Upgrading RN version for the first time and I am struggling

[ishay-yulzary]

Environment

System:
OS: macOS 26.3
CPU: (8) arm64 Apple M3
Memory: 113.70 MB / 16.00 GB
Shell:
version: "5.9"
path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
Node:
version: 20.19.4
path: /Users/invoice4u/.nvm/versions/node/v20.19.4/bin/node
Yarn: Not Found
npm:
version: 10.8.2
path: /Users/invoice4u/.nvm/versions/node/v20.19.4/bin/npm
Watchman:
version: 2025.10.27.00
path: /opt/homebrew/bin/watchman
Managers:
CocoaPods:
version: 1.16.2
path: /Users/invoice4u/.rbenv/shims/pod
SDKs:
iOS SDK:
Platforms:
- DriverKit 25.2
- iOS 26.2
- macOS 26.2
- tvOS 26.2
- visionOS 26.2
- watchOS 26.2
Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
Android Studio: 2025.2 AI-252.25557.131.2521.14344949
Xcode:
version: 26.2/17C52
path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
Java:
version: 17.0.12
path: /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-17.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac
Ruby:
version: 3.1.0
path: /Users/invoice4u/.rbenv/shims/ruby
npmPackages:
"@react-native-community/cli": Not Found
react:
installed: 19.2.3
wanted: 18.3.1
react-native:
installed: 0.84.0
wanted: 0.75.4
react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
"react-native": Not Found
Android:
hermesEnabled: true
newArchEnabled: false
iOS:
hermesEnabled: Not found
newArchEnabled: false

Things I’ve done to figure out my issue

• [ x] I used upgrade-helper to do my upgrade.

Upgrading version

i am upgrading from version 0.75.4 to 0.84.0

Description

I want to upgrade to the latest version but it looks like the developers in this company before me really neglected maintaining the app framework version upgrades...
there are a lot of things for me to change and i am super confused.

i am also afraid i will make a stupid error updating the 40+ files and wondered if there's an easier way to do that (RN-Diff-Purge patch doesn't work for me as well)

Any help would be apprecieated