Proposal: Mobile Stack Decision (Android/iOS)

Status: draft Authors: Platform Team Owners: Architecture Lead, Mobile Lead Created: 2025-11-17 Scope: spec Related: openspec/specs/architecture.md

Summary

Decide between React Native + Expo vs Flutter for Android/iOS with full accessibility parity, strong privacy posture, and long-term maintainability.

Motivation

Commit to a mobile stack that accelerates delivery while meeting a11y, compliance, and performance requirements across all features.

Goals / Non‑Goals

Goals: select stack, document rationale, list enabling libraries/tooling, define migration/rollback path.
Non‑Goals: finalize design system visuals (handled in later proposals).

Evaluation Criteria

Accessibility: VoiceOver/TalkBack parity; dynamic type; reduced motion; larger text support.
Performance: cold start, nav latency, list virtualization; p95 targets defined in architecture spec.
Ecosystem: first‑party support, community libs for a11y, storage, media, push, payments.
Compliance & Security: secure storage, network stack, logging redaction, crash reporting controls.
Developer Experience: CI/CD, hot reload, E2E testing, upgrade cadence.

Options

Risks & Mitigations

Accessibility gaps → add native modules or platform adapters; enforce CI a11y gates.
Perf regressions → profiling budgets and regression tests.

Rollout Plan

Test Plan

Prototype forum list/thread/post; run a11y audits; measure startup and interaction latencies.

Acceptance Criteria

Decision recorded with rationale; pilot results included; sign‑off from a11y and compliance.

Slash Commands