A Comprehensive Guide on React Native for Mobile App Development

For businesses aiming to establish a mobile presence, the universal goal—regardless of their industry—is to reach a wide audience at an optimized development cost and a quick launch time. Achieving this trifecta is a sweet spot that all businesses strive for and this sweet spot often doesn’t come cheap.

Typically, businesses find themselves making compromises among these elements. If they prioritize a fast time to market and low development costs, they may have to sacrifice app quality. Conversely, if they focus on building high-quality apps, both the time to market and the development costs tend to increase.

For a brand to achieve all three, they are normally made to restrict themselves to one platform – Android or iOS.

Now, while cross-platform app development comes as a respite, there are very few libraries or frameworks that deliver quality, a.k.a. Native-like experience. One of those few libraries which offer the best of both worlds for businesses and end-users is React Native for mobile app development.

Over time, React Native has emerged as the framework that comes closest to delivering this ideal trio for businesses, balancing quality, cost, and speed in a way that often places it ahead of the more time-consuming native app development process. And ever since React Native underwent a re-architecture, there is no stopping it.

There are a number of pointers which bring React Native points ahead in the discussion between React Native vs Native App Development. But here are the few that have made us base a majority of our cross platform app development services on React Native. Let us look at them in detail below:

Unveiling the Market Size of React Native App Development: A Brief Overview

React Native is a popular cross-platform framework for building mobile applications using JavaScript and React. It allows developers to write code once and deploy it on both iOS and Android platforms, saving time and effort while delivering a native-like user experience.

According to the report by Statista, React Native ranks as the second most favored cross-platform mobile app development framework, commanding a market share exceeding 13%.

A quick look into the app categories where React Native is most prevalent provides insight into its common applications. For instance, e-commerce, social media, finance, and healthcare industries frequently use React Native for their mobile applications.

Its viability is also determined by other factors, including the framework’s ability to support complex functionalities, its performance efficiency, and the ease of integrating third-party plugins.

Looking for the reasons to invest in React Native app development? Let us help you understand the benefits and how it aligns with your business goals.

Key Benefits of React Native in Mobile App Development

Here are the prominent reasons why businesses opt for React Native for development of mobile apps that run on both Android and iOS platforms:

Single Codebase

Usually, what happens in a typical mobile app development scenario is that different codebases are used separately for Android and iOS. But when you create a React Native app, the library helps in the development of apps that run on both Android and iOS, with the same codebase.

The fact that React Native is a single codebase, makes it possible for the React Native app developers to write the code once and run it on multiple platforms, which eliminates the need to write the code twice.

Simply put, the development speed and efforts are also a lot less when investing in React Native for app development.

Reusable Component

Gone are the times when the WebView components were used in the development of hybrid mobile apps. And it has been made possible solely because of the fact that React Native app builders use building blocks that are made of reusable “native components”, which tend to compile straight to native apps.

In addition to that, the components that are used for the development of Android and iOS apps, have their counterparts in React Native, which makes it possible for businesses to attain platform-wise look and feel.

When you build React Native Apps, the component-specific structure even enables you to develop apps with an agile, web-based approach – the development that goes beyond the development process of your typical hybrid apps. The resulting app has the look and feel, speed, and the necessary functionalities of the native mobile application.

Zero Rewriting

The library allows a React Native app development company to incorporate the Native components in the present mobile app’s code. It means that the React Native app developers no longer have to write code from scratch. This makes it possible for them to switch the existing mobile to the React Native library without much effort.

Third Party Plugin Compatibility

One of the biggest disadvantages of the cross-platform app development process is that when you are not developing a mobile app for any specific operating system, i.e. Native app development, it becomes very difficult to incorporate the device’s hardware capabilities inside the mobile app.

However, this issue can be easily resolved by a dedicated mobile app development company by building apps with React Native. The library makes use of a number of third party plugins that makes it possible for the developers to incorporate device in-built elements like GPS, Bluetooth, etc. in the mobile app.

And since the React Native app developers use third party plugins, the high memory usage and load speed issues are never faced by them.

Improved Code Quality

Investing in React Native for mobile app development significantly reduces coding efforts. With the ability to write code once for both platforms, mobile app development in React Native can halve their code lines. As a result, the scope for bugs and faulty code is also reduced, leading to more efficient and reliable app development processes.

Also, because the code lines are now limited to a selected few, the testing efforts also get reduced to a great extent, making the whole mobile app development process a lot faster.

The reasons mentioned, along with the ease of development and the opportunity to reach a larger market, have convinced many established brands to switch their mobile business processes to React Native for app development.

