How to develop a mobile application with React Native?

For several years now, React Native has been a hot topic in the mobile development world . This framework has taken the tech world by storm by providing a way to simultaneously develop mobile applications for iOS and Android , operational on smartphones and tablets.

Businesses looking to build mobile apps are often indecisive when it comes to prioritizing their actions. Should they focus on creating a single user experience or should they prioritize faster development and compatibility with multiple platforms? React Native allows you to meet all of these criteria.

It has been successfully adopted by hundreds of major companies around the world. The numbers are especially telling when you consider the most popular apps on the App Store and Google Play Store right now. Of the top 500 apps installed in the US, 14.85% were built with React Native. However, before you get started with React Native , it is essential that you understand how it works and analyze whether it is a good fit for your project.

We will explain in this article how to create an application with React Native . But first, let's see what it is exactly and go over its pros and cons.

What is React Native?

React Native is the native version of React.js , which is a popular web library created by Facebook in 2015. It is the most widely used open source JavaScript framework in the world. It was designed to create powerful native mobile applications for iOS, Android and Universal Windows platforms. That's why it's often called “the future of hybrid development”.

This framework uses existing compilers, and its code is not platform specific, which means that application developers only need to write the code once. The open architecture ensures that the code runs on multiple platforms. React Native deploys a "bridge" to allow communication between code written in JavaScript and native device components . Therefore, it connects the JavaScript thread to the native thread.

Why use  React Native  for building mobile apps?

For a long time, React Native was considered to be commercially nonviable. It was therefore not fully developed to support the production of "native" applications .

But times have changed. React Native has matured and its success is growing. It is supported by a community and is gaining more and more market share. The development of large applications React Native is easier, and the world sees today as a very interesting solution.

If you are a mobile app developer proficient in JavaScript , React Native is a great choice. Indeed, to use it, you will not need to learn the Java language specific to Android or the Swift language of iOS.

What are the advantages of React Native?

Cross-platform use

The use of a single code base is one of the major advantages of Native React . This framework, originally invented for the development of iOS applications, quickly gained popularity. Facebook subsequently decided to provide support for the Android platform as well. Thus, React Native applications can be developed using a single codebase for both platforms simultaneously, which further added to the success of the framework.

Initially, “hybrid” or “mobile web” applications were well received because of their unusual nature. However, in terms of performance, the more complex the application, the greater the lag. React Native's entry on the scene made it possible to break the deadlock. The React native app is compiled with code written for the native , which not only makes it possible to run on two operating systems, but also to perform identically on both platforms without lag.

React Native uses React.js with a library of native UIs and native APIs to write basic application code for both platforms .

A wider audience

You no longer need to decide which audience to target (i.e. iOS or Android users). Designing and developing mobile apps with React Native allows you to reach both audiences at the same time and simultaneously access a larger group of users.

Faster mobile application development

Since only one codebase is required to manage iOS and Android and all content is concentrated in one place, mobile app development is much faster. The app mobile multiplatform support different mobile devices as much of the code can be reused across platforms.

Cost reduction

The creation of cross-platform mobile apps cost 30% cheaper than creating specific applications IOS and Android. This is because the ability to reuse code and the faster development speed directly optimize costs.

Simple user interface

React Native uses React's JavaScript UI to design the app's user interface. Processing times are faster, user interface is smoother, loading time is shorter, leading to better user experience .

This framework is ideal for developing applications, even complex ones, simply. Simplicity is the main attribute that makes the interface smooth and responsive.

What are the disadvantages of React Native?

Lack of documentation and stability

Unfortunately, the React Native community is still young. There is therefore very little documentation available, especially when it is integrated with other tools. However, the React Native framework is evolving rapidly, and updates and improvements are released every week. Therefore, application designers should continue to update their applications regularly, because each refresh brings many changes. Failure to update the app for several months can make it ineffective. So, in the past, popular apps like Airbnb have struggled with this challenge.

Third-party components

React Native provides a lot of native modules for iOS and Android , but the number of third-party components is still limited. And we don't know if future versions of the framework will support community-designed modules. This is a major drawback, as React Native does not provide all the possible features that app builders might want to implement in their apps.

Late SDK update

When iOS or Android updates its SDK, React Native generally does not handle version compatibility well. The React Native team is expected to integrate the codebase with the new software. Although they are very responsive, they cannot update all parts of the API at the same time. This is why it usually takes too long to fully sync between React Native and the new SDK .

How to use React Native to develop a mobile application?

React Native is a framework for building applications that can run on Android and iOS . It allows you to build true native apps using JavaScript and React. It is different from a framework like Cordova, where you use HTML to create a user interface and then simply display it in the device's built-in mobile browser (WebView). When your JavaScript code is executed through a virtual machine, React Native's built-in components are compiled into native UI components. This makes it more efficient than Cordova.

When React Native was announced, the initial feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Until then, when we thought about web technologies in the mobile space, solutions like Apache Cordova came to mind. Indeed, these make it possible to package websites or web applications as applications for mobile platforms.

For setting up the React Native development environment , you need to start by installing the most important things like NodeJS and Watchman . NodeJS is a JavaScript runtime engine for creating JavaScript code. Watchman is a tool developed by Facebook to observe file changes. It is highly recommended that you install it for better performance . You also need to install Native SDKs (Software Development Kit), React Native CLI as well as Android Studio (for Android app development) or Xcode (for iOS app development).

You now know all about the pros and cons of React Native, but there are some important points to keep in mind. React Native can help businesses build high-quality, scalable mobile apps with an engaging and responsive user interface. It provides customers with an excellent user experience for native applications.

In addition to the user experience , the benefits and functions provided are also very rich. React Native enables code reuse and creates a community of professional developers who can access a series of pre-built items, etc. These can significantly help developers reduce project time and costs.

But React Native also has some drawbacks. Since it is relatively new and constantly evolving, many application developers choose not to use it when designing complex applications. But it's worth noting that the React Native developer community is growing every day. Soon the advantages of React Native apps will outweigh their disadvantages. Going forward, React Native will be used to build apps that require more advanced security features, and it will soon become an obvious choice for app developers around the world.

If you want to develop the best React Native app, contact the our experienced react native app developers at Elitech Systems, a offshore web agency that offers the best value in web services without further delay.