Hundreds of companies worldwide, including Uber, Microsoft, and Facebook, have successfully adopted the React Native platform, and it is used in a wide variety of business sectors. However, before you go all-in with React Native, you must make sure that you fully comprehend how it operates and choose whether it is the most appropriate choice for the project you are working on.
What are its most significant benefits, and what are its most significant drawbacks? What makes it unique in comparison to other platforms for cross-development? And finally, but certainly not least, what information is essential for your developers to have before they start their journey with React Native? In the following essay, we will respond to these and other questions, all to empower you to make an informed decision and determine whether React Native is the best option for your company.
How successful is React Native?
A growing number of developers are choosing React Native as an efficient and cost-effective means of creating mobile apps that run on several platforms. It has a 38% market share and is the second most popular framework for creating mobile apps that run across platforms. Even in 2022, React Native continues to be a well-liked option. If you’ve ever used the official Facebook app on iOS or Android, you’ve likely seen React Native in action. React Native is gaining popularity as a viable option for developing cross-platform mobile apps without breaking the bank.
The data becomes even more instructive when you analyze the most downloaded apps from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Reports indicate that React Native was used to produce 14.85% of the top 500 apps installed in the US. After Kotlin and Android Architecture Components, the popularity of the React Native framework continues to rise among the most popular apps in the United States.
Famous Apps Built With React Native
- Facebook Ads
- Walmart
- Bloomberg
- Wix
- Delivery.com
Why Is React Native So Successful?
Let’s have a look at a few of the many reasons why React Native is an excellent choice for building mobile apps:
1. Cross-platform Compatibility
React Native was originally only accessible for iOS; Facebook saw its potential and ported it to Android. Up until now, most APIs have been platform-agnostic, letting React Native be used to build apps for both Android and iOS. Most application programming interfaces (APIs) are platform-agnostic, saving time and effort for React Native developers.
2. Great Performance
Compared to other cross-platform development methods, React Native’s “bridge” technique is a game-changer. The platform’s efficiency stems from its ability to take advantage of locally developed modules and controls. It generates native API codes by communicating with and interacting with native Android and iOS components. Performance is amplified and improved because the framework utilizes a separate thread in addition to the native APIs and UIs.
3. Faster Development Process
A short development cycle is essential to stay competitive in the mobile app industry, and this is one of the many reasons React Native is the best option. Native programming languages made the process slower. Through its “live reloading” function, development teams can significantly reduce the time spent on code compilation. Modifications to the code take effect almost instantly. Plus, the code base for iOS and Android is identical. Many reusable tools and components are combined with speeding up development.
4. Flexible
This framework’s adaptability stems from the fact that React Native apps can be deployed and updated on several devices. In addition, if two developers are working on the same piece of code at the same time, they can seamlessly continue up where the first developer left off. Test use cases can be created quickly and easily by developers. Because of its “flexibility,” the mobile app is easy to update and improve by reacting to developers.
5. Reusable Code
Cross-platform mobile app development is based on the principle that code can be utilized for both iOS and Android apps. This is also true for React Native. The principle behind it is “write once, publish anywhere.” This is great news for programmers. Therefore, they can avoid making multiple versions of their ideas for various platforms. In fact, as much as 90% of the code can be shared between the two platforms, greatly increasing the efficiency and speed with which new features can be added. This means less time spent in development and less time maintaining the product after it’s out.
An Explanation of How React Native Came into the Existence
When Facebook decided to make its service available on mobile devices, it didn’t make a native app like many other Internet companies. Instead, it used an HTML5-based mobile website. But the solution didn’t stand a chance because it needed many UX and performance improvements. Mark Zuckerberg said in 2012 that the company’s worst mistake was putting too much faith in HTML instead of Native.
But in 2013, Facebook developer Jordan Walke found something shocking and significant. And he did that by building user interface elements for iOS apps with JavaScript. This spread like wildfire, and a special Hackathon was held to find more ways to use JavaScript tools for mobile programming.
In a way, this is where the idea for React Native came from. The Facebook framework was made with iOS in mind, but it didn’t take long to add support for Android. The public got to see it in 2015. Only three years later, React Native had more contributors than the project, with the most people working on it. At one point in 2019, it was in sixth place, thanks to a whopping 9,100 contributions.
What Makes React Native Unique?
We’ve compiled a list of the top reasons why you should use React Native:
- The framework is written in JavaScript, which is currently one of the most widely used programming languages (source). Since this is the case, numerous useful third-party libraries are available in React Native programs (day.js, lodash). Many libraries with ReactJS can also be used with React Native (e.g., Formik, redux, victory.js, and AWS amplify).
- Incorporating React Native into an existing mobile app allows us to keep working on a current product while developing it with React Native. Even before developing any code for a mobile app, we can determine which views/functionalities (such as user profiles and login screens) are best written in React Native and which are speed-critical and should be implemented with native code.
- Anyone familiar with ReactJS may quickly and easily start contributing to a React Native project thanks to the “learn once, write everywhere” philosophy. The skills and information learned in the web version can be applied directly to the mobile app developed with React Native.
- For specific platforms, you can use React Native to write a code snippet (e.g., if we want to have a menu that complies with the standards of a given platform, we can program this element separately for each platform).
- You can write code in your native language that will interact with our JavaScript programs. This is useful when attempting to communicate with the API of an unsupported platform or when integrating with an existing solution.
- The framework’s architecture was also designed to make it easy to incorporate support for additional platforms. This, and the community’s backing, is why React Native allows you to develop web apps and apps for Windows and macOS.
- Furthermore, the Expo structure needs to be highlighted. It makes developing mobile applications using React Native much more accessible by including many commonly-used features (including access to the user’s text messages, contacts, camera, and social network accounts) from the get-go. Learn more about this structure by clicking here.
Wrapping Up
Facebook uses a framework called React Native to build its internal mobile apps. To facilitate the creation of iOS-based mobile applications, it was made publicly available in March 2015. An Android version was made public by September. Later, it added Windows and Tizen support. When building a React Native app, developers can use JavaScript to write code that can later be compiled for use on iOS, Android, or any other compatible platform.
This method speeds up iterations, allowing app creators to get new versions into app stores more frequently. By knowing the history of React Native, if you are looking for React Native development, you should surely try it. To make this happen, you can consult a React Native development company with a team of expert developers and designers.
