React Native vs Native App Development: A Fair Comparison

When it comes to developing a mobile app for any startup, business or enterprise, you have to make a choice between two decisions: whether to develop two separate apps for Android and iOS using the native languages and tools or develop a single app using React Native on both platforms. While both routes empower you to build well-functional mobile apps for both Android and iOS platforms, they are quite different from each other. Let’s briefly compare React Native vs Native App Development and understand when to use which platform for mobile app development.

React Native

React Native is an open-source JavaScript framework developed by Facebook to help developers build mobile applications for iOS and Android platforms simultaneously. Let’s take a look at some reasons to choose or not to choose React Native for mobile app development.

Pros of Going with React Native Framework:

Single Code Base: One of the best things about React Native is that developers have to write a write a single code base that runs on flawlessly on all platforms – whether it is Android or iOS.

Less Development Time: Since developers have to write a single code base, it saves a lot of their development time and efforts.

Ease for Web Developers: Since React Native is a JavaScript framework, it makes much easier for a web developer to move from web to mobile app development.

Open Source: Being an open-source JavaScript framework, React Native gives developers the opportunity to inspect the code. This not just help them understand the framework better but also allow them to contribute to its development and improvement.

Hot Reloading: Taking advantage of this unique feature, developers can view the changes they are making to the app in real time on the device where the app is running.

Cons of Going with React Native Framework:

Lack of Native Elements: The biggest disadvantage of React Native is that it restricts developers from using the native elements of the device, such as Camera and Voice Recorder.

Limited Third Party Libraries: Having a smaller community, React Native offers less number of third-party libraries than the native platforms.

No Support for All Native APIs: Unfortunately, React Native supports only some of the most popular Native APIs, not all the native APIs.

Native App Development

Native App Development is a mobile app development approach used to build mobile applications for a specific platform, such as Android or iOS, using platform-specific IDEs. Let’s get familiar with the pros and cons of investing in Native App Development.

Pros of Investing in Native App Development:

API Access: Unlike React Native, Native Development allows developers to make use of all the device’s APIs and its inbuilt functionalities.

Third Party Libraries: Native Development community is much bigger than the React Native development and therefore there are countless third-party libraries to choose from.

Strict Languages: Objective-C, Swift, Java, and Kotlin – all these languages are strict which makes hidden errors easier to detect before you even run the code.

Cons of Investing in Native App Development:

Development of Multiple Apps: Since native development doesn’t offer a single code base for all platforms, it requires businesses to invest in multiple apps for multiple platforms.

High Development Time and Effort: As the developer has to develop the app from the scratch for each platform, the overall cost of app development increased manifold.

When to Use React Native

React Native can be a perfect choice for mobile app development, if:

• Your app is complex and makes decent use of reusable components
• You have a very limited app development budget that restricts you to a team of up to 10 mobile app developers
• You need an e-Commerce, Social Media, or Messaging app
• Your app uses Facebook Ads

When to Use Native App Development

You should opt for Native App Development, if:

• Your app is based on complex technologies such as Blockchain or IoT.
• Your app needs to use a lot of third party APIs and libraries.
• Your app relies heavily on the native elements of a device, such as Camera Brightness Controller, Voice Recorder etc.
• You’re looking to develop IoT based connected apps
• Your app monetization policy includes Google Admob

Contact us to get a custom quote for React Native or Native App development services.