React Native has been at the forefront of the mobile app development world for quite some time now. It has taken the tech world by storm by allowing developers to create native mobile apps for both iOS and Android using a single codebase. Although React Native app development has proven successful for businesses, it’s important to know how it works and why it’s the best fit for your mobile project over other native technologies.
In this blog post, we’ll go over some of the known pros and cons of React Native, as well as discuss other alternatives.
React Native – Why is it trendy?
React Native is a popular JavaScript-based mobile app framework that allows you to build natively rendered apps for iOS and Android using a single code base. It was first released as an open-source project by Facebook and has since become one of the most popular mobile programming frameworks. Some of the world’s leading mobile applications such as Instagram, Facebook, and Skype use React Native development.
The global success of React Native apps can be attributed to several factors:
- With React Native, businesses can write code once and use it to power their iOS and Android apps, saving time and resources.
- React Native was developed on top of React, a popular JavaScript library at the time the mobile framework was introduced, which makes it unique.
- This framework allowed front-end developers, who previously could only work with web technologies, to create complex production-ready mobile applications.
React Native – What does it offer?
1. Platform-specific code
React Native’s most attractive feature is its ability to generate platform-specific code. When your Mobile app development, the framework automatically detects the platform it will run on. It essentially generates optical code for the correct platform, resulting in faster app development.
2. Best suited for front-end developers
Since most of the code is written in JavaScript, React Native makes it easier for any front-end developer to build an app. To get familiar with RN, a front-end developer only needs to know React.js, the platform’s API, a few native UI elements, and any platform-specific design concepts.
3. Fast development time
React.js has a Hot Reloading feature that allows developers to automatically reload a mobile app. These speeds up the development process and saves time.
4. Ready to use UI libraries
The React Native ecosystem includes component UI libraries that help developers create a unified user interface. Shoutem, Expo, native base, and other UI libraries save time that would otherwise be spent building them from scratch. Instead, developers now have more time to focus on innovation and ideas rather than creating library roots.
These are some of the primary features that set React Native apart.
What are the alternative options for native mobile apps?
Ionic
Ionic is an open-source SDK for developing hybrid mobile applications. It helps in creating native experiences using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Ionic is based on Angular, so if you know how to use Angular, you will have no problem choosing Ionic.
Interestingly, it comes with many pre-installed components that make app development a breeze. Because it uses a hybrid approach to product development, it is also a good choice for rapid prototyping. However, compared to React Native, it is slower in terms of performance because it uses WebView.
Apache Cordova
Another mobile app development platform is Apache Cordova, which allows developers to create apps using CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. As a result, you won’t need to rely on APIs for a specific Android, iOS, or Windows platform. However, like Ionic, Apache Cordova uses WebView, which may limit your options.
For example, since JavaScript is a single-threaded language, too many things in the codebase can lead to problems such as leggy animations and slow application response.
PhoneGap
PhoneGap is developer friendly. It has several frameworks and libraries available. It is based on the motto “write once, run on every platform”, so you can take advantage of cross-platform development. Simply choose your preferred web technology and your app will work on all platforms without having to create different versions for each.
Unfortunately, PhoneGap apps can have a worse user experience because the web technology was designed for the web, not mobile apps. This makes it difficult to work with animations. In addition, you may run the risk of facing the same problems as web applications, such as browser-specific errors.
Xamarin
Xamarin is a cross-platform mobile app development tool that allows developers to exchange up to 90% of their code between platforms. It builds apps for all mobile devices using a single language, C#.
Because it is natively compiled, it is a popular choice for building high-performance apps with a native look and feel. However, the platform has several drawbacks that can cast a negative light on it, such as the difficulties you may encounter when integrating third-party resources with your Xamarin app. cross-platform app development thus loses its main advantage compared to other native solutions.
Prepare for the future with React Native!
React Native is an excellent mobile app development framework that works seamlessly on any platform or operating system. It is a framework that is popular among organizations and developers alike. Moreover, React Native not only saves your time and resources but also speeds up the development process.
While a native solution for iOS and Android is a viable option, React Native is superior in terms of consistent user interface and high performance for cross-platform mobile app development. What more could you ask for? With our React Native development services, you can expect your product to reach a larger audience in no time.
