In the present tech-savvy world, developing a mobile app is a strategic move for businesses to thrive.
Mobile app development is a complicated process. You need to invest a lot of time and effort before your app is ready to launch. However, today, the technological advancements and the innovations in the app development framework made the process a lot easier.
One of those advancements in technology is the development of frameworks, such as React Native.
So, in this blog, we will examine how React Native offers improvements in mobile app development or the reasons you can use it for your app development project.
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What is React Native?
React Native is an open-source framework created by Facebook. Using JavaScript as the core programming language, it can reduce development time and improve the performance of cross-platform apps.
Usually, for Android, you need to program your mobile app using Java, and for iOS, you have to use Swift/Objective C. React Native will help you avoid these requirements and allows you to create fully functional apps on both Android and iOS platforms in much less time using one code base.
Today, many companies prefer to create their apps using React Native because this one code strategy helps them to deploy their apps on both platforms. And, this avoids the requirement of hiring two separate teams of developers to maintain two different code bases.
Why you should use React Native for Mobile App Development?
React Native can offer you many solutions that other frameworks can’t afford. Here is what it can provide you with mobile app development.
1. Cross-platform compatibility
One of the significant advantages of the React Native framework is “the use of one codebase.” As a result, cross-platform apps show the same level of performance as native apps.
React Native uses React JS with native UI library and native APIs to write the base code of one application that can run on both iOS and Android platforms.
So, for a web app that uses React JS, we can re-use the state management, component logic, and React hooks to have a better mobile application with all the native functionalities. This reduces the development time and helps you keep the overall app development cost low.
Faster development means you can launch your app as fast as possible and join in the competition earlier than you planned. Also, with its one codebase technique, you don’t have to hire separate developers to build apps for iOS and Android devices.
2. Reusable code and pre-built components
The concept of cross-platform mobile app development is that you can reuse the written code for both iOS and Android apps. React Native also follows the same principle. It follows the notion write once and launch everywhere.
This adds convenience to developers. They don’t need to build separate designs for different platforms. Also, if a company has an existing web app, it can use most of its code to build a mobile app.
3. Coding in a familiar programming language
To develop your app using React Native, you don’t need your developers to learn a different language and coding syntaxes if they are already familiar with JavaScript.
React Native is easy to learn if the developer has a working knowledge of JavaScript or React. The important thing is they should know which mobile components correspond with which web components.
Once this is done, your developer can start using React Native for your mobile app development.
Also Read: How to Make An App for Android and iOS Using React Native?
4. Trustworthy
Before React Native was developed and launched, Facebook made a mobile app to check the platform’s viability. It helped their developers to build an amazing mobile app for the social media platform.
Today, everyone uses the Facebook mobile app, and, indeed, it gives you a feeling of using a native mobile app. Since, React Native has gone open-source, more companies have started using React Native to develop their mobile apps. Instagram, Skype, Walmart, etc., are a few examples.
5. Build stable and high-performing apps
React Native uses a simplified binding strategy for its codebase. Therefore, to change one object, you have to modify its state before applying updates. That will help you develop a more stable and reliable application than other cross-platform development methods.
When you think of building a new mobile app from scratch, React Native is a great option However, it also works well for adding a single view or user flow to existing native applications. With a few steps, you can include new React Native-based features, views, screens, etc.
Also, instead of Webview, React Native uses native APIs for rendering code. As a result, it helps you deliver better-performing apps.
6. Support of third-party plugins
React Native offers third-party plugin support. The two types of plugins applicable are Native Modules and JavaScript Modules. So, for instance, if you want to add Google Calendar or Google Maps to your basic app, then through React Native, you can link to any plugin with a Native or third-party module.
7. Growing all the time
Facebook and the massive community are constantly working on the improvements of React Native. That means if React Native cannot offer you a solution for a problem right now, it can’t be the same all the time. A few months later, the situation might be different.
8. Hot and Live Reloading
React Native has a hot and live reloading function at its core. With this feature, the developers can work with the code changes in real-time and fix them when the application is loading.
While hot reloading reloads only a particular area of the change, the live feature automatically reloads the complete application after making changes. This eases the development and testing process.
9. Rich UI
React Native helps you create unique and compelling UIs through pre-built declarative components, such as Button, Picker, Slider, Switch, and so on. You can use TouchableNativeFeedback and TouchableOpacity to make your own components.
There are many other Android and iOS-specific components available to make it work efficiently on iOS and Android mobile devices.
Examples:
iOS: SegmentedControliOS, ImagePickerControlleriOS, DataPickeriOS, etc.
