Shopify moves back to Swift and Kotlin from React Native, saying coding agents cut the cost of building native twice

Shopify moves back to Native from React Native

Shopify went all-in on React Native in 2020 to avoid building every feature twice. By late 2025, their internal LLM coding agents had improved enough that they prototyped rebuilding core app modules in Swift and Kotlin—agents could implement an Android version using the iOS version as reference, and vice versa. The cost of maintaining two native codebases dropped enough to flip the decision back to native. The post does not disclose a migration timeline or scope.

Why it matters: Shopify publicly explains a major architecture reversal, and the reason isn't the usual performance or ecosystem argument—it's that their AI coding assistant changed the cost equation. Directly relevant to any team making mobile stack decisions. Capped at 72 rather than higher...