Hot Reloading

Hot reloading is a feature in React Native that allows businesses to instantly see the changes they make in the application’s code without needing to reload the entire app. This significantly speeds up the development process, as it enables businesses to fix bugs, add features, and adjust UI elements in real time. By maintaining the app’s state, hot reloading makes the development experience more efficient and less time-consuming.

Strong Community Support

React Native boasts a large and active community of developers who contribute to the framework’s continuous improvement. This strong community support means that developers can easily find resources, tutorials, and libraries to help solve any issues they encounter. Additionally, the community frequently updates documentation and shares best practices, ensuring that developers stay updated with the latest advancements and trends in React Native development.

Cost-Effective Development

React Native allows companies to write a single codebase that runs on both iOS and Android platforms, which reduces the need for separate development teams for each platform. This unified approach not only saves time but also lowers development costs. Additionally, the ability to reuse code and components further reduces duplication of effort, making mobile app development using React Native a cost-effective solution.

High Performance

React Native for iOS and Android development assists in providing high performance. React Native uses native components and optimizes rendering to achieve performance levels that are close to those of fully native apps. It leverages the native UI building blocks, ensuring the app feels and performs like a native application.

For performance-critical sections, companies can integrate native code to achieve optimal performance, making React Native suitable for a wide range of applications, from simple apps to more complex, resource-intensive ones.

Cross-Platform Consistency

With React Native, businesses can maintain a consistent look and feel across different platforms. The framework allows for shared business logic and UI components, ensuring that the app behaves similarly on both iOS and Android. This consistency is crucial for user experience, as it provides users with a seamless interaction regardless of their device. Moreover, it simplifies maintenance and updates, as changes can be implemented across platforms simultaneously.

Real-World Examples of Businesses Leveraging React Native App Development

Here is a curated list of React Native app examples, empowering businesses to leverage the versatility and efficiency of this powerful framework to streamline operations, enhance user experiences, and expand their digital footprint.

Walmart

Walmart strives to be the world’s biggest retailer. In order to achieve goals like that, the brand is bound to take bold moves which would help them gain competitive advantage while taking their customer experience to the next level.

To establish themselves as the leading retailer, Walmart rewrote their mobile app in React Native, which was earlier in Node.js. And ever since the switch, Walmart has been able to increase its app performance on both iOS and Android with least resources in hand. React Native made it possible for them to create near native apps with smooth animations and heightened performance.

Tesla

The global leader of the electric car segment, Tesla also joined the React Native community to take their app global.

The app that is used to diagnose the vehicle and control it partially through a smartphone is available on both Android and iOS and has received a lot of positive comments from the users on both the platforms.

Bloomberg

The new end-user mobile app has been developed to give the clients interactive, streamlined experience when they view the easy to access customized content, live feeds, and videos that are featured across Bloomberg Media.

The app, which is live on both Play Store and App Store, was able to witness a high adoption rate from the users.

Uber Eats

For its Restaurant dashboard, Ubereats has invested in React Native App Development. The earlier version of the dashboard was developed for the web and it offered very selective access to the device’s native functionality – a crucial user experience problem.

Now, even though the library is a very small part of the whole app experience, the Uber Eats developers are positive about React Native’s ability to match the needs of the growing market.

Skype

The trusted messaging platform announced moving its Android app to React Native a few years aso. The brand completely revamped various elements within the app, including the layout and icons.

As far as the performance goes, the new Skype is a lot faster than its previous version. Also, it is a lot more equipped (option wise) than the old Skype.

Now even though React Native is getting the back of the various established brands, it is not wise to ignore that there are instances where investing in React Native App Development makes sense and others where it doesn’t. In this section, we will look into all the different incidents where it makes sense to invest in React Native and places where it doesn’t.

When to Use React Native for App Development

Let’s explore the optimal scenarios for using React Native for app development, enabling businesses to make informed decisions on leveraging this framework to maximize efficiency and reach.

When App Belongs to Low to Medium Complexity

React Native is particularly advantageous for low to medium-complexity apps because it can leverage reusable components, reducing development time and cost.

When You Have a Limited Development Budget

If you are looking for time and cost effective development of your mobile app, React Native can prove to be an ideal library for you. Since it works around a single codebase, the development efforts and time gets reduced by a great extent. And reduced with them is the React Native app development cost.

When Developing App from the Scratch

When embarking on the development of a cross-platform app from scratch, leveraging React Native offers efficiency and flexibility. However, if you’re considering integrating React Native into an existing app, it may lead to complexities and inconsistencies in code management and performance.

