Advantages of react-native-reanimated over react-native's animated

[bstro]

I'm doing some research on dependencies for a react-native project. I'm having trouble identifying concrete advantages of reanimated v4 over React Native's animated module. A lot of the information I'm finding seems to be out of date, written about older versions of either React Native or reanimated. So far, I'm noticing exit animation support, animations running on the UI thread by default (though doesn't react-native do this with the useNativeDriver: true config?), seemingly more declarative API, nicer a11y support (support for reduced motion).

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Rafael-Bessa]

Hi bstro,

That's a great question, as the documentation often lags behind the fast pace of development. The confusion about useNativeDriver: true is common, but it is the key distinction.

Here are the concrete advantages of Reanimated v3/v4 over the built-in Animated module:

1. Worklet/Logic on the UI Thread (The Core Advantage)

This is the fundamental differentiator:

• Animated with useNativeDriver: true sends the start and end values of the animation across the bridge, and the Native side handles the interpolation and UI updates. However, the animation logic (like complex timing, conditional chaining, or calculations based on shared values) still resides on the JavaScript thread. If the JS thread is busy (e.g., rendering a large list), the animation stutters.
• Reanimated uses Worklets to compile and run both the animation values and the complex animation logic directly on the UI thread. This completely bypasses the bridge for continuous updates, ensuring the animation never drops a frame, regardless of how busy the JS thread is.

2. Layout and Exit Animations

Reanimated provides the LayoutAnimation API, giving you full control over how components mount, unmount, and update their layout. This crucial feature is largely missing from the built-in Animated module.

3. Modern and Declarative API

Reanimated’s hook-based API (useAnimatedStyle, useSharedValue, withTiming, etc.) is significantly more intuitive and concise than the old static Animated.Value API, allowing you to write complex animations with far less boilerplate code.

In short, while useNativeDriver: true was a good step, Reanimated is the complete solution because it moves the entire animation pipeline, including the logic, to the native side.

Hope this helps with your research! If this comparison clarifies the benefits, please mark this comment as the correct answer.

[tomekzaw]

Hi @bstro, to answer your question, see this thread where I explain the advantages of Reanimated over Animated:

• https://x.com/tomekzaw_/status/1929959469779132472

tl;dr
1️⃣ Animating layout props (on the UI thread)
2️⃣ Layout Animations (for individual components)
3️⃣ Synchronous gesture handling (with react-native-gesture-handler)
4️⃣ Better API (e.g. duration-based spring animations)
5️⃣ CSS animations & transitions