For several years now, React Native has been a hot topic in the world of mobile development. It’s no surprise – it has taken the tech world by storm, offering a way to develop mobile applications for both iOS and Android simultaneously.

React Native – A Unified Framework

React Native has been successfully adopted by hundreds of companies worldwide, including Uber, Microsoft, and Facebook, and it’s used in many other businesses.

However, before you go all-in with React Native, it’s essential to understand how it works and determine whether it’s the right fit for your project.

• What are its key advantages and biggest drawbacks?
• How does it differ from other cross-platform frameworks?
• And most importantly, what should your developers know before embarking on a React Native journey?

In the following article, we’ll address these and other questions – all to help you make an informed choice and decide whether React Native is the perfect solution for your business.

What is React Native?

React Native (also known as RN) is a popular JavaScript-based mobile app framework that allows you to build native-like mobile applications for iOS and Android. The framework lets developers create applications for multiple platforms using the same codebase.

React Native was first released by Facebook as an open-source project in 2015. In just a couple of years, it became one of the top solutions for mobile development. React Native development supports some of the world’s leading mobile apps, including Instagram, Facebook, and Skype. We’ll discuss these and other React Native-powered app examples later in this post.

Why React Native is Globally Successful

There are several reasons for React Native’s global success:

1. Cross-Platform Code Sharing
   With React Native, companies can write code once and use it to run their apps on both iOS and Android. This translates to significant savings in time and resources.

2. Built on React
   React Native was built on top of React, a JavaScript library that was already extremely popular when the mobile platform was launched. We’ll dive deeper into the differences between React and React Native later in this article.

3. Web Developer-Friendly
   The framework enables frontend developers, who previously worked solely with web technologies, to create robust, production-ready apps for mobile platforms.

The History of React Native

When Facebook first decided to make its service available on mobile devices, instead of creating a native app like many leading tech players at the time, they chose to launch an HTML5-based mobile web page. However, the solution didn’t stand the test of time, leaving plenty of room for improving user interface and performance. In fact, in 2012, Mark Zuckerberg admitted that “the biggest mistake we made as a company was betting too much on HTML instead of native.”

Soon after, in 2013, Facebook developer Jordan Walke made a groundbreaking discovery – he found a method to create UI elements for iOS apps using JavaScript. This sparked excitement, and a dedicated hackathon was organized to further explore how much mobile development could be done using traditional web-based JavaScript solutions.

This is how React Native was born. Initially developed only for iOS, Facebook quickly followed up with Android support before releasing the framework in 2015.

Just three years later, React Native had become the second-largest project on GitHub based on the number of contributors. By 2019, it remained strong, ranking sixth with over 9,100 contributors.

React vs. React Native

Simply put, React Native is not a "newer" version of React, although React Native does build upon it.

• React (also known as ReactJS) is a library used for building the user interface of websites. Like React Native, it was developed by Facebook’s engineering team.
• React Native, meanwhile, enables developers to use a set of UI components to quickly compile and run iOS and Android applications.

Both React and React Native use a mix of JavaScript and JSX (a special markup language). However, the syntax used to render elements in JSX components differs between React and React Native. Additionally, React uses some HTML and CSS, while React Native incorporates native mobile UI elements.

Here’s an example from a Stack Overflow discussion:

• React JSX renders components similar to HTML, such as <h1>, <p>, etc.
• React Native, on the other hand, renders native app view components like <View>, <Text>, <Image>, and <ScrollView>.

JSX is an extension of JavaScript that allows developers to describe how the UI should look, combining template-like syntax with the power of JavaScript.

Key Differences and Usage

Although the two frameworks are related, they serve different purposes. Knowing React alone isn’t enough to develop mobile apps for iOS and Android. However, if you’re familiar with React Native, you’ll also have enough skills to create web apps with React or even hybrid web solutions like Twitter and Uber, which utilize React Native Web.

What is Cross-Platform Development?

Cross-platform development refers to the practice of creating software compatible with multiple types of hardware platforms. A cross-platform app can run on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, or just two of these. Examples of cross-platform applications include web browsers and Adobe Flash, which perform the same functions regardless of the computer or mobile device on which they are run.

Cross-platform compatibility is often considered the holy grail of software development – it allows developers to write a single codebase and run it across multiple platforms, unlike software natively developed for a specific platform. This approach not only enables developers to use familiar tools like JavaScript or C# for building on new platforms, but also reduces time-to-market and development costs.

Benefits of Cross-Platform Development

1. Larger Audience Reach
   You don’t need to choose between targeting iOS or Android users – cross-platform software runs on both, giving you access to a broader user base.

