React Native Vs Native App Development; Everything You Need To Know

Today, every company in the world, is recognizing and appreciating the potential of latest technologies, and is also looking for the best React Native Development Company to expand the business with. This blog focuses on ameliorating your knowledge on this technology, its benefits, and much more.

What is React Native?

It is a framework, that is completely developed by Facebook. It allows easy and smooth cross-platform mobile app development. In simpler terms, it just means you don’t have to create two different apps for Android and iOS. You just need to create one single codebase to develop mind-blowing and beautiful application for both platforms. This is possible without jeopardizing the UX and UI experience.

What is Native?

On the other hand this technology is used to develop a software program. It is used on a particular platform or a specific device. Since the apps based on this technology, are built for a selected device and it’s OS, it has the efficiency to use device-specific software and hardware. This technology has the capability to provide optimized performance, by taking advantage of the latest technology.    

Why React Native is more popular than other platforms and what are the differences

Few years ago, it seemed impossible to develop a single framework, that covered all the platforms. In fact the world was struggling with doing mobile cross-platform development, for many years.

When it comes to web development, accessing various functions on your laptop using a single web browser, is easily possible. No one questions HTML’s dominance, as it is a standard form.

Whereas mobile development took a turn in a different direction. Nobody knew how to create an interface in mobile apps. Everyone remembers how Symbian looked like, and the differences between Android and iOS, in the beginning. It was extremely hard to prepare a single framework back then, that somehow can be made useful on each and every platform. Of course, there were frameworks like, PhoneGap, Xamarin, and couple of others, that have tried to do their level best, for achieving the goal; but the reality is, none of them was good enough.

When it comes to UI, a few things have changed now. The market fragmentation has declined and the efficiency of devices has increased, and now, there are only two master players; iOS and Android.

It is a very first framework that allows developing a mobile application, which works both on Android and iOS. The added advantage is that we don’t have to compromise on efficiency, speed, and the presentation.

The comparison; which one is better?

There is no single word answer to this question. The approach doesn’t matter when it comes to choosing a specific platform. A very simple and straight answer to this question is, the selection of the platform depends on the type of the project you are working on.

For example, sometimes a project may involve a pure native iOS development, and sometimes it maybe based purely on React Native approach. You need to choose the development approach, based on the type of project you are working on.

It is based on the demand, if someone is only interested in iOS platform, then there is no use to make it for Android. Even if they are expecting to use platform specific features, it is still not the best suited option here.

There are surely some cases, when cross-platform development is not recommended. Therefore, listing the project preferences and priorities, is of utmost importance when it comes to, selecting a particular platform.

Pros of developing an application based on React Native

Developing an application that is based on this technology, has a lot of advantages. For example, the application is faster(therefore cheaper), and you don’t even have to compromise on the features of the application. Also, once you identify a bug, you can debug it in single place for both platforms simultaneously.

Now you must be thinking if it affects the code’s quality and the final product. On that, let’s dig a little deeper.

It’s actually not tough to create a really ugly and slow app, to be honest. All you need to do is work with inexperienced developers and designers. Luckily, you don’t need to compromise on UI, while working on an app based on React Native.

It takes a leading top mobile app development company, with a strong background in the latest technologies, to create a seamless mobile experience in React Native application. The reason behind this is, the developers that have a native experience, know what all to expect from the app. Therefore, the company you want to work with must have developers with strong technical experience, as they ensure the excellent quality and won’t compromise on the performance and the quality.

In the end, the look and feel of a React Native app development is dependent on the abilities of the developers. Hence you need a right company to work with.

Of course, there are some edge cases when this platform is not the best option, hence the choices need to be made accordingly.

Difference between both the platforms when it comes to UX and UI? 

The most important and the biggest difference between these two frameworks, is their approach to UI. Most of the cross-platform frameworks tried to create user interfaces, by using the same technique on both the platforms. Sometimes they managed to look similar on Android and iOS, but they certainly did not behave in the similar manner.

On the other hand, React Native converts the same code into various native components on both the platforms.

Consider this example for better understanding, a developer is writing a React Native code that is supposed to render a button in an application. However, on iOS, it is an iOS native button, and is completely different on Android. Finally the button behaves and looks in same way, the single difference is, the action performing behind these buttons, are written in a React Native language.

Hence, you don’t need to compromise on UI, and you can expect your app’s performance to be similar to that of any other application.