React Native App Development Considerations That Aren’t Often Mentioned

React Native for Mobile Application Development: Why Use It? | by Manny Shapir | The Startup | Medium

  1. How is React Different from React Native framework?
  2. How is React Native Compared to Other Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks?
  3. Benefits and Limitations of React Native App Development
  4. Companies using React Native App Development
  5. Scope of Scalability When Choosing React Native for Mobile App development
  6. Type of Apps Best Suited for React Native Application Development

When Mark Zuckerberg said that his team has found a way to bring the simplistic features of web development to mobile, the mobility world got a framework that went on to change the business outcome of several app entrepreneurs.

Known as React Framework, the now popular cross-platform app development medium went on to witness a constant interest from the world of developers and entrepreneurs.

This ever-growing interest in the framework driven by the myriad of benefits that it offers is what has a number of entrepreneurs towards it.

But even amidst all the limelight that React native is getting and the now clear answer in yes to the question of is react native future of mobile app development, the primary universal question of whether it is better than native app development is keeping entrepreneurs on the fence.

A question which has led to the need for knowing the factors that have to be considered when investing in react native app.

This article is aimed at helping you find the answers to what to consider when choosing react native for mobile app development and how does react native work?

Let us start with the very basics first.

How is React Different from React Native Framework?

One of the main confusions that surround the React Native domain especially among the entrepreneurs who are just starting up with the department is understanding what separates React Native from React – the similarity in the first word holds an open scope for a lot of confusion.

React Native is basically the custom renderer of React, like what React DOM is on The Web. It makes use of native components in place of the web components that React uses as the building blocks.

In order to start working on React Native, you will first have to get the know-how of the React concepts – JSX, state, components, and props. Basically, if you know about React, you will still have to learn things around React Native such as the many native components. React Native also gives access to the features these platforms offer, apart from transforming React code to work on iOS and Android.

With the common misconception that surrounds React native now answered, let us look into the point that is more business decision oriented – where react native stands in front of other cross-platform tools or frameworks.

How is React Native Compared to Other Cross-Platform App Development Frameworks?

When we look at the alternatives to React Native as a cross-platform app development framework the names that come up include – Flutter, Ionic, and Xamarin.

Let us look at how the advantage of React Native stacks up against all the three.

Ionic Article: Comparing Cross-Platform Frameworks

A. React Native vs Flutter

Even after being fairly new in the domain, Flutter has emerged as the ideal competitor to React Native. In only sometime of its launch, the latter has popularized the debate around React Native vs Flutter at the back of its capabilities.

But even at a time when the competition is pretty stiff between both the cross-platform frameworks, there are a number of factors in which React Native is proving to stand ahead of Flutter. Factors like –

User Interface

Framework Maturity

Use of JavaScript

Mass Adoption

Set-up and Configuration

Tooling

Lifecycle Management, etc.

B. React Native vs Ionic

While the industry is divided into both sides considering the individual benefits that they both offer and their individual capabilities, React Native again stands ahead of Ionic in the discussion of React Native vs Ionic.

Here are some factors where React Native holds a much stronger foothold compared to Ionic –

High Performance

Better Community Support

C. React Native vs Xamarin

The debate between React Native vs Xamarin is what has taken a slight side-track ever since the launch of a more capable framework – Flutter. However, the demand for Xamarin among cross-platform app developers is nowhere less.

Here are the different factors where React Native stands ahead of Xamarin –

Market Share

Better Development Environment

Better Testing Abilities

Proper Documentation

Comparatively Lower Cost of Development

Now that we have looked at where React Native stands as compared to the other popular cross-platform tools, it is time to look into the next important thing to consider when choosing React Native development – The Pros and Cons of the popular cross-platform Framework.

Benefits and Limitations of React Native App Development

Even after being one of the most popular modes of cross-platform app development, there are a number of limitations that a leading react native application development company works around but also a number benefits that the react native app developers boast of.

