react-brainUX polish primitives — toasts, haptics, splash screens, image viewers (React Native)
draftedconfidence: lowearly: 1/12 of this tier graded so far (0 overturned) — the public scorecard →
recommendation
Toasts → sonner-native (or burnt for platform-native elements). Haptics → expo-haptics. Splash → react-native-bootsplash on bare RN, expo-splash-screen on Expo (switch to bootsplash when you need its generator/branding control). Image lightbox → galeria. Each sub-domain is small — pick once, move on; the polish is in the details, not the library hunt. Lightly vetted (confidence: low).
- toast stack with real motion design → sonner-native; platform-authentic system toasts → burnt
- haptic feedback → expo-haptics (bare RN included); already on react-native-haptic-feedback → fine, don't churn
- splash/branding control or bare RN → react-native-bootsplash; stock Expo template → expo-splash-screen is already there
- tap-to-zoom image lightbox → galeria (native transitions); avoid starting new work on react-native-image-viewing (dormant since 2022)
Low confidence — fast-moving or lightly-vetted domain: treat the pick as a vetted lead and prototype before committing.
Options & tradeoffs
| option | tradeoff | evidence |
|---|---|---|
| toasts — sonner-native | port of Emil Kowalski's sonner (stacking, swipe, promise toasts); active (0.26.x, 2026-06); the design-led pick | 449k/wk · ships in 2/14 |
| toasts — react-native-toast-message | the JS incumbent (v2.4, still active 2026); simple, widely deployed, less polished motion | 528k/wk |
| toasts — burnt | NATIVE toast/alert elements (SPIndicator on iOS, ToastAndroid); platform-authentic but less customizable; slower release cadence (0.13, 2025-03) | 346k/wk |
| haptics — expo-haptics | the default — system haptics engine on iOS, vibration effects on Android; works in bare RN via Expo Modules | 3.4M/wk · ships in 5/14 |
| haptics — react-native-haptic-feedback | the bare-RN incumbent (v3.0, 2026-03); slightly lower-level trigger set | 476k/wk · ships in 6/14 |
| splash — react-native-bootsplash | the de-facto splash tool (v7.3) — asset generator CLI, edge-to-edge by default, works with Expo prebuild; imperative hide() when app is ready | 206k/wk · ships in 5/14 |
| splash — expo-splash-screen | the Expo default, ships with the template; config-plugin driven; fine unless you need bootsplash's generator/branding control | 4.2M/wk · ships in 4/14 |
| image viewer — galeria (@nandorojo/galeria) | native shared-element lightbox (v3, 2026-05; iOS 16+) — fluid pinch/dismiss transitions the JS viewers can't match | 33k/wk |
| image viewer — react-native-image-viewing | the JS incumbent — unmaintained since 2022; works, but no native transitions and aging | 75k/wk |
npm weekly downloads (from the corpus's last signals run): sonner-native 449k · react-native-toast-message 528k · burnt 346k · expo-haptics 3.4M · react-native-haptic-feedback 476k · react-native-bootsplash 206k · expo-splash-screen 4.2M · @nandorojo/galeria 33k · react-native-image-viewing 75k
Verified notes
NEW entry (2026-07-09): four recurring micro-domains that had no home — each surfaced by Native Weekly's 2026 run (sonner-native, bootsplash 7, galeria, react-native-tickle) and promoted on the user's call. All versions/dates verified vs npm 2026-07-09. Deliberately ONE entry, not four: none of these carries enough selection weight alone, but together they are the 'app feels finished' checklist. Skipped as too-early: react-native-tickle (Nitro haptics w/ AHAP patterns — not yet on npm). expo-haptics/expo-splash-screen versions track the SDK.
Canonical reading
Editorial annotations on why each piece matters — the articles themselves are the originals; read them there.
The design rationale under sonner (and thus sonner-native): interruptible transitions over keyframes, index-scaled stacking, pause-on-hidden, momentum swiping, gap-filling hover pseudo-elements. Web-authored, but it is the canonical 'why good toasts feel good' — the taste this entry's toast pick imports.
Sources
- registry.npmjs.org/sonner-native/latest
- registry.npmjs.org/react-native-bootsplash/latest
- registry.npmjs.org/@nandorojo/galeria/latest
Depth (in-domain rules) is owned by the react-native-best-practices skill — this entry is selection breadth.
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