Are you considering developing a mobile app for your business? Developing two mobile apps for iOS and Android can be expensive. So what's the solution? Answer: Cross Mobile app development Platform. But there are plenty of platforms. Which cross-platform to choose?  Take a look at React Native! This blog covers everything about React Native, and you will also get to know what are the benefits of mobile app development here.  In 2021, a report by Statista stated that app stores and in-app advertising would generate $430.90 billion worldwide by 2022, and that came true! Today, React Native will be worth $581.9 billion in 2022 and React Native popularity in 2022 would continue to grow.  That's huge. Right? But why choose to react to develop your custom mobile app? Let's dive in to learn more about React Native and its popularity. Here, you will also explore why you should consider this platform for your app. Let’s have a look!

The Popularity of React Native

The React Native framework is the second most commonly used cross-platform mobile app development, with a 38% market share. It is becoming one of the most popular cost-effective frameworks for building cross-platform mobile apps.      React native popularity Source: React Native Popularity  Stats like these are fascinating when looking at the most popular apps on the App Store and Play Store. In terms of popularity, React Native is ranked third for top mobile app development services. Furthermore, React Native is ranked seventh in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2022 with 12.57% of votes. On the professional side, React Native popularity in 2022 classed it as fifth with 13.62% votes. Giant companies like Walmart, Tesla, Skype, Pinterest, Uber and Bloomberg have already using React Native as their mobile application framework. It will not slow down anytime soon. But do you know what are the benefits of native mobile app development? Let's explore it in the next section! 

7 Reasons Why You Should Use React Native To Develop Mobile Apps

In the past, React Native was considered an unusable product due to its inability to be commercially viable. In addition, there were not enough developments or support for React Native to produce "native-like" apps. But now, time has changed, and so does React Native. Today, React Native has grown up in various aspects like its market share, community support, and popularity. Many developers are using it to develop brilliant applications over a short period. Here are some reasons why you should consider React Native when developing your next mobile app. Let’s have a look!

#1. Unified Codebase For Two Platforms

Using React Native, developers can develop Android and iOS platforms apps from one codebase. In addition to working, it compiles native Java and Swift code. By bridging web UI components and their native Java/Swift counterparts, React Native fills the gap between web and native app development. For example, typically, developers spend hours inspecting their code and finding errors when they debug it. The task becomes more challenging if silly syntax errors cannot appear clearly. With React, however, there is no need to spend more time finding bugs. A single codebase makes fixing a single bug possible for the entire system. Moreover, the framework comes with debugging tools like Nuclide. Also Read: React Native Tutorials - Learn to Build React Native Apps

#2. Growing All The Time

React Native is undergoing a lot of work. In addition to Facebook, the massive React Native community is constantly working on improving the framework. So if a developer faces a specific issue in coding and fails to find any solution on the community platform, he has to put the problem on the forum. The community has tried to solve it for some time. Microsoft even created a fork of React Native for Windows after taking notice of React Native app development services. Their solution simplifies the process of developing Windows 10 apps, Windows 10 mobile apps, and Xbox One apps. These applications focus on increasing the developer's efficiency in less time. 

#3. Reusable Code And Pre-Built Components

Cross-platform mobile app development allows the same code to be reused on iOS and Android phones. The same principle applies to React Native as well. As a result, it adheres to the notion of "write once, launch everywhere.". In this way, developers can work more conveniently. As a result, they don’t have to make separate platform-specific designs for building the same app. Moreover, an organization can create a mobile app using most of the code from its web application. Also Read: React Native Upgrade Helper : App Upgrades with Ease

#4. Gives A native-like experience

With React Native, you can use native elements for your mobile application. You can also combine JavaScript with the native user interface using React Native. And this results in apps looking and working like native apps, enhancing the user experience.  As React works the same on iOS and Android, the users will expect a similar look and feel across both platforms. In addition, developers can write React and native code together to get similar functionality. As a result, apps with this feature appear more "native-like.".