An understanding of what the react native development pros and cons are will bring you to a much better stage when it comes to knowing things before starting with the React Native development process.

Let us attend to them both now, one after another.

Benefits of React Native App Development

A. Single Codebase

Single Code Base App Development Platform | Streebo inc

The best part about react native development of app is the fact that it works around a single codebase. The development team does not have to write codes for two (or multiple) platforms individually, instead, they have to code once and the app will get live on multiple platforms – Android, iOS, Windows, etc.

B. Lowered Development Time

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React Native makes it possible for the mobile app development agency to employ only a few people in the project, thus being the number one answer to if is react native good for mobile app development. Instead of keeping two platform-specific teams, they only employ one team in the project. Also, because all the efforts, straight from designing to development and maintenance gets cut in half, the overall mobile app development timeline also gets reduced.

C. Easy Transition for Web Developers

10 Page Transition Effects Trends for Web Developer in 2018 | by UIUX Lab | Medium

Because a good portion of React app development is done using JavaScript, it becomes a lot easier for web developers to switch to the world of mobile app development, for the learnability curve is pretty low.

D. Open Source

tvOS - Wikipedia

Being open source, React Native gives developers the benefit of code inspection. Also, because of the open-source nature libraries become a lot more compatible with platforms like Windows suite or TvOS.

E. Hot Reload Option

Another time-saving functionality of React Native is the Hot Reload ability. The capability makes it easy for the developers to see what their changes reflect as in the device in real-time. They no more have to push builds to see the effect.

F. Better User Experience

Customer Experience and User Experience | by Ish∆n | Prototypr

The main feature of a native app is to offer quality user experience by having efficiency and compatibility to operate on a mobile phone. Applications developed with React Native have faster loading time and smooth feel, which makes react native one of the most liked choice. The apps built with React Native also offer perfect performance as well as aesthetic appeal providing better user experience.

G. Cost Effective

Behavioral 'Nudges' Offer a Cost-Effective Policy Tool – Association for Psychological Science – APS

Currently, the price related to developing an application can be lowered by 25-30% when selecting React Native. The financial savings is made from having simply one development group rather than two. This implies simple management of process and project as well as more control over uniformity of the manufacturing.

It additionally suggests that there is no difference in the work speed. Meaning that the progress in React Native is constant for both iOS and Android platforms.

Drawbacks of React App development

A. Lack of Connect with Native Elements

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The biggest lagging on the React Native’s part is lack of connection with the device’s native elements like Voice Recorder or Camera etc.

The alternate to native framework that solves this problem – Flutter to some extent, but nothing beats the abilities of Native app development.

B. Lack of Third-Party Library Connection

There is a massive lack of third-party libraries connection that React Native faces. In order to make use of the libraries, the development team has to make use of native modules, which only increases the development efforts further.

The alternate solution to this problem – Xamarin

C. Restricted Support for Native APIs

Understanding APIs

Although React Native is expanding its support scope to multiple Native APIs, the number is still restricted and so is the freedom that developers have in terms of using all the APIs.

The alternate solution to this problem – Native app development.

If there is one thing clear from the benefits and limitations that we just read, it is that when it comes to the cross-platform app development process, react Native has almost all the functionalities to get you started with the process. And whatever’s lacking is something that falls majorly in the ballpark of native app development, making React Native vs Native apps development the right comparison point.

Well now that we have looked at the different benefits and limitations that are linked with React Native, it is time to get an idea of its social standing.

Let us get down to looking at where the adoption state of React Native lies.

Now while we already know that the framework is used by millions of businesses across the globe, we are going to look at the top names which are backing the popular cross-platform app development framework.

Companies using React Native Apps

Even though there is a sharp rise in the adoption of React Native’s top competitor Flutter in the mobile industry, the companies that are already using or are starting with the React native app development process are not less in number.