While React Native has emerged as the most popular and used libraries for the development of cross platform apps that would run on both Android and iOS, there are instances when it is not advised to use React Native, going by the limitations that are prevalent in the platform.

Here are the instances when we advise against the usage of React Native library –

When Not to Use React Native for App Development

Let’s delve into scenarios where React Native may not be the best choice, enabling businesses to make strategic decisions about their app development approach.

When the App Would Be Better off with a Single Operating System

There are times when in the hope of getting the attention of maximum users from around the globe, businesses end up investing in either both Android or iOS individually or in a cross platform library like React Native.

What they fail to do is market research of where their prospects actually lie. What we recommend is that businesses should first do a comprehensive study of their users and then they should first limit themselves to one platform and gauge the acceptance rate.

So, instead of getting ahead of yourself and developing apps for both platforms, in place of focusing your attention on the one platform where your prospects definitely belong, focus on Native app development first.

When App Has a Complex UI

Even though JavaScript enables the development of fast and smooth apps, the building platforms that are native to iOS and Android – Java, Kotlin, Swift, and Objective – C are a much better fit when it comes to the development of complex apps that are too device hardware oriented.

Also, if your app is calling for or would call for a higher level of customizations, investing in Native apps would make better sense.

When the App Calls for High Maintainability

When considering the development of an application that demands regular updates and ongoing maintenance, React Native may present itself as a viable option. However, given its perceived status as still evolving, it becomes imperative to thoroughly assess its support and capabilities within the React Native documentation.

Challenges of Using React Native for Mobile App Development

Here are the top 8 challenges of using React Native for mobile app development, along with detailed solutions for each challenge.

Challenge: Performance Issues

React Native provides near-native performance but can struggle with complex animations and heavy computational tasks. This is because React Native runs JavaScript code and communicates with native components via a bridge, which can introduce performance overhead.

Solution:

• Optimize code: Identify and optimize inefficient code segments. Use tools like the React Native Performance Monitor to profile and pinpoint bottlenecks.
• Use native modules: For performance-critical operations, implement native modules directly in Swift (iOS) or Kotlin/Java (Android). This bypasses the bridge and leverages the full power of native performance.
• Avoid unnecessary re-renders: Use PureComponent or React.memo to prevent unnecessary re-renders of components.
• Leverage libraries: Use performance-optimized libraries like react-native-reanimated for smooth animations and react-native-gesture-handler for better touch handling.

Challenge: Limited Third-Party Libraries

While the React Native ecosystem is growing, some third-party libraries might not support it or lack the maturity and stability of their native counterparts. This can limit functionality or lead to bugs.

Solution:

• Use well-maintained libraries: Stick to popular and well-maintained libraries within the React Native community, which are more likely to be stable and frequently updated.
• Contribute to the community: If you encounter issues with a library, consider contributing to its improvement by submitting pull requests or reporting bugs.
• Create custom modules: When existing libraries fall short, write custom native modules to implement required features. This requires some native development knowledge, but it ensures functionality and performance.

Challenge: Native Code Dependency

Despite React Native’s cross-platform capabilities, certain advanced features or performance optimizations might necessitate writing native code. This increases development complexity and requires proficiency in both iOS and Android development.

Solution:

• Build a robust bridge: Establish a strong bridge between React Native and native code to facilitate seamless integration. Ensure thorough documentation and code organization for maintainability.
• Hire skilled developers: Include developers with native development expertise in your team. This will help you efficiently handle native code and troubleshoot platform-specific issues.
• Encourage cross-training: Promote knowledge sharing and cross-training among developers to build a versatile team capable of tackling both React Native and native code challenges.

Challenge: Platform-Specific Bugs

Since React Native apps run on both iOS and Android, platform-specific bugs can arise. These bugs might behave differently across platforms, making debugging and testing more complex.

Solution:

• Thoroughly test on both platforms: Ensure comprehensive testing on both iOS and Android devices to catch and address platform-specific bugs early.
• Use automated testing tools: Implement automated end-to-end testing using tools like Detox for React Native. Automated tests help consistently identify bugs across different environments.
• Leverage CI/CD pipelines: Integrate continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines to automate testing and deployment processes and ensure consistent quality across platforms.

Challenge: Asynchronous Updates

React Native’s communication bridge is asynchronous, which can introduce performance bottlenecks, particularly in scenarios requiring high-frequency updates like animations or real-time data processing.

