How Hard Is React Native if You Know React
Agnieszka Mroczkowska
Damian Włodarczyk
What you'll find in this commodity
- Why nosotros created this article and who wrote it for you?
- Flutter vs. React Native: In a nutshell
- Introduction to Palpitate and React Native
- What is Flutter?
- What'due south Palpitate for?
- Who created Flutter?
- How mature is Flutter?
- What pop apps are fabricated with Flutter?
- What is React Native?
- What's React Native for?
- Who created React Native?
- How mature is React Native?
- What popular apps are fabricated with React Native?
- Pros and cons of Flutter
- Pros and cons of React Native
- The future of Flutter and React Native
- React Native or Flutter – 3 insights from developers and app owners
- Summary
Why we created this article
Cross-platform solutions are gaining popularity. Flutter and React Native are the two leading market place players, merely at Droids On Roids, we'll build commercial apps for partners using the arroyo that all-time fits the solution – exist it native, Flutter, or React Native.
Still, business owners always want to know the respond to several critical questions:
- Which framework best fits my project?
- Which solution can provide the fastest fourth dimension-to-market for my app?
- Will my app be stable and user-friendly?
- Which solution is best if perfect pattern is my #1 priority?
We wrote this article to summarize the answers nosotros share with our partners so that you can benefit from them, as well.
We hope information technology helps you make a smart, conscious conclusion when it comes to choosing the best cantankerous-platform solution for your app thought.
Who wrote the article?
Information technology takes a sure level of feel to write almost Flutter and React Native in sufficient depth – and to compare and contrast the two technologies.
As such, we asked two Droids On Roids developers to take on the task:
- Bartosz – Web and React Native Programmer
- Damian – iOS and Flutter Developer (the author of Roadmap for Flutter Developers in 2021 – feel invited yous to contribute)
These 2 build commercial apps for clients in Flutter and React Native every twenty-four hour period. And so, you tin be sure the cognition they're about to share includes not but the theory but years of development feel also.
We take also tested our understanding against popular articles in the programmer community, referencing these sources to reply any questions. You can find a total list of their references at the stop of this post.
Flutter vs. React Native: In a nutshell
| Palpitate | React Native | |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | A portable UI toolkit for building natively-compiled apps beyond mobile, spider web, and desktop* from a unmarried codebase | A framework for edifice native applications using React |
| Official release | Dec 2018, Google I/O | March 2015, F8 Briefing |
| Created by | ||
| Free and open source | Yes | Aye |
| Programming linguistic communication | Dart | JavaScript |
| Popularity | 120,000 Stars on Github (May 2021) | 95,300 stars on Github (May 2021) |
| Hot Reload | Yes | Yeah |
| Native performance | Great | Smashing |
| UI | Flutter apps wait equally good on the upward-to-engagement operating systems as they do on older versions. Since they only have i codebase, the apps await and behave similarly across iOS and Android – simply thanks to Material Design and Cupertino widgets, they tin also imitate the platform blueprint itself. How'southward that possible? Palpitate contains two sets of widgets which adjust to specific design languages: Material Blueprint widgets implement Google's pattern linguistic communication of the aforementioned proper name; Cupertino widgets imitate Apple tree'southward iOS design. This ways that your Palpitate app will look and behave naturally on each platform, imitating their native components. | Application components look just similar native ones (e.g. a button on an iOS device looks only like a native iOS push, and the aforementioned on Android). The fact React Native uses native components nether the hood should give you confidence that, later whatsoever Os UI update, your app's components will exist instantly upgraded as well. That said, this tin can break the app's UI but it happens very rarely. If you want your app to expect near-identical across platforms – equally well as on older versions of an operating arrangement (as Flutter achieves) – then consider using third-party libraries (like this i). They will enable you lot to use Material Pattern components, in identify of native ones. |
| Sharing code | With Flutter two (announced in March 2021), nosotros can use the same codebase to ship native apps to five operating systems: iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux; as well every bit web experiences targeting browsers such equally Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge. Flutter tin even be embedded in cars, TVs, and smart home appliances. (source). Possibly the single largest declaration in Flutter two is production-quality support for the web. It can be used for:
