Upgrading to new versions of React Native will give you access to more APIs, views, developer tools and other goodies. Because React Native projects are essentially made up of an Android project, an iOS project and a JavaScript project, all combined under an npm package, upgrading can be rather tricky. But we try to make it easy for you. Here's what you need to do to upgrade from an older version of React Native:

1. Upgrade the react-native dependency #

Note the latest version of the react-native npm package from here (or use npm info react-native to check):

• https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-native

Now install that version of react-native in your project with npm install --save.

2. Upgrade your project templates #

The new npm package may contain updates to the files that are normally generated when you run react-native init, like the iOS and the Android sub-projects.

You may consult rn-diff to see if there were changes in the project template files. In case there weren't any, simply rebuild the project and continue developing. In case of minor changes, you may update your project manually and rebuild.

If there were major changes, run this in a terminal to get these:

This will check your files against the latest template and perform the following:

• If there is a new file in the template, it is simply created.
• If a file in the template is identical to your file, it is skipped.
• If a file is different in your project than the template, you will be prompted; you have options to view a diff between your file and the template file, keep your file or overwrite it with the template version. If you are unsure, press h to get a list of possible commands.

Manual Upgrades #

Some upgrades require manual steps, e.g. 0.13 to 0.14, or 0.28 to 0.29. Be sure to check the release notes when upgrading so that you can identify any manual changes your particular project may require.