React Native is a framework for building native apps using React.js. UppLabs uses React Native also for seamless cross-platform apps development. This is a best-in-class JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

A bit of React Native history

React Native is a cross-platform framework for cross-platform for iOS and Android applications that was launched in early 2015 based on React. It all started when Facebook introduced a new framework for developing native applications for Android and iOS. Such reputable support has provided React Native with ideal starting conditions. Today we can observe a number of libraries and frameworks based on the React Native architecture. 

If you want to build an app on both Android and iOS platforms but don’t have the time or the resources to develop apps for both platforms separately, React Native is perfect for you.

What’s special about React Native?

One of its distinguishing features is the ability to use JSX, a programming language with HTML-like syntax that is compiled into JavaScript. Developers can achieve high application performance using Virtual DOM. React Native applications allow you to use native interface elements of the operating system while supporting the React paradigm in JavaScript. React Native offers a number of integrated components that allow developers to quickly and efficiently accomplish basic tasks. Some of them include:

  • Text: used to display text;
  • View: used to design user interface;
  • TextInput: allows users to enter text;
  • Button: creating a simple button in the Native database using the source code.

The most famous apps developed with React Native

Several popular applications such as Instagram, Airbnb, Walmart, UberEats, Tesla, Skype, etc. have already used this framework. React Native provides all the basic and advanced methods for developing hybrid mobile applications and best React Native practices.

Here is the list of the most popular applications that use React Native:

  1. Facebook – most Facebook applications use this technology
  2. Facebook Ads Manager
  3. Facebook Analytics
  4. Instagram
  5. SoundCloud Pulse, an account management application from a leading audio platform
  6. Tesla – the car control application that works on React Native.
  7. Uber Eats – Food Delivery Apps
  8. Skype –  Microsoft also prefers to use React Native software development instead of Xamarin
  9. Pinterest –  the framework is used to enable the cross-platform ability of this social network
  10. Discord – voice and text chat for gamers
  11. QQ  – China’s largest messenger
  12. Salesforce – uses React Native for CRM
  13. Walmart – an application for a network of stores that allows its clients to place orders
  14. Bloomberg – a business news portal
  15. Vogue – a fashion magazine application uses React Native
  16. Discovery VR  – a virtual reality Discovery Channel application
  17. Wix 
  18. Artsy – a platform for finding and buying art

React Native popularity in 2020

Facebook is supporting and developing the React library itself. This gives one who chooses this library a fairly high level of confidence that React will not turn into some neglected project in the near future. The React developer community has created and supports many additional tools.

2020 is the year of the appearance of new architecture to the framework. It is planned to add some new thread-safe implementation of React Native UI layer rewritten in C++, like:

  • Better native interoperability
  • Faster startup time
  • Improved version of UX core components
  • Type-safe – the interaction between UI React native managers and JavaScript
  • Increased performance
  • Higher reliability and predictability during the launch  

React Native pros and cons

Advantages of React Native:

  • It has optimal performance;
  • Its code is reusable with web application
  • It has the code reusability and pre-developed components;
  • It has a large community of developers that are ready to help;
  • It supports Live and Hot Reloading tools.

Disadvantages of React Native:

  • Its API is limited. Although React Native supports a large number of APIs, there is still a need to use other APIs through embedded modules.
  • The difference between the platforms. Android and iOS use different design principles. This means that using React Native testing you’ll have to include many if-statements together with a separate code.
  • Relatively low performance for complex applications such as an image or video editor.

Why UppLabs chose React Native? 

We choose React Native development if:

  • Our clients want to meet the minimum deadline and the minimum budget of application development for both platforms;
  • We don’t need to create a really complex interface (for example, animations);
  • The application doesn’t need to use its own API. 

Thanks to code reuse in React Native, it’s much easier to create mobile applications. It means that the code that was written when the website was created, can be reused to create a mobile application. If you plan to use not only the website but also the mobile application, there is no need to hire two large teams of React Native professionals.

Ask us about React Native development!