Find out more than here. | iOS and Android – but in that location are select libraries that allow you to employ the same code to build iOS, Android, web, and Windows10 apps. Yous tin besides excerpt shared code in mobile, desktop, and web apps, to a separate repository; care for it every bit a carve up project; then inject it in the same way as some other dependency. This allows a developer to focus on writing code for a specific platform without having to consider compatibility with another one. |
| Top apps made with this engineering science | Xianyu app past Alibaba, Hamilton app for Hamilton Musical, Google Ads app, Philips Hue, My BMW | Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Ads, Skype, Tesla |
| Time-to-market | Typically much faster than native development. | Perhaps as fast equally development with Flutter. However… React Native uses bridge and native elements, and so it may require separate optimization for each platform – a problem that widget-based Flutter doesn't see. It may make the app development with React Native longer. |
| Competitive reward |
|
|
| When it is not the best fit | If… • Your app needs to support 3D Affect (for now, Palpitate doesn't support 3D – but it features on the Flutter team's long-term roadmap) • The blueprint of your app is platform-specific • Your app requires multiple interactions with an Bone; or requires rare, niggling-known native libraries • You demand a minimalistic UI, only rely on meaning use of the phone hardware (eastward.1000. an awarding that plays music, or only takes pictures) • You want to create an instant app (small-sized app) If your app sounds like any of the above, it'south probably better y'all choose native app development. Read more about these cases here >> | If… • Your app needs to handle less mutual, or ultra-specific tasks (similar calculations) in the background • You require custom communication via Bluetooth (which can be tricky to implement using React Native) • You desire to create an app for Android only In truth, if you desire to build an iOS app and you know JavaScript, consider React Native – but if you want an Android-only app, information technology's probable better to build natively with another team. Why? Right now, iOS has improve support than Android. If your app sounds like any of the above, information technology's probably better you consider choosing native app evolution. |
Introduction to Flutter and React Native
First, allow'due south encompass the basic (all the same essential) details nigh Flutter and React Native.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is a portable UI toolkit. In other words, it'south a comprehensive app Software Evolution Kit (SDK), complete with widgets and tools.
What'south Flutter for?
Flutter enables cross-platform app development.
It gives developers an easy mode to build and deploy visually bonny, natively-compiled applications for mobile (iOS, Android), web, and desktop – all using a single codebase (source: official Flutter website).
Please note
Flutter's desktop support
- When information technology comes to developing desktop apps with Flutter, you can compile Palpitate source code to a native Windows, macOS, or Linux desktop app.
- Flutter's desktop support also extends to plugins — developers can install existing plugins that support the macOS, Windows, or Linux platforms, or they can create their own.
- Please note: Flutter's desktop support is available as a beta release. So, it however has feature gaps. However, developers tin endeavour a beta snapshot of desktop support on the stable channel or can keep upwards with the latest changes to the desktop on the beta channel.
Flutter for Web
Flutter'southward web support delivers the same experiences on the web as on mobile. Information technology ways y'all can now build applications for Android, iOS, and the browser from the aforementioned codebase.
Every bit nosotros can read on the official Flutter website, Flutter's web support is most useful in the following scenarios:
- Progressive Web Apps (PWA) built with Flutter
Palpitate delivers loftier-quality PWAs that are integrated with a user'due south surround, including installation, offline support, and tailored UX. - Single Folio Applications (SPA)
SPAs load in one case and transmit data to and from internet services. - Existing mobile applications
Spider web back up for Flutter provides a browser-based delivery model for existing Flutter mobile apps.
A little more than nigh Flutter…
- It's complimentary and open source
- It's based on Dart – a fast, object-oriented programming language (Dart is at present in its 2.14 version). It's relatively new and is like shooting fish in a barrel to acquire – particularly for experienced developers more familiar with Java and C#. What'southward more, Sprint supports sound cipher safety.
- The compages is based on the very pop reactive programming (it follows the same mode equally React)
- It provides its ain widgets, drawn from its own high-performance rendering engine – these are fast, attractive and customizable
- Thanks to the widget experience, Flutter apps accept a great look and experience (while y'all can still create your own custom app design using readily-available UI elements that follow specific platform guidelines)
Who created Flutter?
