Cross-Platform App Development with React Native | Zenesys Blog

CROSS-PLATFORM APP DEVELOPMENT WITH REACT NATIVE

4 min Nov 26, 2021 Sandip Singh MOBILE Views : 2068
CROSS-PLATFORM APP DEVELOPMENT WITH REACT NATIVE
With technological innovation happening at an alarming rate, all businesses need to have their digital forefront intact. This is precisely why it has become a minimum requirement for all businesses to have their apps or websites seamlessly compatible across multiple platforms. Now, for a very long time, native apps have been the golden standard for cross-platform interaction. They delivered excellent performance and contained a lot of platform-specific features. 

But with native apps, it was always that apps were built separately for separate platforms. What we need now is a single app that’s compatible seamlessly across multiple platforms. And this is where React Native steps into the picture. React Native takes cross-platform mobile development to a whole new level. Not only is it able to provide seamless interaction between cross-platform apps, but it also adds speed to the mix. These apps are extremely efficient and can provide the same functions and features across different platforms, or eg; Android and iOS . 

The biggest gaps between Native apps and React Native apps stem from their behavioural and speed differences across multiple platforms. By supplying your clients with React Native apps, you save 80 percent of the effort they were supposed to apply earlier. But what exactly is React Native and what are the pros of cross-platform app development? Read on to find out. 

What is react native

React Native is a cross-platform open-source mobile development framework written in Javascript and is different from other cross-platform frameworks. Although, at its core, React Native is still a mobile development platform with its application logic running through Javascript, the resulting application user interface is 100 percent native. This means that you do not have to put yourself through the hassle of dealing with an HTML5-based UI. 

Native apps are generally developed on prime languages such as Javascript for Android and Objective C or Swift for iOS. This is the reason behind the lightning-fast performance of native apps. React Native was founded in Facebook’s internal hackathon in 2013. Since then, it was available for testing in January 2015 and has been evolving into the mobile development platform it is now. 

React Native framework has dipped widespread applications across various industries and now has one of the largest communities on GitHub and Stack Overflow. These communities are extremely active and helpful, and can solve all your React Native issues with ready-made solutions and plugins. 

You May Also Like: How to Build React Apps with Typescript

Why choose react native app?

There are three pillars on which React Native technology was built: efficiency, scalability, and compatibility. Here are a few reasons why you should develop a React Native app. 

CODE IN PLATFORM-SPECIFIC LANGUAGE 

It is a lot more agile and easy to develop a React Native app than a hybrid app. You already have ready-made components for native apps. Therefore, all you have to do is render the Javascript code to languages for other mobile platforms. As a React Native app developer, all you have to do is write your code efficiently in Java and adjust it according to the UI of other platforms. 

A MINIMUM NUMBER OF DEVELOPERS ARE REQUIRED. 

Many components involved in the development of React Native apps are already ready-made and compatible with different functionalities such as GPS, Bluetooth, camera, and push notifications. Therefore, a subpar coder good at a platform-specific coding language is good enough to create a React Native app. 

SAVES UPTO 40 PERCENT DEVELOPMENT COST 

If you are in the market to develop a React Native app, make sure that you hire dedicated and experienced React Native app developers. Since these coders are already familiar with the mobile development platform, it will take them considerably less time to push out the app. This saved development time will reduce 40 percent of costs and help generate higher ROI.

EASE OF CONVERSION FROM WEB APP TO REACT NATIVE APP

If you want to convert a web app into a React Native app, you don’t need to draft the react codes from scratch. All you need to do is modify the layout and style the server according to the UI. This flexibility of React Native apps can save a lot of time and money. 

RUN ON FLEXBOX AND SVG

React Native cross-platform mobile development is compatible with Flexbox. Flexbox offers different layouts of the user interface, compatible with different screen dimensions of different devices. Hence, developers don’t have to adjust their code for different operating systems. 

Benefits of cross-platform App Development using React Native for product owner

 COST-EFFECTIVE 

When it comes to React Native apps, you end up using a common codebase for the app’s general business logic. This is why developers don't have to tweak the code for every single platform. 80 percent of the code can be reused and the UI is specific to every platform. Two problems can be solved at the same time by fixing a bug in the common codebase. 

ONE PRODUCT, ONE TEAM, DIFFERENT PLATFORMS

Since the app has a common codebase, businesses don't have to worry about maintaining two different teams for different platforms. A single team with good technical expertise and knowledge of the subject is enough to care for your cross-platform mobile development app’s needs.

PERFECT FOR PROTOTYPING 

Since the React Native app has a single codebase reused over multiple platforms, it is perfect for prototyping. App owners can now release their apps faster on both platforms, in complete security, and without compromising the app’s quality. 

Also Read: Flutter vs Ionic vs React Native vs Xamarin - Which is best for Cross-Platform App Development?

BETTER AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT AND SIMPLER MARKETING

React Native helps you develop mobile apps for both platforms and market to your target audience by offering and prompting sales channels for multiple businesses. The React Native apps are coded in a search engine friendly way, which places your business higher on the SERP (Search Engine Result Page) and helps it grow

Bottom Line

To put it simply, React Native is a mobile development platform that is capable of making apps with seamless cross-platform compatibility. This distinctive feature brings about a lot of savings in terms of time, money and resources, for the product owner or app developer. It is beneficial from the developer point of view and the user’s point of view, as mentioned above. So make the switch from native apps now and save almost 40 percent development cost.