Mobile apps are steadily driving web apps out of the top charts. In 2020, the number of mobile app downloads reached 218 billion. They are taking over not only entertainment and education, but also retail, business, and even banking. As the demand for mobile apps skyrockets, native development falls out of grace. At the same time, cross-platform solutions, like React Native, are gaining pace thanks to increased development speed, broader reach, and lower upfront investments. 42% of developers choose RN for their cross-platform projects.
Should you be looking for a React Native development agency to take your business to mobile? If you’re still in doubt about the technology’s capabilities, take a look at five unbeatable advantages React Native offers.
Get Two Apps for the Price of One
React Native comes with all the advantages of cross-platform development. It’s a cost-effective option for building and launching a mobile project fast. The cost of an app can be reduced by 25-30%. Instead of working with two mobile development teams independently building Android and iOS apps, you get a cohesive unit capable of re-using 70% of the same code for both mobile platforms. That saves hundreds of person-hours and thousands of dollars at the first stages of the project. However, it’s also a sound long-term solution. Rebuilds and updates can run parallel, reducing ongoing support and maintenance costs.
Uniform brand image and app performance across all iOS and Android devices are among the less obvious advantages of React Native. As the technology relies on APIs to render the apps to look as close to native as possible, the interfaces may turn out slightly different across platforms. But the layout and feel will remain the same, cementing the brand identity and meeting customer expectations.
Enjoy the Broad Talent Pool
When Facebook first introduced it in 2013, React was an instant hit among developers. It was nothing but a JavaScript library for rendering web apps. React Native was introduced two years later and followed the same principles. But it also enabled fast mobile development without the in-depth knowledge of Java or Objective-C. Therefore, most web developers familiar with JavaScript could pivot towards mobile development without extensive training, broadening the talent pool.
In 2018, React Native was the second most popular technology used by developers, according to GitHub stats. It has since gained competition over Flutter and other technologies. In 2020, React Native was already the most used cross-platform framework. The influx of new mobile-capable software engineers makes it easier for business owners to find a development team that can create a high-quality and affordable cross-platform app.
Accelerate the Development Cycle
Traditional native development can stretch into months of lengthy rebuilding and debugging sessions, incidentally driving up your expenses. React Native is more developer-friendly. Its standard JavaScript error reports help software engineers locate and remove bugs faster. This also translates into high-quality code that’s less prone to crashes and failures compared to native development.
The fast refresh feature is another godsend solution. It makes React Native development a breeze for IT experts and a less time-consuming endeavor for business owners. Instead of waiting for a mobile app to rebuild after changes are introduced, developers can get instant feedback. While this feature used to be glitchy in previous iterations of React Native, the recent version is much improved. It offers outstanding performance when it comes to code refreshing, which significantly speeds up cross-platform development.
Create an Elaborate Solution
Flutter is focused mostly on the user interface. On the other hand, React Native provides the dev team with all the necessary tools to create not only a minimum viable product, but also a fully-fledged application with a variety of features and interfaces. React Native is lightweight and surprisingly high-performing, especially when it comes to data that’s prone to fast changes. Besides, the component structure makes software engineers create modular code that’s easier to re-use down the road.
While React Native can handle complex solutions, software engineers should be aware of its limitations and possible downsides. For one, React Native capitalizes on native APIs to render the components written in JavaScript. The more complex the app is, the longer the rendering takes. Launching a glitchy app that takes forever to load is the fastest way to users’ scorn, low rating, and reputational hits.
Large Community and Support
The framework was developed by tech giant Facebook, because HTML5 did not meet the companies expectations. Zuckerberg even called “betting too much on HTML5” the biggest mistake the company had made.
Later, major companies have jumped on the bandwagon. Some of the tech leaders using React Native include Instagram, Bloomberg, Uber Eats, Skype, Pinterest, Salesforce, Baidu, Discord, Walmart, and Wix. Every company on this list is a testimony to React Native’s high potential.
Discord and Walmart embody the framework’s potential to be near-universal. Discords’ iOS and Android apps share a staggering 98% of the code! Walmart uses 95% of code across its Android and iOS applications. Bloomberg is especially fond of the possibility to automate code refreshes. According to the company’s representative, “Once users open the app, they get the latest update and will always have the best experience”.
Besides, React Native has a large community of developers, who regularly contribute to the framework’s growth, adding new updates and features.
React Native has been around for five years and is still among the most cost-efficient and speedy ways to launch a mobile app. This approach will help you build projects for iOS and Android in parallel without extra expenses. And you will have your pick of talented developers. Besides creating a complex solution within a tight timeframe, the same React Native code could be re-used for many platforms. You won’t find this level of versatility with any other cross-platform technology.