A team at Google built Flutter.
Only as an open-source projection, both Google and the Palpitate community contribute to its development.
How mature is Flutter?
A cursory history of Flutter:
- February 2018, Mobile World Congress – First beta release of Flutter
- April 2018, Google I/O – Flutter beta 2 release
- May 2018, Google I/O – Flutter beta 3 release
- Flutter joins GitHub'southward meridian 100 repos
- June 2018 – Flutter Preview 1 release
- September 2018 – Flutter Preview 2 release
- November 2018 — Dart 2.1 release
- December 2018, Google I/O – Flutter 1.0 release
- A crucial milestone for the technology – since December. 2018, Flutter has been considered as stable and set for production
- February 2019, Mobile World Congress – Flutter i.2 release
- May 2019, Mobile World Congress:
- Palpitate 1.five release
- Flutter for Spider web preview version
- Dart ii.3 release
- July 2019, Flutter 1.7 release
- September 2019, Flutter 1.nine release
- Flutter has been regularly adult and Google has been releasing its newer versions. Its newest version is two.2.0 and this was announced during Google I / O in May 2021. Come across what's new in Palpitate two.two.0 and why it's awesome!
As yous can run into, Google shifted from the Palpitate beta version to the final stages of stabilization for Flutter one.0 at a rapid pace.
Better all the same, since the release of Flutter ane.0, the squad hasn't rested on its laurels. It has actively worked on making the toolkit stronger and more resilient – prioritizing enhanced stability, operation, and quality.
Moreover, Flutter two.0.0 includes hundreds of changes in response to programmer feedback .
Flutter has 188 active pull requests on GitHub (May 2021), which shows that the developer community uses it and continues to contribute to its comeback.
In summary, Flutter remains a fledgling engineering.
Yet, given the pace of Flutter'southward improvements – and its explosive popularity – we tin say with confidence that information technology's impressivelystable and mature for its age.
What popular apps are made with Flutter?
- Xianyu app by Alibaba (App on App Store, App on Google Play) – Alibaba is one of the biggest e-commerce companies in the world
- Hamilton app (App on App Shop, App on Google Play, Website) – official app for the Broadway Musical
- Google Ads app (App on App Shop, App on Google Play)
- eBay Motors app (App on App Store, App on Google Play) – information technology'southward a powerful tool for browsing, buying, and selling vehicles straight from consumers' phones
- Stadia (App on App Store, App on Google Play) – Google'due south gaming platform, users can play games across laptops, desktops, and mobile devices
- Groupon (App on App Store, App on Google Play). Groupon uses Flutter to assistance hundreds of thousands of merchants track campaign operation, manage client satisfaction, and become efficient support.
- Baidu Tieba (App on App Shop) – the largest Chinese communication platform hosted by Chinese search engine company Baidu.
- Phillips Hue (App on App Store, App on Google Play) – Palpitate brought intuitive controls to Philips Hue apps, allowing users to set the mood and sync their smart lights to their media.
- Topline app by Abbey Route Studios (App on App Shop, App on Google Play)
- Reflectly (App on App Store, App on Google Play, Website)
For more examples of superlative Flutter apps, read this article > Top Apps Fabricated with Flutter – 17 Stories past Developers and Business concern Owners
What is React Native?
React Native is an open-source mobile application framework that uses JavaScript.
What is React Native for?
React Native is an effective framework for:
- Cross-platform development
- Building mobile apps using JavaScript linguistic communication
- Developing applications for both Android and iOS using a single codebase
- Using the aforementioned design equally React
* Please note:
- Apps created using React Native are not mobile web apps. React Native uses the same fundamental UI building blocks as regular iOS and Android apps: this means that instead of building in Java, Kotlin, or Swift – you're putting the same edifice blocks together, using JavaScript and React (source).
- React Native uses components that are analogous to widgets in Palpitate.
To develop web and desktop applications with React Native, it's best to use external libraries (as detailed in this paragraph).
Read too: What is React Native and How is it Used? Introduction for App Owners.
Who created React Native?
