5 Top Benefits for Choosing React Native

React Native is an open-source framework that Meta (then Facebook) designed to build native applications for Android, iOS, and other platforms. The framework is built so anyone familiar with React can easily build cross-platform applications without learning a completely different framework or language. However, there are differences in the functionality of the two, including:

• ● React Native gives you much more flexibility in building native applications. You can implement different functions by accessing the system’s built-in functions, which is not possible in the React framework
• ● React Native uses the native system’s display and rendering API, which allows the programmer to control the UI. However, React manipulates this using the DOM property of the browser, allowing a programmer to write code to manipulate the display of the DOM. React acts as an interface between the DOM and the programmer

There are many more differences, but we’ll get into those later in the post. Now, let’s see the benefits of using React Native.

1. Design Principles

React Native is built on the same design principles as the React framework. If you’re familiar with the React framework, you can easily design and deploy a project using the framework. React Native has the same hierarchy tree graph design, and both frameworks use the node package manager (NPM).

2. Testing Library

The React Native Testing Library, or RNTL, is similar to the React Testing Library and used to test, debug, and log errors. The RNTL enables developers to test applications for errors and the functionality of different components. The library also provides insights about errors and how to fix them, as well as displays and stores error logs for later reference.

However, setting up your code for the testing library to debug can be a bit complicated and tedious when testing and debugging large-scale applications. Alternatively, you can use Stackify’s comprehensive application performance monitoring (APM) solution, Retrace. From testing to error tracking, to comprehensive log management, Retrace does it all. The full lifecycle APM solution is very easy to set up and integrates with your current DevOps lifecycle. You can start Retrace with a no-credit card free trial now.

3. Cross-Compatibility

Cross-compatibility is a major advantage. React Native allows you to build applications across different platforms and architectures and is easily portable from one platform to another. The framework translates your code written in TypeScript or JavaScript to platform-specific code, without developers having to worry about rewriting the underlying code.

When you build a project for Android, for example, rebuilding for iOS or any other platform requires no changes to your original code. This cross-platform compatibility simplifies building multi-platform applications by enabling you to easily port your application to different platforms.

4. Community

An open-source project backed by Meta, React Native has a strong community of developers who support and contribute to ongoing improvements. The framework was launched at an internal hackathon as a solution to improve the user experience for Meta’s mobile applications. The hackathon targeted the native platform instead of building apps using browser-based support and HTML5.

5. Easy Integration

React Native is easy to integrate in a DevOps cycle, as the framework enables easy integration of newer releases. New versions of your application can be easily updated on the user’s platform without too much worry about changes in the platform’s operating system. The framework automatically updates and optimizes your code to the platform’s current operating system version. With these operations, you can deploy newer updates to your cross-platform applications without worrying about OS updates or other issues. Combined with the RNTL, these automation features enable you to deploy a complete DevOps cycle for your application without worrying about the underlying platform or architecture.

However, implementing a continuous integration and continuous delivery pipeline for a React Native application from scratch can be difficult. Again, Stackify Retrace offers a great solution for all your application performance monitoring and code optimization needs. The full lifecycle APM solution provides comprehensive deployment tracking, best-in-class tracing services and integrated errors and logs.

When and Why to Choose React Native

The framework’s library, Hot Reloading and automated structuring provide further reasons on when and why to choose the framework.

• ● The React Native library is much faster than any other web/JavaScript packaged library. The library was originally built to allow access to native components and compile the React code to native application code, while retaining important features of React
• ● The Hot Reloading feature allows you to see the changes to your components without altering the state of your application. Hot Reloading also enables you to easily integrate a React Native application into a workflow
• ● React Native automatically structures your project in an organized and hierarchical fashion. This structuring makes managing and reusing your application easy, especially in a team setting. 

Check out the recent Stackify blog post, When to Choose React Native as Your Next App Development Framework, for more insights on when the framework is your best choice.

Conclusion: Benefits of React Native

React Native is a useful framework that supports and simplifies developing and deploying cross-platform applications. With similarities and parallels to React, many developers can quickly learn and exploit the benefits of the framwork. The RNTL speeds application debugging and testing. Cross-compatibility simplifies multi-platform app development, and a large, growing and active community supports ongoing improvements to the framework.

To simplify performance optimization for all your applications and realize the benefits of OpenTelemetry, start your free Retrace trial today.

This post was written by Pranav Upadhyaya. Pranav has experience in Python development and building data structures, web development, data scraping, analytics and blockchain applications.

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