it's forked externally, keep FlashList's critical fixes going while seeking new stewardship, and sunset Restyle at the end of 2026. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@jenueldev** · 7 upvotes > The strongest argument here is not that native suddenly became cheap, but that parity tooling changes where the coordination cost lives. The startup and app-size gains are persuasive; I’d be curious whether Shopify publishes the long-term cost of keeping Swift and Kotlin behavior aligned once product changes start diverging. **@adiaga** · 3 upvotes > AI is changing the economics of cross-platform development. If agents make two native codebases nearly as cost-effective, the trade-offs around React Native become very different. **@akkitto** · 2 upvotes > Native apps being straight up better is something we know since so many years. This is nothing new. Come on. **@devmount** · 2 upvotes > I'm wondering if we will see an overall decrease of usage of those all-platforms-from-one-codebase frameworks like Flutter. **@daniel8000** · 2 upvotes > Native -> crossplatform -> Native again. They created a problem just to play the hero :D ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Why Shopify Migrated From React Native](https://daily.dev/posts/why-shopify-migrated-from-react-native-itvaopvng) · ByteByteGo · 74 upvotes · 5 comments --- Tags: [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#mobile](https://daily.dev/tags/mobile), [#swift](https://daily.dev/tags/swift), [#react-native](https://daily.dev/tags/react-native), [#kotlin](https://daily.dev/tags/kotlin) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/4k4kz3ph1) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/4k4kz3ph1","headline":"Why Shopify is moving its mobile apps back to native","text":"Shared: Why Shopify is moving its mobile apps back to native","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4k4kz3ph1","datePublished":"2026-09-11T06:22:12.301Z","dateModified":"2026-09-11T06:24:06.790Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Rajeev R. Sharma","url":"https://daily.dev/ra_jeeves","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--GSwfHept--/f_auto/v1753591600/avatars/avatar_vCVYeh9h4cCzsBSvu21b0?_a=BAMClqZW0","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":3335}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--P4t4XyoV--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2001","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":29},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":14}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/0NvshUKJb"},"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"The strongest argument here is not that native suddenly became cheap, but that parity tooling changes where the coordination cost lives. The startup and app-size gains are persuasive; I’d be curious whether Shopify publishes the long-term cost of keeping Swift and Kotlin behavior aligned once product changes start diverging.","datePublished":"2026-09-14T03:37:22.117Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4K4kz3ph1#c-lXQDU6tKh","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Jenuel Oras Ganawed","url":"https://daily.dev/jenueldev","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--BadmiNyj--/f_auto/v1787625077/avatars/avatar_JJtZr4Sjm?_a=BAMAMicg0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":7}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"AI is changing the economics of cross-platform development. If agents make two native codebases nearly as cost-effective, the trade-offs around React Native become very different.","datePublished":"2026-09-11T20:12:45.952Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4K4kz3ph1#c-hmFlLYvpW","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Adi Agafitei","url":"https://daily.dev/adiaga","image":"https://avatars1.githubusercontent.com/u/338271?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Native apps being straight up better is something we know since so many years. This is nothing new. Come on.","datePublished":"2026-09-13T11:01:48.586Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4K4kz3ph1#c-m7vCSDGra","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel","url":"https://daily.dev/akkitto","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--FtwJqX4c--/f_auto/v1754900041/avatars/avatar_29TCpY2hJR72V3BlxPXzX?_a=BAMClqZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I’m wondering if we will see an overall decrease of usage of those all-platforms-from-one-codebase frameworks like Flutter.","datePublished":"2026-09-13T18:54:00.003Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4K4kz3ph1#c-C0I3wc9TJ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Andreas","url":"https://daily.dev/devmount","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--0yHQgkD3--/f_auto/v1730121566/avatars/avatar_wkPuMtV83z5WseTrVc5QU"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Native -\u0026gt; crossplatform -\u0026gt; Native again. They created a problem just to play the hero :D","datePublished":"2026-09-13T20:03:12.474Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/4K4kz3ph1#c-WIX7KsWh0","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel","url":"https://daily.dev/daniel8000","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--F_RltCZK--/f_auto/v1738746891/avatars/avatar_SOwG1kJqf6HK6TkGmZH45"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/vcvyeh9h4cczsbsvu21b0","name":"Rajeev R. Sharma"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rajeev R. Sharma","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/vcvyeh9h4cczsbsvu21b0"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Why Shopify is moving its mobile apps back to native"}]} ```