Reasons to choose React Native for Building Responsive Apps

React Native is the most popular open-source framework for building mobile applications using JavaScript and React. It allows developers to build mobile apps that look and feel like native apps for iOS and Android using a single codebase.

React Native uses the same principles as of React framework, a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It allows developers to use a component-based structure, where the UI is divided into small, reusable components. These components can then be easily manipulated and updated, making the development process more efficient.

One of the key advantages of React Native is that it allows developers to use the same codebase for both iOS and Android platforms, reducing development time and costs. Additionally, it allows developers to use the same tools and technologies they are already familiar with, such as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML.

How does React Native work?

React Native works on three threads-

UI Thread- The main application thread that has access to the UI of the application

Shadow Thread- The background thread that uses React library to calculate the layout of the application

JavaScript Thread- The execution thread that contains the React (JavaScript) code.

Advantages and disadvantages of using React Native

Advantages:

React Native is the most popular open-source framework for building applications using JavaScript and React. Here are some reasons why you might choose to use React Native for building responsive apps:

Cross-platform development: React Native allows you to write code once and run it on both iOS and Android platforms, saving development time and resources. In fact, around 90% of the code can be reused between the two platforms, which helps increase development speed and efficiency considerably. As a result, you get faster time-to-market and require fewer maintenance efforts.

Performance: React Native uses native components, which are similar to the ones that are used in native iOS and Android apps, which results in a performance similar to that of a native app.

Familiarity with React: If you're already familiar with React, it will be easy to learn React Native. The concepts and principles are very similar, and you can use many of the same tools and libraries.

Large community and ecosystem: One of the biggest advantages of developing mobile apps with React Native is being part of a community-driven technology. React Native has a large and active community. This means there are many resources available to help you learn and troubleshoot. There are also many third-party libraries and modules that you can use to add functionality to your app.

Hot Reloading: React Native has a feature called Hot Reloading that allows you to see the changes you make to your code without having to rebuild the entire app. This speeds up the development process and makes it easier to test and debug your code.

The main goal of React Native is to provide developers with the best experience. One of its best features is reloading time. Even if the app is growing, you will only need 1 second to save a file and see the changes.

The Hot Reload feature is derived from Hot Module Replacement (HMR). It's based on the assumption that after the first reload, HMR is just an intermediary, which is useful for updating files while the app is running and storing them in a specific location. This makes it clear that a React Native app can easily handle multiple tasks. It helps in keeping the app running while you add new versions of the edited files. So, if you are modifying the user interface, you are not losing anything.

Shared Codebase: Building mobile apps with React Native allows you to share large amounts of code across different platforms, making your apps easier to maintain and update.

Reusability: React Native allows you to reuse components across different platforms, which makes the development process more efficient and cost-effective. React Native app developers reuse nearly 90% of their code across both OS platforms. Even more interestingly, code reusability isn't just limited to mobile apps. Developers can also use it to develop websites.

Access to native features: React Native allows you to access native features of the device, such as the camera, GPS, and accelerometer, which makes it easier to build apps that require access to these features.

Third-party Plugins: Since building an app from scratch can be expensive, React Native offers a number of third-party plugin options, including JavaScript-based and native modules. The third-party plugins eliminate the need for specific web view functions and help enhance the app's functionality and performance.

Cost efficiency: As the code is reusable in React Native, it helps you save up to 40% of the development costs. You don't have to hire two different Android and iOS dev teams to create the app. On top of it, there are many pre-built components in React Native that further fasten the development process.

Along with all the benefits, developing React Native apps also comes with its own set of challenges. As a company, we have to consider everything out there. For your reference, we've listed some of React Native's notable shortcomings.

Now, let's have a look at the limitations of React Native.

Disadvantages:

Performance limitations: React Native is not as fast as native development, which means that it may not perform as well as native apps. However, it's important to note that React Native is constantly improving and new updates are released frequently to address these limitations.

Limited access to native APIs: Although React Native provides access to some native APIs, it may not provide access to all the features that you need for your app. This can be a disadvantage if you need to implement certain platform-specific features that are not available through React Native.

Low Security: React Native is both a JavaScript library and an open-source framework, so developers often face the challenge of keeping their apps secure. JavaScript is so fragile that some developers experience a low level of security.

If you're building an app that requires an extra layer of security, such as banking or financial applications, you should be extra careful. Otherwise, malicious code snippets can pose a serious threat to your app's security features. Because of this, developers sometimes avoid building financial apps with React Native.

Complex UI: According to many programmers, React Native is not a good choice for apps that require complex gestures, screen transitions, animations, or a lot of interaction. React Native has a gesture responder system, but programmers can struggle with screens that use complex gestures. This is because the iOS and Android touch subsystems are so different that it can be difficult to use a unified API.

Longer Initialization Time: Another problem programmers have with React Native is that the runtime takes a long time to initialize before it can render the first time properly. This issue also exists on high-tech devices and may be due to JavaScript threads that usually take a long time to initialize.

Memory management: Also, since React Native is based on JavaScript, it is not suitable for use in processor-intensive apps. React Native slows down the performance and speed of these applications and also handles float calculations inefficiently, making memory management and usage very difficult.

Top applications built using React Native

React Native is one of the most popular open-source frameworks for building mobile apps using JavaScript. Some examples of applications built using React Native include:

Facebook: The Facebook app for iOS and Android is built using React Native.

Instagram: The Instagram app for iOS and Android is built using React Native.

Skype: The Skype app for iOS and Android is built using React Native.

UberEats: The UberEats app for iOS and Android is built using React Native.

Tesla: The Tesla app for iOS and Android is built using React Native.

Walmart: The Walmart app for iOS and Android is built using React Native.

Wix.com: Wix.com has a mobile app for iOS and Android built using React Native.

Discord: The Discord app for iOS and Android is built using React Native.

There are many other apps using React Native in production, and these are just a few examples.

Conclusion

It's important to note that React Native is not a good fit for every app and that it has its own set of limitations, but in general, it's a good choice for many projects. It's important to evaluate the specific requirements of the app and make sure that React Native is the right choice for your project.

With its highly efficient feature of reusing modules and codes, and other essential advantages like stability, hot reloading, and extensive community, React Native is just the best option for mobile app development.

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