2. Platform Consistency
   While iOS and Android differ in navigation and design patterns, cross-platform development smooths out these differences due to the shared codebase, making it easier to maintain a consistent brand identity on both platforms.

3. Reusable Code
   One of the biggest advantages of cross-platform development is the ability to create a single codebase that works for both Android and iOS. Native app development requires separate codebases, often necessitating two different software developers – one for iOS and one for Android.

4. Faster Development
   Since there’s just one codebase to manage, product development happens much faster. Despite supporting multiple devices, much of the code can be reused across platforms.

5. Cost Reduction
   Developing cross-platform apps can be up to 30% cheaper than building native apps, thanks to code reusability and faster development, which directly impact project costs.

Challenges of Cross-Platform Development

1. Higher Skill Requirements for Optimal Performance
   It’s a common misconception that cross-platform apps inherently perform worse than their native counterparts. In reality, frameworks like Flutter and React Native aim for performance at 60 frames per second. As long as developers have the necessary skills, cross-platform apps can meet the same performance standards as native ones.

2. More Complex Code Design
   Cross-platform apps must respond to various devices and platforms, complicating the coding process. Developers may need to add exceptions for different devices and platforms, especially when dealing with complex functionality.

3. Longer Time for Feature Updates
   With every release of a new Android or iOS feature, it takes time to update cross-platform apps to support the new functionality. However, cross-platform apps generally release updates to app stores faster.

Popular Cross-Platform Frameworks

1. React Native – Developed and introduced by Facebook in 2015, React Native allows for the creation of mobile and desktop apps using JavaScript without the need to learn platform-specific languages like Java, Swift, or Objective-C. React Native excels in creating responsive, user-friendly mobile UIs, making it a suitable choice for apps requiring high-speed responsiveness.

2. Flutter – Released by Google in 2017, Flutter supports cross-platform mobile development and is ideal for experimenting with new features and fixing minor bugs due to its "hot reload" feature. This allows developers to instantly test changes made to the source code without restarting the app.

3. Xamarin – Developed by Microsoft, Xamarin is an open-source solution that allows sharing 75-90% of code across different platforms. It’s written in C#, requiring developers to have knowledge of the language. Though it’s more stable, it’s also harder to master than JavaScript. Interestingly, Microsoft itself has been shifting towards React Native, with 38 of its iOS and Android apps using the framework as of 2019.

How React Native Works

Now that we've discussed cross-platform development, let’s take a look at the mechanics of React Native and what makes it different from everything we've seen before.

Don’t worry if you’re not a technical expert – we’ll explain it in layman's terms.

As mentioned earlier, React Native is built using a combination of JavaScript and JSX, a special markup code similar to XML. The platform has the ability to interact with both JavaScript-based threads and existing native application threads.

How does this communication work? React Native uses something called a "bridge." While JavaScript and native threads are written in completely different languages, it’s the bridge that enables bidirectional communication.

This means that if you already have a native iOS or Android application, you can still use its components or transition to React Native development.

What Makes React Native Unique?

The difference between React Native and other cross-platform development solutions (such as Cordova and PhoneGap) is that React Native does not render WebView in its code. It operates using real, native views and components. This is one of the reasons for React Native’s impressive success.

Examples of Apps Built with React Native Now that you know what React Native is and how it works, it’s time to take a look at some products created using it. Here’s our selection of popular React Native apps:

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular React Native applications, and it’s no surprise that we mention it first, as the company gave birth to this programming language and remains the driving force behind its development.

Facebook aimed to bring all the advantages of web development to mobile platforms, such as rapid iterations and a unified product development team, and that’s how React Native came into existence. The company used it to build its own Ads Manager app for both iOS and Android – both versions were developed by the same team of developers.

Skype

Skype is another excellent example of a React Native mobile application. In 2017, Skype announced that it was developing an entirely new app based on React Native. This sparked great excitement among users, as the older version had suffered from several issues.

The new app was completely redesigned, from the icons to the revamped messaging interface, which now features three sections for conversations: search, chat, and recording. Microsoft, which owns Skype, chose to use React Native not only in the mobile app but also in the desktop version of the platform.

Walmart

Another fascinating example of React Native in action? Walmart’s iOS and Android apps. The American retail giant is known for bold technological decisions, and one of them involved completely rewriting its mobile apps using React Native.

Previously, certain parts of Walmart’s app relied on embedded web views, which, according to Walmart Labs, did not meet "the standard that both we and our customers demand."

After switching to React Native, the performance of their iOS and Android apps improved significantly—almost reaching native levels. An impressive 95% of the codebase is shared between Android and iOS, and a unified team manages and develops both apps.

Here are a few more advantages Walmart noticed after implementing React Native:

Shorter Time to Market. Both platforms—iOS and Android—can be updated on the same day.

