logo
logo
Sign in

React Native vs. Swift - Which is the Better Choice for Your App?

avatar
Anna Sharland
React Native vs. Swift - Which is the Better Choice for Your App?

Why are businesses moving from native development to hybrid or cross-platform development? What’s the difference between React Native vs Swift in terms of performance, pricing, and client satisfaction? Is one of these technologies better than the other? In this article, we’ll examine these questions and more. We’ll also compare React Native vs Swift side by side in the context of several important business criteria to help you decide which technology might be best for your next mobile app project.


What are the Advantages of Developing an App with React Native over Swift

If you are about to develop an app of your own or are considering React Native vs. Swift as a development option, it's good to know how these frameworks stack up against each other in terms of their performance and user experience. Let's take a look at some of their key features and why they might be more appropriate for certain projects than others. React Native was developed by Facebook with one goal in mind: simplifying cross-platform mobile application development by eliminating one of its biggest hurdles: coding multiple applications simultaneously across different platforms. To do so, React Native lets developers use JavaScript to code apps that run on Android and iOS devices alike. And since React native apps can be built using familiar programming languages such as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5, even developers without prior knowledge of Objective-C or Java can quickly pick up what they need to build top-notch apps without too much trouble (or time). Another huge advantage that React Native has over Swift is its highly flexible nature.


The Limitations of React Native and How to Work Around Them

Most new developers to React, especially those coming from iOS development, are surprised by some of React Native’s limitations (by design). No navigation drawer—the navigation drawer in React Native doesn’t look as smooth and consistent as it does in native Android and iOS apps—but there are workarounds available on GitHub to improve that. No headers/tab bars: The tab bar at top of a native app isn’t technically possible using React—although more advanced uses can mimic it using animations and scrolling. How It Feels: As with all new technologies, there is always an adjustment period when first starting with react native development company for iPhone or iPad apps; learning how to use it will take time as you understand how everything fits together.


Frameworks Behind React Native

React Native is an open-source project developed by Facebook and Instagram to help iOS app developers with their mobile development needs. Although, React Native utilizes native components of iOS, it does not use native Objective-C or Swift code for a UI like other cross-platform tools do, which allows React Native developers to create truly native apps without having to compromise on performance or user experience like you would with hybrid app development frameworks such as PhoneGap or Ionic. You can check out some of these hybrid solutions in our recent comparison piece on ReactJS Mobile Web Apps vs Hybrid Mobile Apps vs HTML5 Mobile Websites . In addition to all that, React Native also enables users to quickly prototype and build scalable mobile apps without going through a tedious coding process.


Working with Components in React Native

React and React Native are entirely based on components. The beauty of it lies in its ability to display only required information without cluttering your UI with unnecessary details and data. This advantage of React comes into play when you need to develop applications that provide appropriate information at user’s demand. In terms of efficiency, React can be implemented in a variety of mobile app development technologies such as Objective-C, Java, Javascript, CSS etc., which saves your time and efforts in planning it in an appropriate manner during application development process.


The Future of React Native

React Native development companies look at other applications, software and tools used in React Native app development before making a decision. Usually, React developers are required to have proficiency in coding languages such as JavaScript or HTML5, CSS and JSX etc. Apart from these basic concepts of coding, they also need to know APIs associated with React Native Development that include Animation API, Geolocation API and WebGL etc. Mobile application testing plays an important role in mobile app development projects because it helps in finding potential bugs prior to releasing a product into production stage on app stores. So it’s important to keep improving your skills before starting with a new project so that you don’t face any problem during execution stage of project.


Other Tools Used in React Native Development

Though React Native has been around since 2015, you might be wondering what other technologies are used in React Native development. The short answer is: quite a few! Some of these include Redux, Relay, and GraphQL just to name a few; but what exactly do these mean to you as an app developer or client? Well... without going into too much detail at least we can give you a quick summary of each one . We’ll start with Redux, which actually isn’t a technology per se—rather it’s more like a design pattern that lets React developers easily maintain application state. Next up is Relay, which acts as an alternative data layer between your React components and any API endpoints that may need to be hit during runtime. Finally there’s GraphQL—an API query language created by Facebook that helps improve data efficiency within apps by making queries easy to read and create from within code files themselves.


Conclusion

This can get a little confusing, especially if you’re new to development, but there are several key differences between React Native and Swift that can help you make an informed decision. Both are capable of producing quality apps, but it’s up to you and your team to decide which one is going to better serve your project needs in both cost and time. Remember: The bottom line matters more than anything else when developing your app—it doesn’t matter what language or framework you use as long as you have a product that helps your customers accomplish their goals!

collect
0
avatar
Anna Sharland
guide
Zupyak is the world’s largest content marketing community, with over 400 000 members and 3 million articles. Explore and get your content discovered.
Read more