Is React Native Good for Mobile App Development?
As per estimation, by 2025, there will be over 7.49 billion smartphone users for Android and iOS platforms globally. A smartphone user spends 4.8 hours on mobile apps. So, how to reach such diverse users through your mobile app? Will you develop specific apps for each platforms or go for a multi-platform with your mobile app strategy?
Because of this huge user base and high competition, the native app development process is not good for your next app. And with multiple platform methods, which framework will assist you in achieving your goals?
Cross-platform development is one of the best alternatives to native mobile app development. About 38% of the application developers are preferring React Native app development approach for meeting cross-platform app needs.
With this cross–platform approach, you can cut expenses and save time by using the same code in both media. The React Native framework is a growing mobile solution and is deliberated as the future of cross-platform mobile app development.
So, in this article, we will see whether or not React Native approach is good for mobile app development or not? We need to know what exactly React Native is and how it will benefit app developers.
What exactly is React Native?
React Native framework is one of the open-source frameworks that will allow you to develop a mobile application using JavaScript as the main programming language.
Jordan Walke, a software engineer at Facebook, introduced React Native as a novel technology for simple app development and good user experience. Apps developed using React Native functions in the same way as the native apps developed using Swift, Java, or Objective –C and use the same UI building blocks. React Native will decrease the app development time and enhance these applications’ performance.
Currently, many companies prefer to develop their mobile apps by using React Native as the one code strategy to assist them in deploying their mobile application on both platforms. This also helps avoid the need to hire two different developer teams to maintain two varied code bases.
What are some of the Popular Apps Developed by Using React Native?
If you are thinking of using React Native app development approach, you might want to know about some real examples of apps developed using this approach.
Here is a list of some top-notch Reach native mobile apps:
- Skype
- Walmart
- Tesla
- Bloomberg
- Netflix
These apps listed above are bringing in huge profits and are highly popular around the globe. Instagram alone has more than 1 billion users. So, it is quite apparent that React Native is one of the topmost approaches for mobile app development because of the several benefits it brings to the table.
Why React Native Approach is Good for Mobile App Development?
It is a Community-driven Technology
React Native is an open-source platform, and all documentation in relation to this technology is available for everyone and is free for all in the React Native community. It is highly beneficial when you use a community-driven technology as you will easily get assistance from community experts if you face any issues. Another advantage is an appreciation for writing code. Developers get to share their experiences and build their portfolios, which helps them write better code.
Codes are Reusable
This is one of the major benefits of React Native. As the principles used in React Native approach are reusable, therefore, developers will not have to develop a separate app for every platform. For those companies involved in the development of mobile apps, for them React Native is one of the best solutions that will cut down both time and cost.
In addition, if a company has a web application developed using React Native, then a maximum of its code can be used for developing a mobile app. Moreover, with React Native, there is an open-source archive of pre-built components which assist in speeding up the whole process of mobile app development. It’s something like somebody has already written some code for a specific function, and you must deploy that in your application for free.
Streamlined User Interface
React Native is everything about mobile UI. If you compare it with Angular JS or Meteor JS, you will see that it is more like a Javascript archive than any framework. While developing any mobile application, it is vital to generate an order of actions and with React Native implementing order is simply perfect. Moreover, the UI made in React Native is highly responsive, reduces load time, and offers a very smooth feel.
Supports Third–party Plug-ins
The React Native approach to developing mobile is still evolving, for it might not have some of the components in its main framework. To fill up this gap, React Native offers two kinds of third-party plug-ins and are native modules and JavaScript modules.
Modular or Flexible Architecture
Modular programming is a software design method that divides the program functionality into various free and swappable blocks known as modules. It offers several advantages, such as flexibility within the developing team where developers can easily dig into other projects, and it becomes easy to generate various updates.
In addition, modular programming in React Native also assists developers by offering the facility to improve and update multiple applications rapidly. It also makes it possible to use again the modules that function both for the web and mobile APIs.
Declarative Programming Style
In declarative programming, it is described what the program should do instead of how to do it, which is contrary to imperative programming. Declarative programming makes the code in React Native highly flexible and easy for developers to understand. It is extremely useful when the developer is required to get involved in a new project and adapt rapidly.
Declarative coding helps simplify the coding paradigms and the entire coding process, thereby generating a code that is very easy to read for both developers as well as system. Just by looking, a developer can understand the code.
Ready-to-use Resolutions and Collections
In the React Native framework, there is an impressive list of ready-to-use solutions and archives that help in mobile app development. There are testing collections that will assist software engineers in writing error-free codes. Some popular testing tools are Mocha, Jest, Chai, and Enzyme.
When should you Choose React Native?
React Native offers many benefits but no one size fits all solution. Which technology you will choose is based on your business idea, no matter whether you have a startup or a business guru.
You can choose React Native for
- Projects that have reliable functionality
- The appealing design and effective interfaces like ecommerce and social media
- Mobile applications that are based on JavaScript
- Quick development in short repetitions
But React Native is not good for the following:
- Complicated visualization
- Gaming apps full of features
- Multimedia apps with varied background processes
- Platform definite applications
Are there any Disadvantages to Using React Native for Mobile App Development?
All things have both pros and cons. React Native also has some issues like
- Big app size
- Memory leaks in Android applications because of redundant background processes
- Slow application launch due to dependencies
But all these issues are manageable to some extent, such as
- It’s possible to reduce the size of the app by decreasing the number of components and libraries present in the app. You can also reduce the image size and optimize the app resource to lower the application size.
- Memory leakage in Android applications can be solved through scrolling lists such as FlatList, Virtual List, and Section List. Do not use ListView to get rid of leakages.
- For slow application launch issues, you need to reduce the dependencies present in your application and use the components that give good performance.
Conclusion
After going through the advantages and issues of React Native, you might have understood that the benefits outweigh the problems. The benefits you get from this framework are amazing. Therefore, we can say that React Native is one of the best options for mobile app development. The reactive Native framework will give strong competition to existing cross-platform app-developing frameworks. It functions using the JavaScript library, making it an influential app development framework.