Cross-Team Collaboration. Since React Native is written in JavaScript, it’s easier to involve other development teams and resources as needed.

Platform-Specific UI. The user interface adjusts based on the platform, giving apps a more natural look and providing a seamless user experience on both iOS and Android.

Walmart sums up its views on React Native best in its own words: “From startups to Fortune 500 companies, if you're considering a new mobile project, we encourage you to explore React Native—we know you won’t regret it.”

Pinterest

Pinterest’s engineers admitted that they had been watching React Native closely and were interested in exploring its potential since the framework’s debut in 2015.

At the time, Pinterest already had a web app built on Gestalt, an open-source UI component library created by Pinterest that was based on React. Since both Gestalt and React Native are rooted in React, the engineers anticipated that the development process would be smooth and relatively efficient. Though they never planned to completely replace their Gestalt-based app with React Native, they were keen to explore whether it could be smoothly integrated into their existing tech stack.

To test React Native’s capabilities, they decided to create a prototype for one of Pinterest’s core features—theme picker functionality.

Building the prototype for iOS took 10 days, and it took just two additional days to implement it for Android.

The engineers estimated that they saved over a week of typical implementation time compared to traditional native development.

Beyond the time savings, they were also impressed with the performance of the React Native solution on both iOS and Android.

The experiment was a success, demonstrating how React Native could accelerate development while maintaining solid app performance.

As a result of the experiment's success, Pinterest decided to permanently integrate React Native into its tech stack as an additional platform for mobile app development. Since its initial implementation, React Native has been used not only for the theme picker feature but also for business registration on Pinterest.

Advantages of React Native

Now that we’ve explored some successful products built with React Native, let’s dive into the key benefits of React Native development and why you should consider it as the solution for building your mobile application.

1. Code Reusability – Cross-Platform Development The ability to reuse code is one of the greatest advantages of React Native, as it allows applications to efficiently run on multiple platforms. This is highly valued by CEOs and product owners, who appreciate that up to 90% of the codebase can be reused across both Android and iOS operating systems.

Engineers at Discord expressed their excitement, saying:

“We tried React Native the day it was released for Android. We were amazed at how quickly and easily we were able to get our complex iOS app up and running on Android—it took only two days, and it worked!”

Additionally, developers can leverage their web application code for mobile development if both use React Native, which further accelerates the process. Pre-built components available in the open-source library also enhance development speed.

2. Large Developer Community React Native is an open-source JavaScript framework, allowing developers to contribute to its continuous improvement and making resources available to everyone.

If a developer encounters an issue during app development, they can seek support from the large community (as of mid-2020, there were approximately 50,000 active contributors to the React Native tag on Stack Overflow).

This community-driven environment ensures that there’s always someone who can help, which also benefits developers by enhancing their skills along the way.

3. Cost Efficiency Another significant benefit of React Native is cost efficiency. As mentioned earlier, since the same code can be used to build both iOS and Android applications, there’s no need to hire separate development teams for each platform.

A small team can handle the entire project, making app development in React Native much more affordable compared to apps built with platform-specific programming languages.

4. Hot Reloading for Rapid Updates One of React Native’s standout features is hot reloading, which allows developers to see changes in the app in real-time, without the need to rebuild the entire application.

This leads to two key advantages:

Time savings – Developers save time on compilation.

Enhanced productivity – No app state is lost during updates.

5. Simplified User Interface React Native leverages React JavaScript to create user interfaces, making the apps more responsive, faster, and reducing load times. This greatly improves the overall user experience.

With its reactive UI and component-based architecture, React Native is well-suited for building both simple and complex app designs.

6. Fast Apps While some critics claim that JavaScript-based machine code could impact app performance, in practice, this difference is imperceptible to the human eye.

To demonstrate this, a test comparing two versions of the same simple app—one built with React Native and the other with Swift—showed similar performance levels.

7. A Bright Future Considering the platform’s rapid growth and straightforward approach to addressing development challenges, the future of React Native for cross-platform apps looks promising. Although it has some limitations (which we’ll explore in the next section), its speed, efficiency, and ease of use more than make up for them.

React Native: Risks and Drawbacks

While React Native offers many advantages, it’s not without its challenges. Below are four key potential drawbacks you should be aware of before choosing it for your app development.

1. Limited Custom Native Modules Although React Native has been around for several years, certain custom native modules are either underdeveloped or missing entirely. This may require developers to run three separate codebases (for React Native, iOS, and Android) instead of just one.

That said, this is not a common occurrence. Unless you’re building a highly customized app from scratch or modifying complex existing features, you likely won’t encounter this problem.