Here are some of the top apps made using React Native –

Brands Relying on React Native and the factors to consider react native are:

1. Facebook

Response to Six4Three Documents - About Facebook

When Facebook laid the foundation of React Native, it was guided by the need to bring the ease of web development on the front of single team requirement and quick iterations to mobile.

The Result – There was a significant improvement in performance, making the app twice as fast as earlier.

2. Walmart

Walmart becomes largest U.S. vaccine provider to join push for digital vaccination credentials. - The New York Times

The business has already given us a peek into how innovative its processes are – something that can be gauged by the fact that it first added Node.js in the stack and after a few years also introduced React Native in the toolset.

The Result – React native inclusion helped Walmart in not just increasing their overall app performance, but also helped in offering near-native interface along with the facility of smooth animations.

3. Bloomberg

Bloomberg L.P. | About, Careers, Products, Contacts

The app which is aimed at offering interactive, streamlined experience with heavily personalized content is built upon React native as well with the intent to take advantage of the framework’s automated code refreshes and instant reloads. Intents which stood true of what was expected.

4. Instagram

What Is Instagram and How It Works: a Beginner's Guide

The social media platform integrated React Native in its existing native application inside the WebView functionality.

The Result – The developer velocity improved to a great extent. And now over 90% code was getting shared between iOS and Android apps, so the delivery number also improved.

5. Townske

Townske - Apps on Google Play

The app aims at being the travel guide of its users by giving them a list of places that the locals frequent. They chose React Native for its sole focus on Mobile UI.

The Result – The app’s UI is very responsive and fluid because of the asynchronous JS interaction with a native environment, meaning it loads a lot faster than your usual hybrid app and works around a smoother feel.

Now that we have looked at the reasoning and the impact of choosing React Native that a number of top businesses across the globe have faced, it is time to get down to one of the two direct business impacting pointers of React Native – which also happens to be two of the most beneficial features of react native.

React Native’s Business Benefit Number 1: Small Team Size

One of the biggest benefits that attract entrepreneurs to React Native is the fact that the development type calls for very small team size – something that directly answers if is react native good for mobile app development.

A usual team composition of your average react native app looks like –

1 Project Manager

1 Tech Lead

1 React Native Developer

1 Business Analyst

1-2 UI/UX Designers

1 QA Specialist

This number when you choose Native app development increases to exact double or even triple if the project size is big.

React Native’s Business Benefit Number 2: Low App Development Cost

The next big benefit of React native app development that works for businesses is the fact that it brings down the answer to how much does it cost to develop a react native app to a great extent.

In fact, this happening is what makes React development one of the most trusted ways to bring the mobile app development cost down.

While these two benefits are what keep the interest for app development high among entrepreneurs, the prevalent doubt around the scope of scalability that the framework offers, tends to keep them a little on the fence as well.

Making scalability an important thing to be considered before making an investment in react native mobile app development.

Scope of Scalability When Choosing React Native for Mobile App development

Gone is the time when scalability used to be a matter for backend teams to handle. It has today become all the more important in frontend as well.

The idea that an application should be scalable enough to handle more real-time users and devices is what businesses are aiming for nowadays.

But does React Native holds up to this expectation? Is Scalability one of those must think about factors to consider for React Native app development?

The answer is a Yes, but.

Short answer – The fact that React Native for mobile app development is what is powering an application like Facebook, makes the framework very scalable in nature.

Long answer – It takes certain experience and developmental efforts to know how to structure a React Native app for scale – something that only the leading react native mobile app development services can offer.

With that answered, we have come to the last thing that has to be taken into account when doing app development.

Type of Apps Best Suited for React App Development

Which Type Of Apps Are Best Suited For React Native? | 360 Degree Technosoft

While the day is still awaited when we would say that any and all types of applications can be made using React Native for mobile app development, the truth of the hour remains in the fact that the type of apps that can be made using the framework is a number that can be categorized in four points.

Let us look at those four points as the last section of our article today.

