Cross-platform development has become an excellent substitute for fully native mobile app development. You create separate apps for Android and iOS using the native mobile development approach. By using the same code across both platforms, cross-platform development allows you to save money and time. The React Native framework is a growing mobile solution widely regarded as the future of cross-platform mobile app development.
In this article, we will discuss the advantages of using React Native for cross-platform mobile development and when it is not a good choice for mobile app developer companies.
React Native is an open-source framework for creating mobile apps using only JavaScript. Jordan Walke, a Facebook software engineer, introduced it as a new technology for easier development and a better user experience. The main feature of this framework is that React Native apps behave exactly like native apps, and they are identical to Java, Objective-C, or Swift apps and use the same UI building blocks as native iOS or Android apps. On the other hand, building a mobile app with React Native is much faster and less expensive.
Let’s examine the benefits and drawbacks of using React Native to create a mobile app.
Advantages of React Native
- Community Matters
React Native is a free and open platform. That means that all documentation related to this technology is open to the public and free to everyone in the React Native community. Using community-driven technology has numerous advantages. For example, if you are having trouble with React Native development, you can seek assistance from community experts or find information online.
Another advantage of using an open-source platform is getting credit for your code. Developers can share their knowledge and build portfolios, which motivates them to write better code. A developer, for example, can share their experience with the GitHub React Native Community after learning something new while working with React Native, receive feedback, and collaborate with other members.
React Facebook heavily supports natives in addition to the GitHub community. Facebook developers have created a long-form discussion forum where other developers can share best practices and solutions. There’s also a Reactiflux Chat if you need an immediate answer to a question.
- Reusable Code & Pre-Built Components
This is most likely React Native’s most significant advantage. Because of the ease of use of this framework, developers no longer need to create a separate mobile app for each platform, as nearly 90% of React Native code can be reused between iOS and Android.
For businesses and organizations considering developing a mobile app, React Native is an ideal solution that can cut development time and costs in half. Furthermore, if a company already has a React web app, much of the code can be reused to build a mobile app.
An open-source library of pre-built components in React Native greatly accelerates the development of mobile apps. Likely, someone has already written the code for some of the functions you’ll need to implement in your app, and you can use it for free.
Walmart chose React Native to revise their mobile app because they needed to improve app performance as soon as possible. In this case, using React Native was the best choice because 96% of the code was shared between iOS and Android, and react Native enabled the development team to improve app performance on both platforms quickly.
- Simplified UI
React Native is all about the mobile user interface. Compared to AngularJS or MeteorJS, this framework appears to be more of a JavaScript library than a framework.
When developing a mobile app, creating a sequence of actions is critical, and React Native makes this a breeze. Furthermore, React Native-designed user interfaces are more responsive, have a shorter load time, and have a smoother feel.
- Third-Party Plugin Support
Because the React Native framework is still in development, some components in the core framework may be missing. React Native provides two types of third-party plugins to fill this void: native modules and JavaScript modules.
React Native, for example, allows you to link any plugin with a native or third-party module if you need to add Google Maps or Google Calendars to your basic app functionality. React Native Selectme, React Native Vector Icons, React Native Router Flux, React Native Gifted Spinner, React Native Modalbox, and React Native Drawer are some of the most popular third-party plugins for React Native.
- Modular Architecture
Modular programming is a software design technique that divides a program’s functionality into several independent and interchangeable blocks known as modules. This technique has a couple of advantages: it provides flexibility within the development team by allowing developers to delve into each other’s projects as needed, making it extremely easy to generate updates. React Native’s intuitive modular architecture greatly benefits developers by allowing them to upgrade and update applications quickly. Modules that work with both web and mobile APIs can also be reused.
- Live and Hot Reloading
In React Native application development, live and hot reloading is different. Let us first define the distinction between these two alternatives.
Live reloading reads and compiles a file with changes made by a developer and then sends a new file to the simulator, which reloads the app from the beginning.