Facebook created React Native.
How mature is React Native?
A brief history of React Native:
- Summer 2013, Facebook hackathon – React Native started as an internal Facebook projection
- January 2015, React.js Briefing – React Native 1 Preview release
- March 2015, F8 Conference – Official Launch of React Native
- Facebook declares React Native, 'open for apply and available on Github'
Looking at the above, ii things are for certain: React Native is older than Flutter, and it boasts a bigger community. Not to mention the fact that the Facebook squad has had plenty of time to stabilize the API also as focus on fixing whatever underlying issues.
And let's not forget – Facebook is working on several other notable enhancements as well:
- Lean Core – reducing an app's size by moving optional components/features to separate repositories (to add together to an app as/when needed)
- TurboModules – for improved handling of native modules
- React Native Fabric – re-architected UI layer
What popular apps are fabricated with React Native?
… too as enough more.
If you'd like to see other examples of apps made with React Native, bank check out the official React Native showcase.
Flutter – pros and cons
In this section, nosotros briefly discuss the key pros and cons of Palpitate.
If you lot want to read more, check out this article dedicated to the Pros and Cons of Palpitate for App Owners.
✅ PROS of Flutter:
1. Hot Reload = fast coding
From a developer standpoint, Flutter offers more dynamic – and faster – app development. It is one of the greatest things well-nigh Flutter, appreciated by every height mobile app development company.
Developers can make changes to the codebase on-the-wing, and see them immediately reflected in the application. This is the and so-chosen Hot reload feature, and it typically takes (milli-)seconds for changes to show.
The characteristic helps teams add features, ready bugs, and experiment with new ideas in an instant. Plus, Hot Reload is very handy when it comes to developer-designer collaboration.
That said – for a listing of updates that require a total restart, encounter Hot Reload limitations.
two. 1 codebase, 2 mobile platforms (and more!)
With Flutter, developers can write simply i codebase for ii applications – covering both iOS and Android platforms.
Palpitate is platform-doubter equally information technology has its own widgets and designs, which ways you lot tin take the exact same app on two platforms (while if you lot want to differentiate your apps that's just every bit easily accomplished).
Google is currently working on Flutter for Web, which you can encounter as a preview version. Once this goes live, a single codebase will cover Android, iOS, and web platforms.
3. Up to 50% less testing
Given y'all take the same application on both platforms, your Quality Assurance process will exist much faster as you can test less.
We write roughly l% fewer automatic tests considering nosotros tin create the same tests to run on both platforms, reducing the demands on our QA squad.
That said, you lot'll still accept to run manual testing at a like level as with native programming – as your QA specialists will accept to check both apps on each platform, past hand.
4. Faster apps
Flutter apps perform smoothly and fast – without ever hanging or cut while scrolling. Why?
Flutter uses the Skia Graphics Library. Thanks to this, the UI is redrawn each fourth dimension when a view changes.
Nearly of the work is done on GPU (graphics processing unit); that'due south why Flutter UI is smooth and delivers 60fps (frames per second).
Notwithstanding, you must be careful during the development and so every bit not to crusade redrawing of those elements of the view whose information has not changed.
Redrawing the whole view instead of just those elements that change, can bear on the performance and speed of the awarding, especially if you lot need to reload the view ofttimes, eastward.thousand. in a stopwatch application.
v. Designs your users volition love
Flutter doesn't rely on native system components. Rather, Flutter has its own fix of custom widgets, rendered and managed by the framework'southward graphics engine (source). Users will see different UI components from typical native apps, merely that isn't necessarily a disadvantage.
Palpitate apps accept a peculiarly convenient UI: a crucial advantage for Flutter over React Native, stemming from super-considerateness to the visual details. Palpitate was created so that you could hands create your own widgets, or merely customize an existing widget.
Feel free to browse a catalog of Palpitate widgets; or, click the links to encounter examples of Material Design widgets and Cupertino widgets.
6. Aforementioned app UI, even on older devices
Fifty-fifty new apps look the same on older iOS or Android systems, and then y'all never have to worry nearly supporting older devices.
