React Native- The New Realm Of Hybrid App Development

In the 21^st century, we are not standing on the cusp of the mobile revolution instead, it has already happened with the astronomical rise of mobile applications. The mobile app development market is reaching the saturation point, but yet a lot is left to get built. It has sprung up the demand to develop outstanding applications that perform to the notch with a great UI and second to none functionalities.

Besides native iOS and Android applications, there has been an unprecedented rise in the adoption of cross-platform applications as well. And if a business organization is looking for emphatic results in cross-platform app development, they must hire React Native developers. A cross-platform app development framework is cost-effective and reduces the time of app development with a little compromise on the performance side.

This is why most cross platform framework is preferred, the latter option is preferred where again the developers have to be on their toes for making the best decisions for the programming language, tools, and frameworks. But, a wrong choice makes things go southwards. This is where React Native is an ideal solution for them.

Before digging into Why React Native is the future of hybrid app development? at first, know about React Native app development in spades:

Facebook’s React Native is evolved from the JavaScript code library for the web development that offers the native app-like performance and faster app development cycle like a web app. It’s a combination of native and cross-platform approaches that enables the developers to build and ship the quality app in a minimum time.

The APIs of React Native runs in JavaScript virtual machine, while the app user interface uses the native mobile operating system building blocks combining the components written in different programming languages like- Java, Swift and Objective C. Thereby, achieving the superior performance in addition to the native look and feel of the mobile platform becomes possible.

Along with this, there are other benefits to choose React Native for app development as well. It reduces deployment time that improves developers’ productivity, code reusability, native UI rendering, and a great length of flexibility, which has significantly impacted its growth and the use by Fortune 500 companies. Instagram, Facebook, Vogue, Walmart, Airbnb, UberEATS, and Bloomberg are some of the popular apps that have used React Native to build hybrid native apps.

It concludes that there is definitely something amazing embracing React Native that shuffled up the framework over other hybrid app platforms. Let’s see how the composite demands of developers and businesses are fulfilled by React Native app development:

The immaculate benefits of React Native in Cross platform app development

Major platforms got it covered

Most often, the companies don’t have the choice between the two- Android and iOS platforms to get their apps built because both the platforms offer the unique opportunity to extend their reach to the target audience but, the huge investment to build the app for two distinct platforms is not a cost-effective option for every business.

The React Native platform score high with code written once and can be used for both platforms without any subpar performance and UI issues. The framework aims to do things efficiently, works by including the javascript files in the apps, and then executes them locally. Thus, if an organization is looking for an answer to the question of When to consider choosing React Native?, it must keep these profound advantages in mind.

Initially, the platform supports only iOS to provide the mobile UI, but later its facilitated for both platforms after looking at the increasing dominance of Android in the market.

In the end, it eliminates the trouble and a need for huge investment to publish the app on iOS and Android platforms.

Easy learning curve

No matter if you are a beginner because mastering React Native is a work of an average Joe. The framework is highly readable and evolved from the JavaScript library so the knowledge of JavaScript fundamentals can help you get started with hybrid app development using React Native. Furthermore, the framework also teaches the rookie developers about the nitty-gritty of Java development and how to use the various components.

For the experienced developers, React Native will be the best bet to place as they already have expertise in Java and its features that enable to begin with hybrid development in no time.

Render the apps natively

React Native facilitates the code reusability, which means for creating any component that’s used at multiple times in the application, the developers are not required to build them from the scratch again. It can be reused alongside maintaining a consistent look and feel.

The building blocks of React Native are reusable which compile directly to native apps, which means the components to use in iOS and Android app have their counterparts right, which can be used anytime. Also, the new changes can be implemented without making major changes to the entire code.

It’s a matter of speed

React Native has completely altered the cross-platform app development scenario and the code reusability with the creation of a common reusable code that resides in react and can be embedded anywhere giving the app a native UI. By doing so, the app won’t be sluggish in the operations where native code is needed which results in a great performance.

With Instant Code Updates, no time will get wasted in recompiling as the app’s JavaScript code gets loaded immediately. With hot reloading, the new code or the changed files can be executed without impacting the current state of the application so that the activity if paused, then it can be resumed on the spot.

In this manner, the apps will be built much faster at cross-platform speed and deliver the performance like native apps.

Build UI-focused apps

The framework is mobile UI-centric due to asynchronous JavaScript interactions with the native environment that enables the developers to engineer the responsive user interface that’s responsive and fluid. Thus, it will be safe enough to say that React Native helps businesses to develop and deliver more customer-centric applications.

Also, the UI can be developed with great ease as the interface in React Native is deployed with the CSS-like stylesheet that allows developers to mark the components, fonts, colors, height, borders, and width off the bat. With flexbox, the layout adjustment becomes a breeze. It makes changes in the views automatically depending on the size of the device without needing to define the device size manually.

The Diffing algorithm is another default feature in React Native which enable UI rendering declaratively based on the state by sending a few changes over the bridge to the native platform in the background thread to keep the UI thread-free.

Offers Third-party plugin compatibility

React Native offers support to third-party plugins. Here, the JavaScript components work as native platform widgets where the plugin is linked to a native module so that the functionality can be linked with the device features, which does not make any additional load on the device and let the operations perform smoothly. Consequently, the app works like a native app without any Web View alongside less memory consumption and swift loading.

In addition to third-party plugin compatibility, there are several ready-to-use native modules and the opportunity to create your own native modules is offered by React Native which makes the platform a pro for the developers.

What’s the future?

It’s certainly the Cross Platform App Development. It offers plenty of benefits to both app developers and businesses. There is a diverse range of frameworks used for hybrid development, but all of them have their own pros and cons.

This is where React Native is an efficient platform with faster development cycle, high performance, cost-effectiveness, simplified maintenance, high portability, easy deployment, excellent UI experience, and third-party app compatibility features, which eradicates all the pain points involved with hybrid apps due to other frameworks.

The promising nature and the features have brought incredible progress in React Native development, making it a top choice for hybrid players. Do you want to make mobile app development and designing a piece of cake? If so, considering the React Native will weigh worth a gold.

Mitesh Gosai

He loves challenges and adept at finding tech-solutions that complement business ideas. Working in the capacity of Project Manager at Prismetric he strives to leave no chance for glitches in his implementation. He incorporates his extensive experience in his writings about new gadgets, tech stories, updates and innovations in technology, management tips, and inspiring app technology related information.