How can I handle fetch request cancellation and timeouts gracefully in an Expo app using AbortController?

In Expo, when fetching data, we need to cancel requests if the component unmounts or if a timeout occurs to avoid memory leaks and stale state. The fetch API supports AbortController, but integrating it with React Native's lifecycle and setting a timeout introduces uncertainty about proper cleanup and race conditions.

Constraints include ensuring that the abort signal is passed to fetch, that timeout logic does not interfere with normal completion, and that cleanup functions run only once. Uncertainty remains about the best way to combine AbortController with setTimeout or useEffect to guarantee that either a successful response, a timeout, or a cancellation leads to predictable state updates.

How should I create and attach an AbortSignal to a fetch request in an Expo component so that it aborts on unmount? What is the recommended pattern to implement a timeout that aborts the fetch after a given interval without causing duplicate abort calls? How can I handle the AbortError in the catch block to differentiate it from other network errors?