Android 5.1.ane
Android 8.i.0
vii. Perfect for MVPs
If you demand to build an MVP (Minimum Feasible Product) for your app – say, as a showcase for potential investors – Flutter is the perfect option, especially if time is short. Read also:
- How to Build a Minimum Viable Production – MVP Guide for App Owners
- App development cost in 2021
Check out the Palpitate Gallery app, which includes a demo of Flutter'southward core features, widgets, and vignettes.
Palpitate Gallery
Flutter Gallery
Flutter Gallery
🔻 CONS of Palpitate:
1. Size of the programmer community(??)
Well-nigh people will tell you: a cardinal advantage for React Native over Flutter is its more established, more experienced developer customs. Further, in terms of programming languages, Dart isn't as widely used every bit JavaScript, at to the lowest degree for now.
In truth, Flutter has a lot of catching up to do if it'south to friction match its 'older blood brother' – which is understandable. The community needs time to educate its audience and to gain more than experience, which is typical for any new, young tool.
However, nosotros don't see it as a pregnant disadvantage, and that's why we added the (??) in the header. Information technology's likewise worth noting that the Flutter community is growing exponentially. Plus, there's phenomenal excitement effectually the toolkit.
Delight note:
- Stack overflow tag trends show an intense increase in developer interest in Flutter
- On Udemy, in that location are 257+ Flutter courses (with about 1 410,000 course participants)
There are as well 75 Dart courses (with about 608,000-course participants (May 2021))
React Native numbers are lower – nigh 866,000 students across 133 courses
- Flutter has 120,000+ stars on Github while React Native has 95,300+
To sum up, two years ago, Flutter had a smaller, less experienced community, and Dart is more niche than JavaScript.
Now, things are turning around. Current trends indicate that Flutter is outperforming its competitor in this expanse.
2. Libraries & support – impressive, simply still not as rich as native evolution
Google's support for Flutter is impressive, simply Palpitate is still quite new. This means you can't always notice the functionality yous need in existing libraries, and then your developers might need to build custom functionality themselves, which takes time.
Read more about this disadvantage here >>
iii. Continuous Integration support
At the time of writing, Flutter lacks support for CI platforms like Travis or Jenkins. So, to achieve automated edifice, testing, and deployment, your developers demand to use and maintain custom scripts like this i.
That said, it is worth to note that:
- There is a new CI/CD system for Flutter apps – Codemagic – that was announced at Flutter Live 2018
- In January 2019, Bitrise announced the full-featured Flutter CI. At Droids On Roids we use Bitrise to build Flutter apps and it works so easily equally in native app evolution.
4. Platform risk
Even though Flutter is open up source, if Google decided to pull support for the projection, it would spell disaster.
That said since the Google team released the Beta version of Flutter, it has only ramped upwardly its efforts, as illustrated by Flutter's prominent office during Google IO '19, alongside the recent Palpitate Live event.
At the current point in time, we cannot imagine a world where Google walks away from Flutter.
5. App'south size
Applications written in Flutter are bigger than native ones. Check out the article Comparison APK sizes. However, the Flutter team is working on reducing the size of apps made with Flutter.
React Native – pros and cons
✅ PROS of React Native:
1. Hot Reload = fast coding Fast refresh = fast coding
Essentially the same feature as Flutter.
Hot Reload speeds upwards the development process by assuasive a developer to inject new code straight into a running app. So, a developer can see changes instantly, without rebuilding the app.
Hot Reload as well retains the application's state, avoiding the hazard of losing it during a full reload (a critical benefit in the context of land-based frameworks) – speeding upwardly the mobile app development process even further.
To better the programmer experience with hot reloading, the React Native team includes in 0.61 version a new feature called fast refresh that unifies alive and hot reloading. Information technology's more resilient to typos and mistakes compared to the previous version. You tin can read more nearly fast refresh hither.
2. One codebase, 2 mobile platforms (and more!)
Exactly the aforementioned as Palpitate: write a unmarried codebase to power 2 apps – roofing both Android and iOS platforms.
Better even so, JavaScript gives you a leg upwardly when writing cross-platform applications by sharing code with web apps. This is accomplished by creating brainchild components that you can compile to target platforms.
