What is React Native?

React Native is an open-source, user-interface JavaScript framework that allows you to build both types of mobile applications, Android and iOS. React Native is based on React, a popular JavaScript library used for creating interactive user interfaces. The main difference between these two is the main target of React Native is mobile platforms instead of browsers. Further, you can use React Native in existing Android and iOS applications and also use it to create a new mobile application from scratch.

In addition, React Native applications are written using the combination of JavaScript and JSX. You have to code once and then run these applications on both iOS and Android platforms. Also, React Native is a user interface-focused framework that provides real and native user interface elements. It is a great choice for those developers who are experts in JavaScript coding. In this article, we will discuss all the important topics of this amazing mobile app development framework.

History of React Native

React Native was designed and developed by Facebook in January 2015 to make its services available on mobile devices also. At that time, to achieve this, they used HTML5 in their applications and started rendering them on mobiles, but they failed because there were some basic differences between mobiles and computers. They needed native applications that could give a better user experience.

In 2013, Jordan Walke, a Facebook developer, found a way to develop UI elements for iOS apps by using JavaScript. Furthermore, a team was made to do modifications to this prototype, and they were successful in building native UI elements that could run directly on the user devices. In the same year, they decided to use this prototype to develop a framework for mobile applications development. In 2015, after months of development, they came up with a new framework, React Native. React Native was open-sourced in the same year and became available for Android also.

In 2016, it was announced by Facebook that React Native could support both platforms, Windows, and Tizen. Today, React Native has been adopted by millions of developers to develop user-friendly native mobile applications. The main reason behind its popularity is that it gives the developers freedom to do changes in the code once without worrying about the updation of the app because the codebase automatically gets updated on the compilation.

Difference Between React and React Native

React Native is an open-source JavaScript framework used for developing cross-platform mobile applications. The target of React Native is mobile platforms rather than browsers. If we talk about React, it is an open-source JavaScript library used for building the user interfaces of web applications. Its main target is browsers rather than mobile platforms. There are some other major differences between these two. Let’s discuss them.

React Native

Working of React Native

After discussing what React Native is, now let’s discuss how it works. First, let’s understand the architecture of React Native. React Native consists of mainly three parts, Native side, JS side, and bridge. As we discussed earlier, React Native is written with a combination of JavaScript and JSX. So, JS threads are present in it, but the native threads are also present because this framework is used for native app development, but both these threads never block each other and never communicate directly.

Moreover, React Native framework acts as a bridge between these threads and can communicate with both JS threads and Native threads. Native thread is the main thread and starts the execution by loading the JavaScript code. When the entire code is successfully loaded, it is sent to JS threads for further calculations. After all calculations, a new layout (virtual DOM) is generated, and changes are sent to another thread, the shadow thread.

Lastly, when the layout is calculated by the shadow thread, all the new parameters are sent back to the main thread, and then the new layout is rendered by the main thread on the screen. This entire process is possible because of the React Native framework, as it is a bridge between these threads.

Pros of Using React Native

React Native is a popular Javascript-based framework that is used for mobile app development. You can use it to develop natively-rendered applications for several platforms such as Android and iOS. React Native uses demonstrative programming to ensure code quality. Here are some of the major advantages of using this framework for mobile apps.

1. Saves Time and Money

React Native helps you to develop applications that can execute on both Android and iOS. This compatibility of React Native allows the developers to build only one app that they can run on both platforms. This further saves their money and time. Maintenance and updation time is also reduced by it because all the changes can be done on both apps at the same time.

2. Great Performance

This framework uses the native modules and controls in app development, and this further enhances the performance of the application. The programming language used in the development process is optimized for mobile devices by React Native, so it provides a faster user experience. Also, in this framework, all the interactions are done with the native components of Android and iOS without any external interference. That’s why the performance of the app is enhanced.

3. Flexibility

React Native is a flexible framework. Developers can easily use and maintain applications of React Native on different platforms without any issue. If a development process is started by a team of developers and a new developer joins the team later, then he can easily understand the process because of the flexibility feature of this framework.

4. Live and Hot Reloading

Another advantage of using React Native is its support to Live as well as Hot reloading. Both these loading processes are related to the changes made to the application and the update of those changes in the application. By using React Native, developers can see the changes that they have made to the code at the same time in a live preview window. This feature allows the developers to get real-time feedback because they can see the results of their changes immediately.

5. Community-Driven

The main advantage of using React Native is its community-driven environment. As we know, React Native is an open-source framework, it allows the developers to have documentation regarding code without any cost. Further, it is supported by a huge development community that helps beginners by reviewing their codes and giving them useful feedback.

Why There is a Need for React Native?

After discussing the advantages of using React Native, let’s discuss why we use this framework. As we know, React Native framework is built using JavaScript and is used for developing mobile applications. It allows the developers to build fully functional mobile apps with just one coding language in very little time. Also, the apps developed by using React Native can run on different platforms, so developers have to do coding once for different versions of the app.

Today, mobile technology has changed so much. New apps come every day. With every new app, users’ expectations also rise. It further forces the developers to create apps that can impress users with their unique user interfaces and performance. React Native allows them to develop mobile apps easily with knowledge of JavaScript and JSX only. They don’t need to learn other complex languages of mobile applications such as Objective-C and Java. Further, developers who have a good understanding of web technology can easily develop mobile apps using React Native.

Lastly, good community support, faster development of apps, hot reloading features, impressive user experience, and many more other features are the reasons for choosing React Native for mobile app development.

