{"id":4630,"date":"2019-02-12T05:47:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T05:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codewaveinsdev.wpengine.com\/?p=4630"},"modified":"2023-08-01T14:58:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T14:58:15","slug":"react-native-for-cross-platform-mobile-application-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codewave.com\/insights\/react-native-for-cross-platform-mobile-application-development\/","title":{"rendered":"React-Native For Cross-Platform Mobile Application Development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Design, development, deployment and product enhancement as per the changing user needs and ever changing tech dynamics are three major phases of any application development lifecycle. What maybe a trend today might not be trending the next morning. The technology stack that you chose for your mobile application must be able to keep up with latest trends. In this article we shall throw some light on \u2013 \u201cWhy React Native should be the technology powering your mobile applications?\u201d<\/strong>, in other words \u201cWhy small and medium enterprises considering digital transformation must consider react-native for cross platform mobile application development?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The technology stack that you chose for your mobile application must be able to keep up with latest trends.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"react-native-for-hybrid-app-development-react-native-for-mobile-application-development\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is digital Transformation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Though the term digital transformation is not new, in-fact its attaining maturity, but still a lot of business people are not so aware about it and the first question that arises in their mind is \u201cwhat is digital transformation?\u201d. American businessman \u201cMarcus Lemonis\u201d in his famous show \u201cThe Profit\u201d more than often can be heard saying that in business three things matter \u201cpeople, product and process\u201d. Digital Transformation, as the name goes is disrupting these very things by integrating and leveraging multiple technologies and the opportunities that these technologies unfurl. You would already be aware how IoT, Blockchain<\/a>, Cloud, Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence<\/a> & Machine Learning (AI & ML)<\/a> are changing the way our world works right now. Integrating these receptive technologies into your organization makes your business more efficient and effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may want to read some interesting insights about these fiery and revolutionary technologies on our blog : Codewave Insights<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Digital Transformation changes business processes, how people operate, how value is delivered to the end customers and enhances the overall customer experience itself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The next question that arises is \u201cokay, fine. I know what is digital transformation but I have a small company or medium size business and everything is working fine for me. Why should I care about digital transformation?<\/em><\/strong> Well everything was working fine for offline retailers then came Amazon, Ebay, Flipkart and what happened next? Everything was working fine for agencies that provided commuting services then came Uber, Lyft, Ola and what happened next? From telecom to energy sector and grocery to jewellery sector there are number of examples to emphasize why SMEs and businesses of all sizes must consider digital transformation to stay competitive and relevant in this ever competitive and ever changing business world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our intention is not to make you feel worried but to keep you abreast with the changing business environment and to convince you to reconsider your business models, rethink your processes, to act and thrive.<\/strong> Act reminds me of react-native, the focus of this article!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step towards digital transformation is going online it can be done by having a website, a mobile application or both if needed. It depends on \u201cwhere are your customers?\u201d. We talk about best technologies for web application development in our \u201cMEAN stack<\/a>\u201d article. Here we advocate react-native for Android and iOS application development. Wondering why we advocate react-native over others? Keep Reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

React-Native framework for cross-platform Mobile Application Development<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is an abundance of options when you have to choose technology stack for your next big idea<\/em> or for revamping your existing product<\/em>. We have hybrid app development technologies like React Native, Ionic, Flutter, Nativescript, xamarin and apache cordova using which we can develop mobile applications for both android and iOS i.e., single JavaScript codebase for both platforms. Business owners and executives might be pondering \u201cShould we go for hybrid app development? If we do, how is it going to benefit our business?\u201d or \u201cwhich technology should we chose? react native? flutter? cordova?\u201d. No need to worry, we\u2019ve got you covered! You\u2019ll get answers to the following questions in this section :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. What is a Hybrid mobile application? How hybrid apps differ from native apps?<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. What are the benefits of hybrid apps over Native apps? Pitfalls of using hybrid apps?<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Which are the most popular hybrid app development technologies?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Hybrid Mobile Applications :<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Web applications<\/strong> are platform independent and are built using web technologies like html, css, JS, python, php and related frameworks. Native applications<\/strong> are platform specific softwares and are developed in native languages like Objective C or Swift for iOS apps, .net for windows apps and Java for Android apps. Native apps exploits all the features of a device\u2019s operating System as well as its hardware elements like camera, GPS, accelerometer etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Hybrid apps<\/strong>, as the name goes, takes advantage of both the worlds. It makes use of web application technologies plus features of OS on which the smartphone is running as well as it\u2019s hardware like bluetooth and sensors, not exactly like native apps but very close to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Before the react-native era, hybrid mobile applications were basically web applications that used to run in native browser of the smartphone like UIWebView in iOS and WebView in Android. But React-native apps are not Web apps<\/strong> (like ionic and phonegap apps).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Like native apps, hybrid apps too can be downloaded form playstore or appstore. There are plenty of benefits of going with hybrid development in comparison with native app development. Here we list 5 benefits of hybrid app development \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Application Development Cycle is way more faster!<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. (shorter) Time to Market.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Easy maintenance, bug fixing and updating etc.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Reusable code. Code for one platform and Use everywhere.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Cost benefits. Same set of developers can take care for iOS as well as Android.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      There are some pitfalls too! For simple hybrid apps there aren\u2019t any significant tradeoffs  but for very complex apps that makes use of high-end graphics and other stuffs, we may have to compromise a little with performance. If it seems reasonable to tradeoff a bit of performance for the benefits that comes with hybrid technologies then we suggest you to consider building hybrid mobile apps else if your mobile app is performance critical then you must go native.<\/p>\n\n\n\n