Why would Snapchat spend 8 years secretly building their own cross-platform framework instead of using React Native?
In this video, we uncover the story behind Valdi - Snapchat's powerful TypeScript-based framework that compiles directly to native code for iOS, Android, and macOS. We go through React Native's limitations 8 years ago that forced Snapchat to create their own solution, and examine how both frameworks have evolved in 2025.
From Valdi's technical architecture powered by Bazel, Genie, Yoga, and Skia, to the burning question of whether Snapchat might abandon it in the future, this is the complete story of why one of the world's biggest apps chose to build their own development tools instead of using the industry standard.
🔗 Relevant Links
Valdi github - https://github.com/Snapchat/Valdi
❤️ More about us
Radically better observability stack: https://betterstack.com/
Written tutorials: https://betterstack.com/community/
Example projects: https://github.com/BetterStackHQ
📱 Socials
Twitter: / betterstackhq
Instagram: / betterstackhq
TikTok: / betterstack
LinkedIn: / betterstack
📌 Chapters:
00:00 Snapchat's new cross-platform ui framework
00:34 Tools used to build Valdi
01:00 Code for a Valdi app
01:30 Why Snapchat built Valdi
02:09 Valdi installation issues
02:25 React Native's improvements
03:08 Outro
On this page of the site you can watch the video online Did Snapchat Just KILL React Native? with a duration of hours minute second in good quality, which was uploaded by the user Better Stack 28 November 2025, share the link with friends and acquaintances, this video has already been watched 21,536 times on youtube and it was liked by 620 viewers. Enjoy your viewing!