How do you choose a state management approach in React Native?

Most state problems are scoping problems, not library problems. Before adding a global store, decide whether the value is local to a screen, shared across a feature, or owned by the server. Each has a different natural home.

• Local UI state: useState or useReducer inside the screen
• Feature state shared by a subtree: context with a reducer, split by concern
• Cross-feature client state: Zustand, Redux Toolkit or Jotai depending on the model
• Server state: TanStack Query or an equivalent cache with retries and invalidation
• Persistent state: AsyncStorage, MMKV or a database behind a repository layer

import { create } from "zustand";

type CartState = {
  items: string[];
  add: (id: string) => void;
  clear: () => void;
};

export const useCart = create<CartState>((set) => ({
  items: [],
  add: (id) => set((state) => ({ items: [...state.items, id] })),
  clear: () => set({ items: [] }),
}));

Context is fine for low-frequency values such as theme or auth session, but every consumer re-renders when the provider value changes. For high-frequency updates, a selector-based store avoids broad re-renders. Server data should not be copied into a client store by hand; that creates two sources of truth and stale views.