Top 5 Applications Where React Native Has Been Used

React Native is a popular JavaScript framework that is used to build both iOS and Android applications. For front-end developers, React Native is easy to adopt because it is based on JavaScript. Also, it allows the developers to develop applications faster and give users a better experience. Here is the list of the top 5 applications where React Native has been used.

1. Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social media platform. They wanted a framework that could build applications for mobiles with good performance. The initial app that was developed was slow. After so much effort, they were successful in creating a new framework, React Native, that meets all needs. Today, the Facebook app that we use on our mobiles very much resembles the Facebook site that we use on desktops. It is only because of React Native.

Moreover, its user interface style and all other features give users a better experience. You can run this app on both Android and iOS platforms. Also, Facebook uses React Native to develop its Ads Manager app that also has both Android and iOS versions.

2. Instagram

Instagram is one of the most popular mobile apps in the world. It has billions of users in the world. Many features of this app are built using React Native in less time and with great ease. Both iOS and Android versions of Instagram share 85% to 99% of the same code base, depending on the features. This further makes all the updates and modifications faster.

In addition, there are some other benefits also that Instagram is experiencing by using React Native. They need only one developer now to work on the implementation of the app because React Native is simple to understand. The scalability of React Native also allows them to add new platforms in just a few days. Also, React Native integrates well with backend services, so they don’t have to worry about the architecture and other components of the application.

3. UberEats

UberEats, a popular application that allows users to order food from restaurants, is also built using React Native. Their web applications are based on React, so they chose React Native for their mobile application. They adapted the concept of one user interface and many platforms, which means that they use React Native for the user interface of their application and separate modules for each platform.

Moreover, UberEats is expanding itself to other countries, and they don’t want any bad user experience. React Native works well with other native technologies, so they choose it for their user interfaces. Further, updates are also made quickly by using this framework.

4. Walmart

Walmart is a popular retail chain company. They wanted to run their applications on different platforms with a single codebase. Also, less development time and lower cost were the other factors that switched them to React Native. With the help of React Native, they expanded their user base and also became able to develop apps at a much faster speed.

Furthermore, React Native enables them to create applications that can easily be accessed by users on their mobile devices. By using native navigation features of this framework, future integration is also made easier for their developers.

5. Skype

Skype is another big name using React Native in its applications. It is the most popular video conferencing application in the world. The mobile app of Skype is built using React Native. The performance and simplicity of React Native are the main reasons behind this. Skype is downloaded on different platforms. React Native enables them to code their app once and then can run it on both Android and iOS successfully.

Moreover, from design to functionality, everything is changed in new Skype applications by using React Native. Many new features are also added to it. They can customize their applications easily now according to their needs.

Limitations of React Native

React Native has some limitations, and developers must be aware of these limitations. Let’s discuss them.

1. Still New and Immature

The main drawback of this framework is that it is newer than its other Android and iOS competitors. Every week a new update is released, and the developers have to update the app regularly. If they don’t update the app on time, then it affects the performance of the app. Further, implementing complex lists in React Native is a much more difficult task than other mature native platforms.

2. Difficult to Learn

For the freshers in the app development field, it is very difficult to learn React Native because, with JavaScript and JSX, they have to learn native app coding too. It is also necessary for them to know different platforms; otherwise, it becomes difficult for them to develop apps. Further, this difficult learning process affects the development time.

3. Security Issues

This is another limitation of using React Native. As it is an open-source framework, security is the main concern for the developers. They have to face many challenges to keep their apps secure. So it is not safe to develop banking or other financial apps using this framework.

4. Complex User Interface

For developing complex user interfaces which include many screen transitions, animations, and many other interactions, it is not recommended to use React Native. Because in React Native, a combined API is used to handle both Android and iOS platforms, and in the case of complex screen gestures, it is difficult to manage both platforms.

Future of React Native Development

After discussing all the important points about React Native, let’s talk about its future. The popularity of React Native has grown significantly over the last few years due to many reasons. First of all, it is a simple and easy framework. So, writing apps using React Native is easy for developers. Further, the development and maintenance costs of developing React Native apps are also less. That is the main reason for its secure future because it saves developers time and money, which are the primary considerations in the development process.

In addition, applications developed using React Native are faster in loading, further increasing the performance of applications. Also, these apps are more advanced with amazing user interfaces. These are the other reasons for this framework’s increasing popularity. The other reason for its continued success is it allows the developers to focus on writing code without worrying about the compatibility with other platforms because it is just a wrapper for other native components so that you can add other native codes to it easily.

Furthermore, for startups, using React Native will always be the best choice because it is cost-effective for them. They can save a lot of money by using the same code of React Native and can deploy their applications on both Android and iOS platforms. Also, this framework has a massive community of millions of developers that are giving continuous support in developing new tools and features of this framework. Lastly, some bigger names in the business world are using React Native for app development, such as Facebook, Tesla, Instagram, Skype, etc.

After discussing some important points of this framework’s popularity, we can say that it is and will always be the best choice for developing mobile applications.

Conclusion

We hope that now you have a clear picture of what React Native is, what its advanced features are, and why it is important in mobile application development. We have discussed all the important concepts of this framework to give you a better understanding. After discussing all this, we can say that it is an exciting framework that allows the developers to develop robust mobile applications within less time and money. All thanks to its faster development process and efficient coding features.

In addition, if you want to develop mobile applications for more than just one platform, then you can easily go with React Native as it is a cross-platform framework and helps you to create applications that can run on both Android and iOS devices. Further, it is also a perfect choice for developing multi-dimensional mobile apps with more user-friendly and interactive interfaces.