React Native Pros and Cons – [2024 Updated list]

calender May 8, 2023
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Ravi Ranjan

Flutter & Android Developer | Agile Leader

With so many app development options available in the market, businesses might wonder which approach best suits them when it comes to building a mobile application.

Out of the many approaches, cross-platform app development and related technologies are becoming more popular and highly recommended amongst developers and businesses worldwide. As a result, React Native has been the primary option for creating Android and iOS apps using a single codebase at the back of its growing popularity.

Do you know?

Among the top 500 apps in the US, 14.85% are built using React Native, and here is a statistic of top frameworks used worldwide, with React Native having 14.51% patronage.

react native popularity

React Native is the 3rd most popular framework right after Kotlin and Android Architecture Components, as per App Brain.

What is React Native?

React Native is an open-source framework released in 2015 by Facebook that allows businesses to create cross-platform mobile applications that run on Android, iOS, and desktop, using JavaScript programming language.

You can develop apps using React Native, similar to Java and Kotin for Android and Objective-C or Swift for iOS. React Native software framework can be a perfect choice when you want to develop a custom application for both platforms with accelerated development time and reduced costs.

Now let us see the pros and cons of React Native.

React Native Development Pros and Cons

Here’s a list of some noteworthy pros and cons of React Native Development that will help you to make an informed decision.

react native pros and cons

Let us see the pros of React Native Development

1) Speeds up the app development process

The main advantage of the framework is the ability to create applications on multiple platforms using a single codebase. React Native for app development can save time and money by up to 30%.

Moreover, thanks to community support and React Native’s extensibility, the list of open platforms that support it is growing. Thus, the developers will only need to install some additional libraries. Moreover, having a  single codebase also makes bug fixing easy for developers, thus speeding up the development timeline.

2) Reduced app development costs

Native app development relies on two teams for both platforms, whereas React Native needs just one team of software developers familiar with JavaScript or Swift and React Native. This feature allows businesses to reduce mobile application development prices, which is an advantage.

3) Impressive support environment

React Native is based on JavaScript and has access to libraries and tools that speed up the development process. The repository has about 30,000 libraries that support React Native. This shows the commitment that the community offers to improve framework performance.

React Native also supports external tools that help perform many routine tasks such as fixing bugs, testing, releasing an app to the store, etc.

4) Large community of developers

Since React Native is an open-source framework, it has free access. Any developer can contribute to the betterment of the technology and share their experience with new developers. This can be particularly useful when developers are stuck at any stage of development, as they can seek assistance from community peers.

5) Minimized risks and low downtime

With only a single team, work can be planned in the best possible way, and risks that lead to project downtime can be minimized. In addition, while using native development approach, it is practically impossible for software engineers to switch between the platforms. In contrast, with React Native, if such a situation arises, developers can switch over platforms easily with less downtime and better planning.

6) Support for third-party plugins

React Native supports third-party plugins, offering many options that include Native and JavaScript modules. As a result, repetitive tasks can be delegated to them, and once they are configured, developers can instead focus on adding new functionalities. It can also eliminate human error in case of repetitive activities.

Now that we have looked at the benefits when choosing React Native to develop your application, you must remember the weaknesses and consider them along with the key benefits.

Let’s look at some cons of React Native development.

1) Performance slowdown

React Native can be a perfect option for creating a simple app with an attractive design. But it becomes challenging to achieve outstanding performance if you wish to add complex functionality. So you should keep in mind that the general version of the app developed by React Native might be slower compared to a native one. Moreover, there can be a performance decrease in a dynamic app filled with complex animations and functions.

2) Upgrading complexities

One of the most challenging things about React Native is transitioning from the older to the newer React Native version. Upgrading helps increase performance and security aspects are vital in the latest release. However, the process can be time-consuming and might take up more effort depending on the change and hours of debugging.

3) Testing and debugging become challenging

Though the working time to develop the app is lesser, the same cannot be said about testing. The time spent on testing is similar to testing on native developments and, in some cases, more. Since React Native is built using JavaScript, Objective-C, Java, and C/C++, it makes debugging more difficult. In addition, it may require basic knowledge of the native language of the platform, as constant communication between the native environment and JavaScript would be required.

4) Native developers will be needed

JavaScript can help you in developing with React Native, but you still will need a series of native developers who will need to implement certain complex features in the application. Though developers can use existing libraries to perform many functions, they can’t help much if any complex need arises or the app runs into native problems due to native code deployment in certain aspects. Therefore, some apps may still need the help of native developers.

5) Inferior Android support

React Native was initially created to support iOS, and Android was added to subsequent releases. To date, React Native still has weaker support for Android, and there has been ongoing work that aims to fix this. However, more accuracy and testing are needed for a React Native app to run seamlessly on Android.

Also read: Angular vs. React: What to Choose for your web app

Summing Up

React Native does have its pros and cons, which we have briefed above that you can consider before you embark on your next project. However, react Native can be a cost-effective, time-saving, and valuable framework that can build stable apps per your needs through a reusable codebase.

There are also a few shortcomings as React Native is relatively new to the market and within the improvement stage. But there is always hope that it gets better and does well in the future.

If you want to leverage and use the React Native framework to develop an app that offers a native-like UX, contact a leading mobile app development company like Ailoitte. Our team can develop React Native apps from scratch or add on to your existing app and expedite app delivery incorporating both end-user and your business needs seamlessly. Contact us to know more about how we help validate your ideas and build a user-friendly mobile app.

FAQ’s

Is React Native good for mobile app development?

React Native is great for building multiple mobile apps on a single codebase. It provides a slick, smooth, responsive user interface while significantly reducing load time.

Can React Native be used for web?

Yes! With React Native, developers can write a single React Native application that can run natively on Android, iOS, and a web browser.

What is React Native used for?

React Native is an open-source UI software framework used to develop applications for Android, Android TV, iOS, macOS, tvOS, Web, and Windows by enabling developers to use the React framework along with native platform capabilities.

What are the benefits of React Native?

The benefits of our React Native code are reusability, native look and feel, hot reload, UI-focused, cost-efficient, significant community support, and excellent performance.

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