2. Compatibility and Debugging Issues Despite its widespread adoption by major tech companies, React Native is technically still in beta. Developers may run into compatibility issues with certain packages or debugging tools.

If your team isn’t familiar with React Native’s core source code, this could slow down development due to prolonged troubleshooting sessions.

3. Scalability Concerns For most apps, React Native performs well, even as they scale into more complex solutions. Facebook and Skype, for instance, have successfully used the framework for years.

However, some companies—like Airbnb—eventually moved away from React Native. Initially used by Airbnb during its startup phase, the framework later proved less suitable for their long-term scaling plans. The company transitioned to building separate native apps instead.

That said, with recent advances in React Native and careful software architecture planning, many scalability challenges can be avoided.

4. Need for Native Developers Remember the “bridge” feature mentioned earlier? React Native bridges JavaScript with native mobile code, which means developers without native mobile experience may struggle when incorporating platform-specific native code.

As a result, you may need to hire Android or iOS developers to assist with native modules. For small companies, this could increase development costs.

One solution is to bring in a software consultant who can guide your team through handling native elements for iOS and Android.

Alternatives to React Native

Now that you understand React Native, it’s worth exploring some alternative cross-platform frameworks that might better suit your needs.

1. Flutter Flutter has already been mentioned in this article and was briefly compared to React Native earlier.

2. Ionic Ionic is an open-source SDK designed for building hybrid mobile apps. Introduced in 2013 by Drifty, it uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript along with platforms like PhoneGap and Cordova to create mobile apps.

Since Ionic is built on Angular, developers familiar with Angular can quickly adapt to Ionic. It offers a wide range of pre-built components that streamline development and make the process faster and smoother.

Ionic is also ideal for rapid prototyping due to its hybrid nature, but it’s slower than React Native because it relies on WebView. The advantage, however, is that you can test your code in any browser.

3. Apache Cordova Apache Cordova is a mobile development framework that allows developers to create apps using CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript, rather than relying on platform-specific APIs for Android, iOS, or Windows Phone. Like Ionic, it also uses WebView, which introduces some limitations.

For instance, iOS apps running in the default WebView engine can be slower than the same app running in Safari. Additionally, since JavaScript is single-threaded, complex code can lead to slow animations or reduced responsiveness.

Freelance engineer Johannes Stein explains:

“Using Cordova, you can quickly turn an existing single-page app into a multi-platform mobile app, with interaction that doesn’t necessarily depend on the specifics of any given platform.”

4. PhoneGap PhoneGap is a distribution of Apache Cordova, enhanced by additional tools from Adobe.

It promises developers an easier experience by allowing them to use any JavaScript library or framework they’re comfortable with.

Engineers at Optasy highlight that:

“PhoneGap is easy to use, providing developers with a wide variety of frameworks and libraries. It’s based on the ‘write once, run everywhere’ motto, enabling cross-platform development without needing separate versions for each OS.”

However, apps built with PhoneGap can sometimes suffer from UI limitations because web technologies were designed for browsers, not mobile environments. This makes handling animations tricky and increases the risk of encountering browser-specific bugs.

React Native: Android vs. iOS Development Differences

Returning to React Native, you might be wondering how development differs between Android and iOS. After all, from a user perspective, these environments already have their share of differences (with UI being the most apparent).

Here are four key areas where React Native works slightly differently between platforms:

1. Operating System When developing a React Native app, we recommend using macOS rather than Windows. Why?

Because Windows doesn’t allow efficient testing for iOS apps. You’ll only be able to run tests on your Android app, and the only official testing tool available is Android Studio. At the time of writing, no official iOS testing tools exist for Windows.

This is because Windows cannot run XCode, Apple’s development environment for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

So, while you can build your app on both operating systems, only macOS provides full testing functionality for both iOS and Android apps.

2. Native Elements Since Android and iOS apps look and function differently, they also rely on different components. This means that even when using React Native’s native libraries, you may see slightly different end results for iOS and Android.

This brings us to a key factor: platform-specific styling.

React Native – Your Universal Framework for Cross-Platform Development

React Native is an excellent solution for building applications that run smoothly regardless of the platform or operating system. It’s a framework loved by both companies and developers. It helps save significant development time, accelerates the process, and is cost-effective.

It also gives you access to a broader audience right from the start – since one app can be used by both Android and iOS users, the launch can be synchronized, and companies with smaller development budgets don’t have to choose just one platform.

Many fantastic products have been built using React Native, including Skype, Facebook, Pinterest, and UberEats, which once again proves that this framework is worth considering when developing applications.

While native solutions for iOS and Android remain the best option for projects that demand a seamless user interface and top-notch performance, React Native is a great choice if your budget is limited and super performance isn’t critical. In most cases, its capabilities are more than sufficient.