Android: DrawerLayoutAndroid, DatePickerAndroid, ViewPageAndroid, etc.
10. Community support and Industry popularity
Among all the cross-platforms, React Native has the most significant community support.
- React Native lets your developers get help from community experts,
- Developed by Facebook and supported by many companies and open source contributors, it is sure that React Native app development will remain relevant even in the future.
11. Prompt live updates
With JavaScript as its primary language, you can release updates without going through the app stores. In addition, it has support for cross-platform app development, and with tools like code push it can launch updates to a user’s device in an instant.
12. Easy to hire React Native developers
As an open-source platform, React Native uses the open-source JS library. So, it is not that hard for you to find and hire potential developers for your project. Moreover, React Native is easy to learn and helps your developers to handle it in no time. Fortunately, we have a well-versed React Native developers team that helped many businesses develop a unique mobile app.
Check our case studies.
Some Cons of React Native
Above, we discussed the positive aspects of React Native. But, not everything is perfect for React Native, just like any other library out there regarding mobile app development. React Native is still young, so there are many components that are not available.
Some cons are:
- It is not an ideal choice if you want to create games or apps with complex 3D rendering.
- The lack of out-of-the-box support for many native app functionalities like push notifications is a significant issue with React Native development.
- For instance, consider the scenario of building a file-accessing app. Since React Native does not provide an out-of-the-box file accessing system, you need to develop a custom module. At that time, you should consider factors like the UI part of React Native, the Swift part of iOS, and the Java part of Android. There you reach three codebases, and you should check these three codebases and do things corresponding to them.
So, is React Native good for your project?
If you take a closer look at the pros of React Native, you can see it can easily outweigh the downsides of React Native. So, taking into account both the benefits and some downsides, it is sure that React Native has a future in cross-platform app development. Here is what it can help you achieve:
- You can develop your app for both iOS and Android. By reducing the codebase by about 95%, it helps you save your time and money. Also, it can speed up the development process as React Native has many open-source libraries of pre-built components.
- With React Native, you will need to spend less time on testing.
- Building mobile applications with React Native offers you a smooth and responsive user interface while reducing the load time.
- You can build React Native applications faster and cheaper than building native ones without compromising the quality and functionality of your app.
- It makes bug fixing convenient on all platforms.
- React Native lets you easily incorporate third-party plugins and APIs, including maps and payment systems.
- Allows you to hire a handful of developers instead of a large group to develop your app.
Even though React Native can offer you the best-performing mobile apps, the framework you choose for your business should meet its requirements.
See also: Flutter Vs. React Native: Which To Choose For Cross-Platform Development?
Popular examples
Key takeaways
- React native is used to build (iOS and Android) cross-platform apps that offer the look and feel of native apps as it uses JavaScript components that are built on iOS and Android components.
- It helps to save time and costs as you don’t need to create the same app for multiple platforms.
- The app built in React Native is easy to maintain as there is only one codebase.
- React Native helps your developers to create mobile apps using website technology. So a web developer can easily develop a mobile app using this framework.
- React Native uses JavaScript XML. So, to develop an app, you don’t need your developers to learn complex languages, such as Java or Objective C.
- It provides a good developer community.
- React Native helps you build the app faster. You can instantly reload the app instead of recompiling. The Hot Reloading feature can even run new features while maintaining your application state.
- React Native is responsive and provides the best user experience. Also, their apps are faster and agile.
- Compared to other cross-platform app development environments, it uses Native components. As a result, it speeds up the app rendering and execution.
- React Native helps you reduce development time but never compromises in quality.
Read: 21 Mobile App Development FAQs Every Startup Founder Must Know – A Detailed Guide.
Conclusion
To conclude, React Native delivers a lot of unique benefits. It is faster to build, offers better quality, gives you the experience of a Native app without developing one, etc. However, your choice of technology stack largely depends on your business requirements.
To conclude, React Native delivers a lot of unique benefits. It is faster to build, offers better quality, gives you the experience of a Native app without developing one, etc. However, your choice of technology stack largely depends on your business requirements.
As a reliable mobile app development company, NeoITO has an expert team of React Native developers. Therefore, based on your business requirements, we can deliver you the best-in-class cross-platform mobile apps.
And our responsibility doesn’t end after delivering your app. Your business needs will change, and we’ll be there to meet your needs accordingly. We assure to provide hassle-free delivery of all the development-related changes you want without fail.
So, if you are ready with your app idea, book a time with our tech experts to discuss your requirements!