See below for example libraries that allow you to simultaneously create code on platforms other than iOS and Android (including web and desktop apps):
- React Native for Spider web – supports Android, iOS, and spider web (Twitter used this to create Twitter Lite)
- ReactXp – developed by the Skype Team to support Android, iOS, and web; plus, works on Windows x (UWP)
- react-native-windows – developed by the Microsoft team, supports all the devices supported by Windows 10 ( PCs, tablets, 2-in-1s, Xbox, Mixed reality devices, etc.)
Side Note:
Bartosz (our React Native developer) sees things a picayune differently to most, so prefers an culling approach.
If you compare a spider web desktop app, a mobile spider web app, and a native app, you can assume they share the same business logic – but they likely need a specific UI that fits distinct user requirements.
So, why non:
- Extract shared code to a split repository;
- Treat it as a separate project;
- Inject the code in the same way as any other dependency?
Working this way allows developers to focus on writing apps to an bodily platform – without having to consider cross-platform compatibility.
Watch Ben Ellerby'due south presentation about the approach and if you like idea of creating abstraction over platform, cheque out Radek Pietruszewski's presentation likewise.
3. It uses a wildly popular language – JavaScript
React Native uses JavaScript: a programming language that many developers know well (whereas Dart is all the same not so widely known or used). And if y'all're a developer who prefers statically-typed programming languages, you tin can fifty-fifty utilize TypeScript – a JavaScript subset.
4. Programmer freedom of choice
React Native lets developers build cross-platform apps; no more, no less.
The reward is that React Native allows the developer to decide precisely what solutions they want to use; both co-ordinate to the project'southward requirements as much every bit the developer'southward preferences.
Say, if a programmer needs to decide how to handle the global state (how to store and manage the data that's used in many components in the app), choose a router library, or choose between JavaScript and TypeScript – they can decide if they'd adopt to utilize a custom UI library, or write their own.
5. Relative maturity
The official React Native release was more five years agone, so the Facebook team have had plenty of time to stabilize the API, as well every bit focus on fixing bug and solving problems.
Now, they're working on a few exciting improvements – like reducing app size.
half-dozen. An agile – and vast – community
React Native has a massive developer community. Non only that, but there are countless tutorials, libraries, and UI frameworks that go far easy to acquire the engineering science – likewise as quick and easy to develop with information technology.
And if y'all compare repositories focused on gathering manufactures, tools, and materials virtually specific technologies, React Native is much better placed than Xamarin, Flutter or Ionic (source: Awesome-Flutter, Awesome-ReactNative, Awesome-Ionic, Awesome-Xamarin).
What is more, React Native is role of the "React family". While many of its libraries are platform agnostic (like Formik, React Router, styled components), which ways they work beyond both web and mobile.
- It's also worth calling Expo to your attention – the React constitutional framework that simplifies access to native APIs – which has set up-fabricated solutions for typical mobile features (e.chiliad., button notifications).
- A 2nd library worth mentioning is AWS Amplify: a solution that simplifies integration with AWS features by covering authentication, storage, push notifications, and analytics.
7. Easy to learn for React developers
This advantage in our list is highly targeted at React developers. If you have a background in web evolution and already use popular React solutions, y'all tin can easily get to work with React Native, without having to learn new libraries. You tin can use the same libraries, tools, and patterns.
eight. Upwards to 50% less testing
We write roughly 50% fewer automated tests because nosotros tin create the same tests to run on both platforms, reducing the demands on our QA team. It looks the aforementioned as in Flutter app development – we described it here.
🔻 CONS of React Native
1. It isn't actually Native
Similar any cross-platform solution, neither the UI experience nor performance will exist the same as in native apps – just close to them.
Merely yet, it is easier to achieve a "native feeling" with React Native than with Flutter. If you want your Flutter app to have native components, it will require additional piece of work.
ii. Fewer components out of box
React Native supports just basic components out of box (many of them are adaptive to a platform out of box, like button, loading indicator, or slider).
As we said in this paragraph, there are outside repos with many additional components for React Native. A developer can apply them in a project but that requires additional effort and time.