Solution:

• Use native animation libraries: Employ libraries like react-native-reanimated and react-native-gesture-handler that handle animations and gestures natively, thus improving performance.
• Optimize data handling: Reduce the frequency of updates passing through the bridge by batching updates or using techniques like debouncing and throttling.
• Profile and optimize: Continuously profile the app to identify performance hotspots and optimize the data flow to minimize delays caused by the asynchronous bridge.

Challenge: Learning Curve

Businesses transitioning from web development to React Native may face a steep learning curve, particularly when dealing with mobile-specific concepts such as native APIs, mobile UI design patterns, and platform-specific debugging.

Solution:

• Provide comprehensive training: Offer training programs and resources focused on React Native and mobile development. Utilize online courses, workshops, and documentation to build foundational knowledge.
• Encourage hands-on projects: Promote hands-on learning through real-world projects and pair programming. Practical experience accelerates understanding and builds confidence.
• Foster a supportive environment: Create a collaborative and supportive environment where team members can share knowledge, ask questions, and learn from each other’s experiences.

Challenge: Outdated Documentation

React Native and its ecosystem evolve rapidly, which can result in outdated or incomplete documentation. This can lead to confusion and slower development progress as team members struggle to find accurate information.

Solution:

• Refer to multiple sources: Use multiple documentation sources, including official documentation, community forums, GitHub repositories, and Stack Overflow, to gather comprehensive information.
• Stay updated: Keep up with the latest developments and updates in the React Native community. Follow blogs, newsletters, and social media channels dedicated to React Native.
• Contribute to documentation: Actively contribute to improving documentation by reporting discrepancies, suggesting edits, or writing guides based on personal experiences and insights.

Challenge: Compatibility with Older Devices

Ensuring compatibility and smooth performance on older devices can be challenging. Older devices might lack support for the latest features and optimizations, leading to degraded user experience.

Solution:

• Test on a range of devices: Regularly test the app on various devices, including older models, to identify and address compatibility issues.
• Optimize for performance: Implement performance optimization techniques such as code splitting, lazy loading, and minimizing the use of resource-intensive features to enhance performance on older devices.
• Implement fallbacks: Provide fallbacks for features that are not supported on older devices. This ensures that the app remains functional even if certain advanced features are not available.

By proactively addressing these challenges and implementing effective solutions, developers can leverage the full potential of mobile app development in react native while mitigating common pitfalls. This ensures the development of high-quality, performant, and user-friendly mobile applications.

React Native Best Practices: Essential Tips for Optimizing Your App Development Process

Let’s dive deep into the best practices of React Native development to ensure your mobile applications are optimized for performance, scalability, and user experience. Discover key strategies that elevate your development process and deliver exceptional results!

Modular Code Organization

Maintaining a well-organized codebase is crucial for readability and scalability for businesses. Companies can easily navigate and manage the code by modularizing components, screens, utilities, and assets into separate folders. Consistent naming conventions further enhance clarity and collaboration among team members.

Efficient State Management

Effective state management is the backbone of a predictable data flow throughout the application. It’s not just about managing complex state logic, but also about doing it efficiently. Utilizing state management libraries like Redux or Context API empowers companies to handle even the most intricate state scenarios. By avoiding the overuse of local component state for global state management, businesses enhance scalability and maintainability, giving the confidence to tackle any project.

Optimized Performance

Performance optimization is not just a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have for delivering a responsive user experience. Techniques such as using PureComponent or React.memo for components, and employing FlatList for rendering large lists, contribute to faster rendering and reduced memory usage. By prioritizing performance, we show our commitment to providing the best user experience possible.

Responsive Design Principles

Designing responsive components ensures compatibility across various device sizes and orientations. Flexbox layout and responsive design techniques help create UIs that adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes, enhancing user experience and engagement.

Careful Third-Party Library Selection

Selecting appropriate third-party libraries minimizes bloat and potential performance issues. Thoroughly evaluating libraries based on functionality, maintainability, and compatibility helps in choosing lightweight and well-maintained options that align with project requirements.

Comprehensive Error Handling

Robust error handling mechanisms prevent crashes and provide a seamless user experience. Implementing error boundary components to catch and handle errors at the component level enhances application reliability and stability.

Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD)

Implementing CI/CD pipelines automates testing, building, and deployment processes. This streamlines development workflows, ensures code quality, and accelerates the release cycle, facilitating faster delivery of updates and features to users.

Hiring a Dedicated React Native Development Team

To ensure the successful development and maintenance of your application, it is essential to assemble a dedicated team proficient in React Native. Look for individuals with demonstrated expertise in React Native and a solid understanding of mobile app development principles. By hiring such a dedicated team, you can leverage their skills and experience to effectively navigate the challenges of building and maintaining a React Native app.

