fix(app): SDK updates - js 12.4.0, ios 12.4.0, android 34.4.0

[mikehardy]

Description

Two main purposes with this PR - one is to adopt the SDK updates as described in the title

The second is to use the above SDK updates as a reason to publish, so we can test an update to our CI release process to handle the npmjs.com push to move to OIDC Trusted Publisher configurations and stop using tokens

The commits are all independent and have good messages for review per-commit

Of note:

• remote-config in the JS SDK uses TextDecoder and react-native doesn't have a good implementation so we need to polyfill
• lerna v9 is a breaking change but didn't really affect us, it does support the OIDC Trusted Publisher configuration though

Related issues

No related issues I'm aware of logged here, however npmjs.com has been publicizing this as much as possible, and their article is here: https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-29-strengthening-npm-security-important-changes-to-authentication-and-token-management/

Release Summary

Conventional commits, it will generate a fix release if it publishes correctly with OIDC Trusted Publisher configured

Checklist

• I read the Contributor Guide and followed the process outlined there for submitting PRs.
  • Yes
• My change supports the following platforms;
  • Android
  • iOS
  • Other (macOS, web)
• My change includes tests;
  • e2e tests added or updated in packages/\*\*/e2e
  • jest tests added or updated in packages/\*\*/__tests__
• I have updated TypeScript types that are affected by my change.
• This is a breaking change;
  • Yes
  • No

Test Plan

Locally ran jest tests as well as e2e for all platforms

---

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Project	Deployment	Preview	Comments	Updated (UTC)
react-native-firebase	Ready	Preview	Comment	Oct 14, 2025 4:06am

[mikehardy]

Note that an issue with Xcode compilation has apparently started affecting us as well - main builds break and this PR was unable to successfully compile the iOS app in CI as well - expo/expo#40284

Warning: ld: search path '/var/run/com.apple.security.cryptexd/mnt/com.apple.MobileAsset.MetalToolchain-v17.1.324.0.8KbTce/Metal.xctoolchain/usr/lib/swift/iphonesimulator' not found
Warning: ld: Could not find or use auto-linked library 'swiftCompatibility56': library 'swiftCompatibility56' not found
Warning: ld: Could not find or use auto-linked library 'swiftCompatibilityPacks': library 'swiftCompatibilityPacks' not found
Warning: ld: Could not find or use auto-linked framework 'CoreAudioTypes': framework 'CoreAudioTypes' not found
Warning: ld: Could not find or use auto-linked framework 'UIUtilities': framework 'UIUtilities' not found
Warning: ld: Could not parse or use implicit file '/Applications/Xcode_26.0.1.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/SwiftUICore.framework/SwiftUICore.tbd': cannot link directly with 'SwiftUICore' because product being built is not an allowed client of it
Error: Undefined symbols for architecture arm64
Error:   "__swift_FORCE_LOAD_$_swiftCompatibility56", referenced from:
Warning:       __swift_FORCE_LOAD_$_swiftCompatibility56_$_FirebaseAnalytics in FirebaseAnalytics[arm64][17](Analytics+StoreKit.o)
Warning:       __swift_FORCE_LOAD_$_swiftCompatibility56_$_FirebaseAuth in FirebaseAuth[8](ActionCodeInfo.o)
Warning:       __swift_FORCE_LOAD_$_swiftCompatibility56_$_FirebaseCoreInternal in FirebaseCoreInternal[4](_ObjC_HeartbeatController.o)
Warning:       __swift_FORCE_LOAD_$_swiftCompatibility56_$_FirebaseCrashlytics in FirebaseCrashlytics[84](CrashlyticsRemoteConfigManager.o)
Warning:       __swift_FORCE_LOAD_$_swiftCompatibility56_$_FirebaseDatabase in FirebaseDatabase[115](DatabaseReference+WriteEncodable.o)
Warning:       __swift_FORCE_LOAD_$_swiftCompatibility56_$_FirebaseFirestore in FirebaseFirestore[5](CodableErrors.o)
Warning:       __swift_FORCE_LOAD_$_swiftCompatibility56_$_FirebaseFunctions in FirebaseFunctions[4](Callable+Codable.o)
Error: ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture arm64
Error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

The last commit on this PR, adding an explicit directory to the linker path, fixes it.