On the other hand, Flutter is designed to back up Material Design out of box, and then the framework supports much more than widgets. It saves time. A developer using Flutter tin can create most of the views with pre-made widgets which are easily customizable and cross-platform consistent.
3. Developer liberty of choice
…both a curse and a blessing.
In one case a programmer has created a new project, they then need to determine which navigation package – as well as which global state management – to utilise.
It can have a lot of fourth dimension to understand the nuances of every solution, and ultimately, to decide upon the best ones to employ for the project.
4. Lots of abandoned packages
React Native boasts an enormous number of libraries. Unfortunately, likewise many of them are either depression quality; or have been abandoned altogether.
Dan Abramov advises checking the number of issues and frequency of commits in a repository to prevent using abandoned packages.
Read more near the issues and limitations of the electric current shape of React Native in this summary of his discussion of "What do you dislike about React Native?"
5. Delicate UI
The fact that React Native uses native components under the hood should give y'all confidence that, after every OS UI update, your app components will be instantly upgraded, equally well.
That said – this can break the app's UI but it happens very rarely.
What's worse, updates can get even more unsafe if they cause certain changes in the Native Components API. The skillful news? This kind of event happens very rarely.
Whereas when it comes to Flutter (thanks to the way the framework recreates native components on their own), the app UI is a lot more stable.
6. Apps are bigger than native ones
Applications written in React Native must exist able to run Javascript lawmaking (JavaScript Virtual Machine). Android doesn't have this functionality by default – significant applications need to include a library that supports JavaScript code, resulting in apps that are bigger than their native Android counterparts.
iOS apps made with React Native don't this problem, just they are still usually bigger than native ones. The expert news? As we mentioned before, React Native team is working on reducing their apps' size.
Read more than about the Pros and Cons of React Native Development for App Owners in 2021.
Predicting the future: Palpitate & React Native
More and more than companies are attracted past Flutter. Afterwards all, we're witnessing monthly improvements in the Flutter SDK equally Google continues to refine its tool. Plus, the community is always helpful and enthusiastic. What's more, Flutter enables us to create not only mobile applications only also apps for the web and desktop (Flutter's desktop support is available as a beta release on the stable channel).
Putting it all together – and given leading companies similar Alibaba are already using Flutter – the future looks promising for the toolkit.
Equally for React Native – well, Facebook is currently focusing on a large-calibration re-architecture of the technology.
The squad is doing its level all-time to better support for both React Native users and the wider customs. And thanks to this, the community tin now easily propose changes to the framework's core functionalities through an RFC procedure that uses a defended GitHub repo.
The actual results of such compages improvements are:
- Hermes – an open-source JavaScript engine optimized for mobile apps that improves fourth dimension to interaction, and lowers app size and retentivity utilization
- Big changes in the 0.60 version (observe the full summary hither ):
- information technology'due south easier to manage iOS dependency past using the most popular dependency director CocoaPods by default,
- yous tin drift React Native to AndroidX ,
- you lot can excerpt optional features as part of lean core process.
Creating an open environment to discuss React Native is a significant footstep. It's both a sign of ongoing comeback also equally a bespeak for the technology'southward bright future.
Given React Native has such a stable position in the marketplace – and is on a trajectory of continuous development – it'southward unlikely nosotros'll see the toolkit left in the dust any time soon. Read about the long-term vision for React Native in this article.
Still, Flutter is an imposing competitor to React Native.
Read likewise: Outsourcing Software Development – Benefits & Risks for App Owners
React Native or Palpitate? 3 insights from developers & app owners.
Nosotros recently wrote an ebook roofing the best Flutter app examples – including primal insights from 17 different app owners and developers who are actively working with the Flutter framework.
Below, you'll find a selection of quotes that cover the Flutter vs. React Native debate.
Abin Baby
Co-founder and Developer at KlasterMe
- For me, Palpitate was harder to learn than React Native. Mainly because React Native uses JavaScript (which is a familiar language for me) whereas I was new to Dart – the language used by Flutter. Then, if you are new to Dart and trying to learn Palpitate, information technology will accept more time than learning React Native. But the opposite is too true – if y'all have experience in Sprint, then learning Flutter will be a walk in a park.