What Does the Future of React Native Hold?

The future of React Native is poised for continued growth and innovation. Advancements in rendering optimization and the new threading model introduced by Fabric promise significant performance improvements. This, coupled with the potential for seamless integration with emerging technologies like AR, VR, and IoT, positions React Native as a powerful tool for crafting immersive and future-proof mobile applications.

With each new release, React Native aims to address bugs and enhance stability, ensuring a more reliable development experience. The library is further expected to evolve with new features and capabilities, empowering developers to create even more complex and feature-rich applications.

Overall, the future of React Native looks bright, with ongoing innovation and enhancements expected to solidify its position as one of the leading frameworks for cross-platform mobile app development.

How Appinventiv Can Elevate Your React Native App Development

Appinventiv, a leading React Native mobile app development company, creates robust, high-performance mobile applications. With a team of skilled developers proficient in both React Native and native development, Appinventiv ensures seamless integration of advanced features and optimal performance across both iOS and Android platforms. Our comprehensive approach includes thorough testing and debugging, ensuring platform-specific issues are addressed efficiently.

By staying abreast of the latest industry trends and updates, Appinventiv also mitigates challenges related to outdated documentation and third-party libraries. Our dedication to continuous learning and community contribution further enhances our ability to deliver innovative, scalable, and cost-effective mobile solutions. Whether you need to optimize an existing app or develop a new one from scratch, Appinventiv’s expertise in React Native ensures a smooth development process and a superior end product.

Appinventiv’s impressive track record includes successfully completing over 300 projects using React Native, with a remarkable client satisfaction rate of 95%. Some of the notable clients for whom we have delivered high-end mobile apps include the likes of KFC, Pizza Hut, Adidas, Domino’s, and IKEA. This achievement underscores our dedication to delivering high-quality solutions that meet and exceed client expectations.

Connect with us to leverage the transformative potential of React Native for mobile app development, achieving exceptional results through cutting-edge innovation and seamless cross-platform solutions.

FAQs

Q. What is react native used for?

A. React Native, an open-source framework developed by Facebook, offers businesses a compelling solution for mobile app development. By leveraging JavaScript and React, React Native enables companies to streamline the creation of mobile applications for both iOS and Android platforms, all from a single codebase.

This unified approach reduces development time and minimizes costs associated with maintaining separate codebases for each platform. Moreover, React Native boasts a thriving community, extensive libraries, and performance that rivals native apps, making it an attractive option for businesses aiming to deliver high-quality mobile experiences efficiently and cost-effectively.

Q. How does React Native differ from traditional native app development?

A. Traditional native app development requires separate codebases for iOS (Swift/Objective-C) and Android (Java/Kotlin), leading to increased development time and maintenance efforts. React Native, on the other hand, allows companies to create a single codebase in JavaScript that works across both platforms. This unified approach enhances productivity, reduces development costs, and simplifies maintenance.

Q. Can React Native apps match the performance of native apps?

A. React Native apps can achieve near-native performance for most use cases. While there are some scenarios where pure native code may perform better, React Native leverages native components and optimizes rendering to ensure high performance. For performance-critical sections, businesses can integrate native code (Swift, Objective-C, Java, or Kotlin) within a React Native app.

Q. How does the development and debugging process work in React Native?

A. React Native architecture offers a seamless development experience with features like hot reloading, which allows companies to see changes in real-time without rebuilding the entire app. For debugging, React Native provides tools like React Developer Tools and integration with Chrome DevTools. Businesses can also use tools like Flipper for advanced debugging, performance monitoring, and visualization of app states.

Q. What are the limitations of using React Native for mobile app development?

A. While React Native is highly versatile, it has some limitations:

• Performance may not match fully native apps for extremely complex animations or high-performance games.
• Some platform-specific features or native APIs might require additional native code.
• The dependency on third-party libraries for certain functionalities can sometimes lead to compatibility or maintenance issues.

Q. Is react native good for mobile app development?

A. Yes, React Native is an excellent choice for mobile app development. It enables developers to build cross-platform apps with a single codebase, offering near-native performance and a wide range of components. Its efficiency in cutting development time and costs, along with strong community support, makes it a favored option.

Q. How does react native work?

A. React Native functions by utilizing JavaScript and the React framework to develop mobile apps. However, when the question arises, “Why use React Native?” it bridges JavaScript with native platform components, allowing a single codebase to be used for both iOS and Android. This approach compiles JavaScript into native code, ensuring a smooth user experience and near-native performance.

To know more about how to create a react native app, connect with our experts today!

THE AUTHOR

Dileep Gupta

DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER