Introduction
Building an app for multiple platforms is a must these days, especially for Android and iOS platforms as this is where the majority of the users are. But getting an app developed for each platform separately is not only time consuming but costly too. However, with the advent of technology, entrepreneurs now have an option to go for cross-platform development.
Now talking about cross-platform app development, React Native is one of the most popular and preferred cross-platform app development frameworks that is being loved both by app developers and business owners. This is because, in this framework, the native code is wrapped into the React and made to run on several platforms with optimum performance. This not only reduces the app development time but also allows developers to reuse at least 90 percent of the code while creating the apps.
However, not all app development companies can be trusted with React Native app development. Finding the right resource is essential for any business. And hence, before reaching out to any React Native app development company, it is always better to gain some background information.
If you too are seeking to deploy React Native but are still on the fence, we are here to help you. In this article, we will provide you with the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about React Native. So, let’s dive in!
1. What Is React Native?
React Native is one of the most popular cross-platform mobile app development frameworks developed by Facebook. This framework allows mobile app developers to create highly intuitive, scalable, and robust apps that are compatible with multiple platforms. The main advantage of using this framework is reduced app development time and code reusability.
You can use more than 90 percent of the codebase and develop applications for multiple platforms. In this way, it helps you save money. You just need a single React Native team and a single codebase, and you are good to go. The popularity level is such that almost 60 percent of businesses are opting for React Native app development services for their app development project.
2. What Is The Importance Of React Native?
The most prominent benefit of using React Native is reduced mobile app development cost. This framework lets you reuse almost 90 percent of the code while creating apps for all other operating systems, which is beneficial in reducing the overall cost of development. There is a saying that ‘time is money’ and deploying React Native helps you abide by it. All you need is a single code, and you can save half of your app development time without much effort. Talking about React Native app development cost, it is much less as compared to others.
3. What Is The Difference Between React And React Native?
Before opting for React Native app development services, it is better to know the difference between React and React Native. React is the framework that uses JS, whereas React Native is the platform for native, cross-platform mobile app development. Alongside, React.js is the library that is used for building a high performing user interface.
React Native essentially uses React and helps you to have access to all the features that React has to offer.
4. Do React Native And Native Developers Have The Same Skill Set?
React Native app development is entirely different from the native app development as the prior one comes under cross-platform app development. The cross-platform app development makes use of platform-specific native code, but this does not necessitate the development skills to be the same in both kinds of developers. However, the native app developers may be trained and transformed into React Native developers. In short, if you want your developers to access all the unique features of React Native, they will require some prior training and experience to be able to work with the platform.
5. Do React Native Apps Work On Mobile Or Web?
React Native is the platform-independent solution that allows app development using Javascript. The mobile apps developed using React Native are considered multi-platform because they are written once and deployed over the other platforms such as iOS, Android, and web too. React Native for the web is used to write the application which runs on browsers using real web technologies and on iOS and Android as a real native mobile app.
6. What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Building A Mobile App With React Native Rather Than Developing Hybrid Apps?
Hybrid apps are just web apps with a mobile app icon. These apps might be the solution for a few businesses but not for all. Hybrid apps do not support high-quality graphic applications, plus they don’t even work in offline mode. The best alternative is to hire react native app developers for the optimized, impressive cross-platform mobile app. React Native apps provide you better performance and will give you a native experience by embedding hybrid apps and web apps. All of this would be done in no time and on a very low budget. All in all, React Native is a much better choice than developing hybrid apps.
7. Is Flutter Better Than React Native?
Flutter is relatively newer than React Native. It was introduced by Google and has very strong market support. It allows you to develop high-quality applications just like any native app. It also has a unique feature known as ‘hot reloading’. There is little doubt that in the years to come, Flutter will get more popular and will also grow as a framework. But today, React Native is the best framework, providing apps for all kinds of industries.
One of the major reasons why companies hire React Native developers over Flutter developers is because Flutter uses Dart, a less popular language, and React Native uses Javascript, a relatively easier language that most developers are familiar with.
Read Also: Flutter Vs React Native: Which One to Choose
8. Will React Native Make The Interface Of The App Similar To That Of iOS Or Android?
React Native defines the mobile UI in a new way. Comparing to the competitor framework such as AngularJs and Meteor JS, React Native looks more look like a JS library. The benefit of React Native is that it makes a perfect implementing order. The noticeable thing is that the react native app UI is more responsive and loads early and gives a smooth feel.
But React Native app development cost should not be the ground for the choice. React is not advisable for complex apps, interactive apps, animations, and complex gestures. React also offers a gesture response system but not a too competent one.
9. Why Should A Person Choose React Native Over native iOS Or Android app development?
If you are creating an application for Android and iOS, you will have to create the same application twice from scratch for both platforms. On the other hand, if you are deploying the React Native development services, you can reuse the same code multiple times. Additionally, if you put somewhat more effort, the React Native application interface can be used for both Android and iOS, and that too at a low cost.
Also, React Native uses Flexbox as the layout which works in the same way as in Android, iOS, and web applications. Talking about the cost, the iOS app development cost or the Android app development cost individually will be much more as compared to the React Native app development cost.
10. Do You Need Native Developers While Developing An Application With React Native?
Hiring or not hiring native app developers depends on your project. Cross-platform app development is a complicated process and you need specialized developers to do it. Yet, to give your app a native-like look and feel it is always better to have native developers on board as they are the ones who are fully aware of the native platform and not all cross-platform app developers may have that skill to handle a complex situation.
Native developers have larger platform-specific experience. Native developers, for example, Android developers for creating Android apps and iOS developers while creating iOS apps, can help you to create a customized module using JavaScript that can allow you to access all the features. Nowadays, you don’t even have to write custom modules. With React Native having evolved so much over the years, all you have to do is find libraries for accessing these features.
11. What Are The Key Advantages Of Using React Native Over The Native Approach?
It is no secret that React Native has a lot of advantages. It provides one of the best mobile app development solutions. Given below are a few major advantages that React Native provides.
● The first one is the reusability of code. You can use the same code for different platforms, and 80 to 90 percent of the code can be shared across the platforms. This depends on the complexity of the platform that how much percent of the code can be shared accurately across the platforms. So, React Native is the best for cross-platform applications.
● The second major advantage of React Native is that you can create applications for both Android and iOS without having to enter into the ecosystem of both the operating systems separately.
12. What Kind Of Apps Are Built With React Native?
The social networking giant Facebook is one of the greatest examples of an app using React Native. Ads manager under Facebook has become its first creation written with React Native. Apart from Facebook, Instagram (which is in coalition with Facebook as well), Pinterest, Bloomberg, UberEats, Walmart, Tesla, and numerous other recognizable names are utilizing the React Native framework for their apps.
13. What Are The Competitors Of React Native?
Besides React Native, many other cross-platform tools can be considered depending on the needs, specifications, and concerns of a product. The most well known of these open-source development tools are:
1. Flutter: Dart is the main programming language of the Flutter framework, which was released by Google in the year 2017. Flutter is a very popular choice among creators and developers these days.
2. Ionic: The main goal behind the creation of Ionic was to be able to develop hybrid mobile applications with JavaScript, CSS, and HTML 5. This language is primarily used for the look and the user interface of an application. Angular or React are popularly used by developers for front-end development.
3. Apache Cordova: Apache Cordova allows a smartphone app to be developed with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Apache Cordova is supported by Adobe Software.
Several other platforms provide certain benefits but we want the best tools to come out with a better result.
14. What Are The Types Of React Native Tools?
React-Native has an arsenal of tools that play a very important role in boosting the speed of app development and easing the work of a developer. These tools can be split into two categories as described below:
1) Visual Studio Code: This provides a very good platform to build an application as per the requirements of the users as well as the developers. It allows developers to use various languages such as Java, C++, C#, Python, etc.
2) Atom: It is a type of free text editor that has many unique features such as a built-in package manager, user templates, themes, and multiple file navigation, which help in easing the work of developers.
Conclusion
React Native provides businesses with several options and flexibility. You can reach out to a professional React Native app development company if you want to create applications that are highly scalable, robust, secure, and according to the users-demand. This is one of the most popular open-source platforms having various unique features such as the ones already discussed in this article. It provides dozens of tools that allow the developers to make the framework productive and comfortable as per the requirements of users.
