React Native (also known as RN) is a popular JavaScript-based mobile app framework that allows you to build natively-rendered mobile apps for iOS and Android. The framework lets you create an application for various platforms by using the same codebase.React Native was first released by Facebook as an open-source project in 2015. In just a couple of years, it became one of the top solutions used for mobile development. React Native development is used to power some of the world’s leading mobile apps, including Instagram, Facebook, and Skype.

When Facebook first decided to make its service available on mobile devices, instead of building out a native app like many top tech players at the time, they decided to run with a mobile webpage based on HTML5. However, the solution didn’t stand the test of time, leaving much room for UI and performance improvements. In fact, in 2012, Mark Zuckerberg admitted that “the biggest mistake we made as a company was betting too much on HTML as opposed to native.”

Soon after, in 2013, Facebook developer Jordan Walke made a groundbreaking discovery – he found a method of generating UI elements for iOS apps by using JavaScript. This sparked a fire, and a special Hackathon was organized to further discover how much mobile development could be done using (so far, traditionally web-based) JavaScript solutions.

That’s how React Native came to life. Initially developed just for iOS, Facebook quickly followed it up with Android support, before taking the framework public in 2015.

React Native is written with a mixture of JavaScript and JXL, a special markup code resemblant of XML. The framework has the ability to communicate with both realms – JavaScript-based threads and existent, native app threads.How does this communication work? React Native uses a so-called “bridge”. While JavaScript and Native threads are written in completely different languages, it’s the bridge feature that makes bidirectional communication possible.

For instance, because React Native is “just” JavaScript, you don’t need to rebuild your application in order to see your changes reflected; instead, you can hit Command+R to refresh your application just as you would any other web page. All of those minutes spent waiting for your application to build can really add up, and in contrast React Native’s quick iteration cycle feels like a godsend.

Being able to reuse code is the biggest advantage of React Native, and it indicates that apps can run effectively on multiple platforms – which is something that CEOs and Product Owners truly appreciate. They can integrate 90% of the native framework for reusing the code for both operational systems.

Another great piece of news is that it’s possible to use the web application code for mobile app development if they’re both using React Native. It also speeds up development time as it includes pre-developed components, which are included in the open-source library.

React Native is an open-source JavaScript platform that allows developers to contribute their knowledge to the framework’s development, which is freely accessible to all.If any developer experiences a problem while developing an app, then they can turn to the community for support (as of mid-2020, there are nearly 50,000 active contributors to the React Native tag in Stack Overflow).

Another advantage of React Native development is greater cost efficiency. As mentioned earlier, this is because developers are able to use the same code to build applications for iOS and Android.It means you don’t have to hire two separate iOS and Android dev teams to finalize your project; a small team is enough to build it. The cost of developing apps in React Native is much lower than apps built using languages that don’t allow for cross-platform development.

While React Native has been around for several years now, some custom modules either leave room for improvement or are entirely missing. This means that you might need to run three separate codebases (for React Native, iOS, and Android) instead of just one.That being said, it’s not a common occurrence. Unless you’re developing your app from scratch or trying to hack an existing one, you likely won’t come across these issues.

While it may come as a surprise – after all, React Native is used by top tech players – it’s still in beta phase. Your developers might come across various issues with package compatibility or debugging tools. If your developers aren’t proficient in React Native, this might negatively impact your development as they spend time on lengthy troubleshooting.

Most of the time, React Native will work very well for you even if your app eventually grows into a highly-sophisticated, complex solution. After all, companies like Facebook and Skype have found much success with the framework and have been using it consistently for many years. That being said, some companies have decided to back out from using React Native.