Hot reloading was introduced after the first reloading option and is based on Hot Module Replacement (HMR). It follows the same steps, but when you press Ctrl + S to save changes, an HMR intermediator inserts the updated files into the appropriate location while the app runs. One of the most significant advantages of hot reload is the ability to make changes in the source code and see them without recompiling the app. If a software engineer has two open windows (one with the code and one with the app screen), they can see the result on the app screen immediately after making changes to the code.
- Declarative Coding Style
In contrast to imperative programming, declarative programming describes what the program must do rather than how it must do it. React Native code is extremely flexible and understandable for developers, thanks to a declarative coding style. It’s also beneficial when a developer needs to jump into a new project and assimilate quickly. Declarative coding simplifies coding paradigms and the coding process, resulting in easier-to-read code for the system and developers. Because of the brilliant UI, a developer can simply look at the code and understand it.
- Plenty of Ready-Made Solutions and Libraries
The React Native framework includes many ready-made solutions and libraries that greatly simplify mobile development. Below, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most useful React Native libraries.
Testing libraries, for example, assist software engineers in writing bug-free and flawless code. Jest, Enzyme, Chai, and Mocha are the most well-known and versatile testing tools.
Tools for successful type checking include PropTypes and Flow, while ESLint is ideal for linting. In React Native projects, the networking workflow is configured using Axios, react-native-firebase, and Apollo Client. Redux is one of the most popular React Native libraries for state management.
React Native is also compatible with JavaScript libraries.
When React Native Isn’t A Good Solution
Despite being a game changer in company for app development, React Native has some drawbacks. Recently, Airbnb and Udacity shared their experiences with React Native, concluding that while this platform has many advantages, it cannot be used to build absolutely any type of mobile application.
- Immaturity
React Native is less mature, newer, and faster than iOS or Android. This has the potential to harm programs. In general, React Native works flawlessly, but there are some instances where its immaturity results in unpredictable outcomes, as demonstrated below:
- The React Native framework is rapidly expanding, with new weekly updates. Because each new update contains numerous changes, developers must regularly update their apps. Going more than a few months without updating an app can have negative consequences. In 2017, for example, Airbnb developers encountered a problem with React Native for their mobile app development. They could not use React Native 0.43 to React Native 0.49 because they used React 16 alpha and beta.
- Sometimes, developers must write code in languages other than React Native. They may need to use additional native code for components that aren’t React Native compatible.
- In some cases, React Native components perform worse than native components. For instance, consider long lists. App lists can be found in various places, including tweets on Twitter, photos on Instagram, and Facebook posts. Implementing these lists with React Native becomes much more difficult when they become too large and complicated. React Native has a FlatList library to work with long lists, but it lacks the flexibility and maturity of native platforms like UICollectionView (on iOS) and RecyclerView (on Android). In such cases, using native platforms is thought to be more productive.
- JavaScript Tooling
JavaScript is a powerful and flexible programming language, but it is a weakly typed language. Some mobile engineers may lack type safety, making scaling difficult. As a result, engineers must integrate new technologies such as TypeScript and Flow into the existing infrastructure.
- Complex User Interfaces
React Native is not a good choice for creating an app with many interactions, animations, screen transitions, or complex gestures.
However, React Native includes a gesture responder system that manages the lifecycle of all gestures in the app. However, developers may encounter challenges when it comes to screens with complex gestures because the Android and iOS touch subsystems are too different from using a unified API.
- Initialization Time
Even on high-end devices, initializing the runtime takes several seconds before React Native can render for the first time. The reason for this is that the JavaScript thread needs time to initialize as well.
- Open-Source Libraries
Knowing several platforms well is a difficult task for a mobile engineer that takes time and effort. React Native libraries with native bridges, such as those for videos and maps, need a solid understanding of three platforms to run successfully. If mobile engineers only know one or two platforms, they may be unable to solve some inconsistencies on Android and iOS.
Wrapping up
To summarize the benefits and drawbacks of using the React Native framework for mobile app development company, we believe that it can benefit approximately 80% of businesses by saving them a significant amount of time and money. React Native is an excellent solution for most use cases unless you have specific platform issues.