Future of hybrid app development – React native app development

 In Hybrid app development, Mobile App, Mobile app development, React native app development, Technology

We have, in one of our earlier blog established the importance of mobile app developments for a business. Indeed, the digital world has seen quite a surge in app development and while the initial focus was on developing apps specific to the OS using the coding language specific to them, it has now shifted to hybrid app development. This is because with mobile apps being so much in demand, the efforts are getting focused towards shorter development and quicker deployment times across all platforms. With myriad devices now being used by people across, a hybrid app sits on the crossroads of good user experience & easy deployment across all platforms. Such an app can be developed using the existing technologies such as JavaScript or HTML5 and CSS.

One significant advancement in this domain has been how the popular JavaScript library was reshaped by Facebook’s engineers into React JS. Within just three years since it was incorporated, React native app development has not become the fourteenth most starred project on GitHub- a standing testimony to its level of advancement and utility. For that matter, React Native app development as a search term has even beaten “Android app development” or “iOS app development” on Google.

A clear advantage which React Native app development offers is that for a native app development, one does not really have to understand languages such as Objective-C, JavaScript, Kotlin or Swift. But things do not just end there. We have populated a list of five major reasons which prove that React native for hybrid app development is a thing which is here to stay

Platform Agnostic

Most of the apps based on React Native APIs are cross platform which means they can run equally well across Android, iOS or any other operating system which supports native apps.

react native app development

This is specifically important because first, both iOS and Android  have different design implications and secondly, even across Android, the specifications differ significantly. React however, provides for Platform modules and Platform specific file extensions which can detect the OS and then define the platform specific implementations. 

This is specifically important because first, both iOS and Android  have different design implications and secondly, even across Android, the specifications differ significantly. React however, provides for Platform modules and Platform specific file extensions which can detect the OS and then define the platform specific implementations. 

The fact that React can automatically pick up the correct file basis the OS being used makes React native app development a preferred choice.

Reduced Development Time

React JS is an open sourced project and since there is a large developer community involved in working on and for it, multiple relevant components have been made available for use. Since its inception, React native app development has seen an over 30% reduction in the development periods. Hybrid app development using React enables to create one shared data layer for iOS as well as Android which makes the entire development process faster

Dynamic Updation and CodePush

One major benefit of using React JS for hybrid app development is the fact that the updates can be pushed directly to the user’s phone without having to undergo the entire app store or play store update cycle. While the usage of extensive Javascript in React JS is what has enabled this feature, yet this limits it to Javascript files only. Microsoft’s CodePush SDK also integrates seamlessly with any React Native app for faster and easier updation.

Faster UX Friendly App Development

Even though Javascript which forms the base for ReactJS isn’t as fast as the native languages such as Swift or Java, yet ReactJS can run even the most complex of the apps very smoothly. It is important to note here that though React Native apps are pretty different from the native apps, yet the switch from the native languages to React is comparatively hassle free.

PS: The javascript code runs on its own thread and unless there is a process overlap, ReactJS apps’ UI animation never lags.

Advanced Development Environment

React offers hot reloading which means the UI refreshes instantly as the changes are made. The removal of re-build and deploy iteration cycle definitely makes the entire development process easier and also the preferred choice. Plus, React Native uses Flexbox layout. This means that the developers need to learn just one layout engine and they can easily develop hybrid apps for iOS as well as Android.

Totally Budget Friendly

React Native is a community led language and hence the developers do not come with the baggage of big schools and loans to their names. Thus, an average developer doesn’t charge exorbitantly enough to make a small business unable to afford them. Plus, since it is easier to code upon and the development is faster, the product can be sent to market pretty fast. Thus making it not just economical but also a shot at saving the opportunity cost.

Better UI guaranteed

React creates a UI which is pretty similar to JavaScript and since it offers other options for fine tuning too, in some cases the UI is even better. Plus, the process to code is simple and hence the developer can get a clear view of what could the visualization be like. This fact helps to further refine the overall UI.

Easy Web Page to App transformation

React native has a fragmented module and as has been mentioned earlier, intuitive coding too. Thus, almost any developer can understand and work upon the product irrespective of the fact whether they created it or not. Thus, if you had first coded a website and now want to have it changed to an App, the transformation will be decently easy.

Doesn’t Take up Much Memory

React Native apps are compatible with any 3rd party plugins and hence one need not load up everything on the app interface itself.  Thus, without the usage of WebView, one can easily connect the modules to the plugins. Thus the overall app takes a lot less space as the cross-bridge linking isn’t required.

Finally, React Native stands in a league of its own yet Flutter and Ionic are two competitors that are trying to close in. However, these come with their own set of challenges. For instance, Flutter is Google’s in-house production in response to Facebook’s React JS. Flutter is great when it comes to creating hybrid apps for android but when it comes to iOS, it doesn’t fare as well. This very thing defeats the entire purpose of ease of development. 

If we talk of Iconic, which is majorly a Webview wrap, the native apps thus created go overtop the web mechanisms written via CSS and JS. This makes the app to be excessively dependent on Webview which makes the app to be super slow.

So, while we said that React Native app development has some competition, it is pretty much in the supremely early stages and by the time Flutter and Iconic catch up, ReactJS will be at a level pretty high.

Hope all this information helped. Shall be back soon with another blog for you.

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