#5. Build Stable And High-Performing Apps

With React Native, the binding strategy for the codebase gets simplified. As a result, the object's state must get modified before applying updates to one thing. That will make developing a stable and reliable application easier than following other cross-platform development approaches. The React Native framework is one of the best solutions for building a new mobile application. However, it can also be used to add a simple view or user flow to an existing native program.  The power to add React Native features, views, and screens to your custom mobile application is now available at your fingertips. It further helps developers to create robust-performing applications using React Native instead of Webview.

#6. Develop Apps Faster 

Over half a decade after its introduction, React Native is finally thriving with support from online communities. Today, thousands of relevant components are already using React Native to develop their custom mobile apps available from scratch. The applications created through React Native are less likely to contain bugs since they have a single code feature. Enterprises are creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with this software. With MVP, developers can launch an app with the bare minimum functionality and add all the other features later on as their enterprises grow. Thus, you can wait and build additional features per the app's requirement rather than wasting time and resources on constructing detailed interfaces in one go. 

#7. Code Push: Update Apps Without Going To The App Stores

Sometimes, a developer may realize they need to add a minor feature after deploying the app on the App Store or Play Store and want to tweak it. In Native app development, developers need to repeat the entire building process of applications and then upload the updated versions to the app store.  However, to do so, they need to get approval from Apple and Google. Once approved, they have to ask users to install them manually. Developers can deploy mobile updates to end users instantly. But React has a CodePush option. The CodePush server synchronizes JavaScript code with updates released to any app stores, allowing end users not to update their app manually.  Many of React Native's growth can be attributed to the reasons mentioned above. Let's see whether this framework fulfills your requirement or not.

Is React Native Good For Your Project?

With community support and market share, React Native has become a popular tool. In addition, React Native allows developers to build excellent mobile apps.  Here are a few things that help understand the benefits of React Native:

#1. One Codebase For Two Platforms: Savings In Time And Money

React Native is the best tool if one needs to create both iOS and Android apps. A study found that mobile app development companies can be more efficient and productive by reducing time and money spent on codebase by 95%.  Additionally, React Native offers several open-source libraries of prebuilt components that can help the developer to speed up the project development.

#2. Create Great Mobile Apps: Great Development Speed

The React Native framework is excellent for mobile apps. Its slick, smooth, and responsive user interface significantly reduces loading times. Additionally, React Native allows developers to build apps much faster and cheaper than native ones without compromising functionality or quality.  So when are you adopting React native as a tool to develop your customized mobile applications?

#3. Hot And Live Reloading: Better Debugging Experience

React Native provides live reloading as part of its core functionality. It enables developers to fix code changes as they get loaded in real-time. Hot reloads only reload specific areas, while live reloads automatically reload the entire application after every change.  As a result, the development and testing process gets simplified, and so does the deployment of applications on different platforms. 

#4. Native Apps And Views: Rich And Fluid User Interface

React Native provides pre-built declarative components, like buttons, pickers, sliders, switches, and more, to help developers build engaging and creative UIs. In addition, developers can create their components using TouchableNativeFeedback and TouchableOpacity.  The application works efficiently on iOS and Android mobile devices thanks to various Android and iOS-specific components.  An example would be:
  • For iOS devices: The developer can use SegmentedControliOS, UIImagePickerController iOS, and DatePickeriOS.
  • For Android devices: The developer can choose DrawerLayoutAndroid, DatePickerAndroid, and ViewPageAndroid.

#5. Future-Orientation

We can expect React Native to be around for a long time. With the help of these file extensions, platforms can identify the operating system on which the apps are running. It is flexible since any developer can understand the application's code. Accessing the app requires no core development.  Instead, app developers strive to provide millennials with quick information and excellent mobile app experiences. With every passing moment, it becomes more future-oriented by minimizing its complexity.  The continuous bug fixing and exciting features make React Native the first choice for cross-platform apps. Compared to its competitors, it has a lightweight architecture, pre-built components, and an easy learning curve.

Conclusion

React Native is in the top 5 for the most preferred cross-platform technology. Many apps use React Native, including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Bloomberg, Salesforce, and Walmart.  Also, React Native mobile apps help enable you to adopt a hybrid mobile app development framework. In light of all these advantages, choosing the right React Native app development services is important to grow and market your products, services, and business modules.  Read more about React Native vs Swift: Will React Native Replace Swift? and Hybrid Mobile App Framework: The Future of App Development