- The components in React Native are pretty bones, so if you demand anything extra, considerable effort is required when styling. Only a handful of components are adaptive to the platform, while almost of the time you have to use a unlike component for both iOS and Android; or, style it differently.
On the other hand, with Flutter, everything is a widget. And the widgets are based on Material Design, making them hands customizable. Most of the widgets are adaptive, and you can use the same widget across both Android and iOS.- When information technology comes to performance, Flutter has the upper hand as it's compiled to ARM or x86 native libraries, which makes information technology actually fast. React Native isn't compiled to native code, and information technology still has the JavaScript layer, making it less performant than Palpitate.
Ishaan Bahal
Co-founder at Meeve
React Native is the closest competitor to Palpitate. I like information technology as it sets the standard for cross-platform native evolution.
That said, our experience with it has surfaced a few issues.
- React Native is just a wrapper over native methods, so information technology requires a span to translate those calls into a native API; this becomes a clogging when yous have a lot of native calls happening. At that place are ways around this, but with Flutter, you don't ever have to worry about the issue as the view layer is rendered similar a game would be – and equally all components are designed by Flutter engineers, there are fewer native calls to the bridge.
- React Native components aren't always customisable enough as they are just wrappers over native views. And so, say someone decided non to wrap a sure method, and so you won't have access to information technology (for instance, dashed borders around a view don't work) – while new components released past Google and Apple can take a long time to get available on React Native.
- Bugs on React Native have likewise started to take a lot longer to get fixed. The dashed border issue, for ane; besides as a split issue supporting various build flavours etc. Most companies running React Native in production, run a custom fork to set up bugs that aren't fixed upstream. The Flutter devs are more proactive, and y'all tin can wait fixes fast. We ended upwardly spending almost of our time looking for problems in React Native documentation, then figuring out why things weren't working the way they should.
The issues we found sent the states searching for something amend – fortunately, Flutter was just around the corner.
Swav Kulinski
Pb Engineer at The App Business
The master benefit of Flutter over React Native (and native, in general) is the lack of platform constraints. Flutter isn't muzzled by the platform UI because it doesn't utilize it; it renders everything by itself. This frees you to build the best UX without compromise – and information technology'south the primary divergence between Palpitate and React Native. Read more than here >>
Summary
When to choose React Native, and when to choose Flutter
Delivering projects on time is one of the most disquisitional aspects of mobile and web app development.
The cantankerous-platform nature of both React Native and Flutter reduce time-to-marketplace. Plus, their third-party libraries and ready-to-use components make information technology more than efficient to use them to build your app.
Ameliorate all the same, Flutter and React Native offer more than but speedy development, they can reduce project costs also.
…and these are the central reasons you should consider either framework for your project. Only which solution offers the fastest development time? Or fits your app idea best?
Well, that depends on the specifics of your project and the residual of your team's skills.
- Do your developers know Dart? If yes, then programming with Flutter will be a walk in the park.
- Are your developers fluent in JavaScript? If yes, then React Native seems the logical choice.
- Exercise you want to build your app's GUI using native UI components? If yeah, cull React Native.
- Is brand-first blueprint your priority? If yes, we suggest Flutter fits the bill.
Recall that each application is dissimilar, so you must consider each one on its ain merits. It's always worth discussing your project with an experienced team of developers: people capable of considering the different approaches, with a varied plenty skillset when it comes to cross-platform development – equally if you seek the communication of programmers who know simply one framework, they'll likely steer you to use that tool.
If nothing else, take confidence from this: both Flutter and React Native are very good technologies. They do good from huge popularity and enduring trust.
Read also: 5 Legal Issues to consider in Mobile App Development.
Each of the frameworks can help your application spread its wings and fly. We'll go on our fingers crossed for yous – best of luck with your next steps!
Useful links & resources
- Official Flutter website
- Flutter on GitHub
- Flutter for Web
- Flutter – supporting desktop
- Sprint official website
- Google Developers Weblog
- React Native on GitHub
- React Native for Windows
Source: https://www.thedroidsonroids.com/blog/flutter-vs-react-native-what-to-choose-in-2021
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