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Facebook, as the most popular social media platform in the world, is not only a great example of a successful business. It is also an incredibly vast dev project, prepared by the best engineers you can find around the globe. And these Facebook engineers, in order to make their work more efficient and better in every way, created React Native – the best cross-platform app development technology you can find.
Made by Experts
React (you might have heard also of the name React.js or ReactJS) is one of the most popular JavaScript libraries. It is a set of pre-written code, dedicated to helping other developers build user interfaces (UI) of their web apps and websites faster.
React Native goes even beyond this. Announced by Facebook in 2015, around 2 years after the initial release of React.js, it applies the library’s standards to apps created for Apple’s iOS, Google’s Androids, and Microsoft’s UWP (which covers both the mobile and desktop Windows systems). In other words – it makes cross-platform mobile app development way faster.
Chosen by Experts
React Native Development is obviously mostly linked to Facebook – the place where it all began. Mark Zuckerberg’s company is making use of the framework while preparing most of its major apps, including the basic Facebook mobile app, Facebook Ads app, as well as Instagram.
But React Native happened to become really popular among devs from different backgrounds. It is not only Facebook anymore. What are some best React Native companies?
- Discord – A rising text and voice chat platform, incredibly popular especially among gamers. The company believed in the success of React Native even before the official release of the library and is using it up until today.
- UberEats – The crucial parts of the UberEats cross-platform app use React Native. As Uber’s engineers write on the official blog of the company, Reactive Native Development helped them in creating a better mobile experience and revolutionize the food delivery industry.
- Myntra – One of the best examples of the use of React Native in e-commerce. Myntra is a leader of the Indian e-commerce market, and a big part of their mobile app is based on React Native.
- SoundCloud Pulse – The Berlin-based SoundCloud is one of the most popular websites for musicians, loved by both indie and mainstream artists. Its React Native-powered Pulse mobile app helps creators to keep in touch with what is happening on their profile and make sure they are getting the most out of the platform.
(for more, check out our blog post: 12 Best React Native Companies & Startups Mobile Apps)
Used by Experts
But what exactly makes React Native so popular among devs these days? Is it only the prestige caused by Facebook taking care of the library?
Definitely not.
As I have already mentioned a few times, React Native is especially beloved by those looking for an easy way to create a cross-platform mobile app. In 2012, Mark Zuckerberg said: „The biggest mistake we made as a company was betting too much on HTML5 as opposed to native.” This speech announced the new approach Facebook is taking – a focus on native app development that can bring better results with better apps.
React Native makes your app imitate a programme coded in a language native for each platform. For example, thanks to the library, developers do not need to create separate apps for iOS (in Objective C) and Android (in Java). In other words, with React Native Development everything can be made faster, with fewer bugs on the way, and – ultimately – for less money.
Another great thing about the successful Facebook’s JavaScript library? A vast number of interesting React Native components – sets of pre-written code dedicated to helping developers implement specific functionalities faster. For example, AlertIOS makes easier creating an iOS alert box shown to the user, while CameraRoll provides the app access to the photo library of a mobile device.
Supported by Experts
A number of RN components are also created by the developers not working for Facebook. Their sympathy for this JavaScript library ended up in many different collections of components, widely available around the internet. A great example is NativeBase – one of the most popular components set for React Native Development.
NativeBase is fully open source and was used in creating a number of interesting free-to-use projects, such as the basic clone of Twitter. If you are planning to win over the world with a new mobile social media app, it provides a great insight into how React Native can be used for implementing login box or profile management into your programme. NativeBase is also supporting a number of paid premium starter kits, that cover very specific topics, such as an Uber-like taxi app. Custom mobile app development is now faster than ever thanks to this love of users for React Native.
There is also plenty of experts who share their knowledge of React Native Development on blogs and social media. Their number and engagement is another proof of the popularity of the library. We strongly encourage you to explore the best React Native experts & blogs to follow – one of our most readable article from 2018 was dedicated to these guys. You can find it here.
Improved by Experts
The year 2018 brought a number of great developments in React Native. These includes:
- The release of a few new versions of React Native, including the long-awaited 0.56 version. One of the highlights of the 0.56 is the improved support of the Android app creation, which should help developers prepare ready-to-launch apps faster.
- Better support for the Amazon Web Services broadly known simply as AWS.
- A React Native version (0.57) fully ready for the new iOS 12.
The future of React Native is looking even better. The team behind the framework is constantly modernizing its architecture. The aim is to make React Native more lightweight and – thanks to this – improve the speed of apps created with the library. The framework is also being used in an increasing number of unique, interesting projects, such as those using augmented reality (AR). It will definitely help in bringing React Native to industries where it hasn’t been used before.
It is also important to once again remind ourselves about the growing community around React Native. On Github, there are already over 15,000 commits from nearly 2000 contributors. Commits happen sometimes even a few times in a day, providing important support and constant improvements. The community is working to make the framework better in a few different areas, from improving the React Native debugging, to providing more and more open-source components.
Thanks to all these great aspects of React Native and its community, the number of companies providing custom mobile app development with the use of this framework is growing. In order to choose the best one, we highly recommend reading our checklist guide on finding the best company specializing in React Native Development.
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