All current SSL pinning methods I know of require native code, and it is becoming increasingly necessary for pinned certs on deployed applications.

I think this would be an absolutely huge boon that would bring expo's react native approach further into the mainstream.

Reading resource:

Excerpt for context

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What Is Pinning?

Pinning is the process of associating a host with their expected X509 certificate or public key. Once a certificate or public key is known or seen for a host, the certificate or public key is associated or 'pinned' to the host. If more than one certificate or public key is acceptable, then the program holds a pinset (taking from Jon Larimer and Kenny Root Google I/O talk). In this case, the advertised identity must match one of the elements in the pinset.

A host or service's certificate or public key can be added to an application at development time, or it can be added upon first encountering the certificate or public key. The former - adding at development time - is preferred since preloading the certificate or public key out of band usually means the attacker cannot taint the pin. If the certificate or public key is added upon first encounter, you will be using key continuity. Key continuity can fail if the attacker has a privileged position during the first encounter.

Pinning leverages knowledge of the pre-existing relationship between the user and an organization or service to help make better security related decisions. Because you already have information on the server or service, you don't need to rely on generalized mechanisms meant to solve the key distribution problem. That is, you don't need to turn to DNS for name/address mappings or CAs for bindings and status. One exception is revocation and it is discussed below in Pinning Gaps.

It is also worth mention that Pinning is not Stapling. Stapling sends both the certificate and OCSP responder information in the same request to avoid the additional fetches the client should perform during path validations.

When Do You Pin?

You should pin anytime you want to be relatively certain of the remote host's identity or when operating in a hostile environment. Since one or both are almost always true, you should probably pin all the time.

A perfect case in point: during the two weeks or so of preparation for the presentation and cheat sheet, we've observed three relevant and related failures. First was Nokia/Opera willfully breaking the secure channel; second was DigiCert issuing a code signing certificate for malware; and third was Bit9's loss of its root signing key. The environment is not only hostile, it's toxic.

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