Here are the four app types that usually defines when to choose react native for building a mobile app –

Working prototypes

The importance of mobile app prototyping in getting the app idea validated is not unknown to the app industry. And what can be better for developing a prototyping model if not a cross-platform framework that allows speedy development at low developmental cost?

Apps with simple UI

10 Best APP UI Design for Your Inspiration in 2017 | by Mockplus | Mockplus | Medium

For mobile apps which have very few views and interactions, React Native can prove to be a very viable option. The present of capabilities like quick iterations and hot reloading makes it ideal for brands seeking high app performance.

Apps requiring basic functionalities

5 Mobile App Features Your Customers Want

For apps that fall into the category of medium to low complexity having functionalities that can be hand-counted, React Native can prove to be a great option.

Non-Native app

Although a no-brainer but apps that do not rely on the native abilities of a device can prove to be a perfect outcome of the native app development process. So, if your app idea is of an application that works perfectly fine as independent software, RN can be a great choice.

The Future of React App Development

Till now we have known the types, benefits, limitations, scope, and how does react native work.

Fabric a project by Facebook is set to transform the React Native future. Fabric makes React Native community and its tools suitable with other different platforms than the typical Android and iOS. It will certainly help in making a lower overload on the application design and architecture and your apps will run quicker than the old cross-platform applications in react.

New Thread Model

A thread is a network where the system connects with the users. To every client demand, a UI needs to go with three different threads. Rather than enabling each UI update to deal with three separate threads, Fabric will empower developers to call synchronously right into JavaScript on any thread provided. Decreasing the stress on the primary thread without compromising responsiveness.

Async Capabilities

Subsequently, making it simpler to manage asynchronous information and data, and also permit numerous rendering priorities.

Simplified/Native Bridge

WebView — The Bridge that Connects React Native to the Web | by SaidHayani@ | Bits and Pieces

We know that cross-platform applications struggle because of the gap between the shared code and native conditions. To improve the debugging of bugs, native bridges are required. Developers are planning to develop a fresh simplified bridge, which will certainly boost the direct calls between JavaScript and native.

With this, we have looked at everything that you will have to consider when looking into investing in react app development. The only thing left is finding the right react native mobile app development company.

Well, you don’t have to look further, we are only just a single click away. Fill in the form below and get in touch with us and hire our React native app developers.

How to Resurrect Failed App Project: A Complete Guide

App Development Cost (2021) - Business of Apps

Okay, so it’s a high alert situation. Your app development project has failed and you have no clue what to do next. You have invested all of your efforts, time and funds into the project and now, you are left with just a few questions in your head, like How to fix failed app development project? How to turn the situation in your favor? How to ensure that you never encounter this situation again?

I can sense what’s going on your mind. Being in the mobile app development industry, I have come across various Entrepreneurs and App Developers like you. I have gone on a time travel with them when they were planning to throw a champagne party but realized that their project hadn’t performed well in the market.

Based on the insights gained from their experiences and the mobile app project management skills we have, here I’ll share different ways to look recover a failed app development project in this article.

So, keep your notebook or note-making apps ready!

But wait, instead of directly jumping into the falling app development project recovery process, let’s look into the reasons behind this.

Reasons Why Mobile App Projects Fail

While it is difficult to predict the real culprit of the project failure, here are some of the reasons for app development project failure that are prevalent in the market:-

1. Missing Competitor Analysis and Discovery Phase

Product Discovery: ​A Practical Guide for Agile Teams (2021)

Many businesses are so fascinated by the success of applications like OYO, Uber, TikTok, and Instagram that they feel the urge to enter the mobile market at the earliest. They begin with the development process just the moment an app idea hits their mind – without determining if it’s a unique idea or not, and if the market needs an app like that. This results in loss of funds, effort, time, and opportunities to make your app a big hit in the market.

2. Unclear Requirements

Reaping the Benefits of Good User Requirements

Many a times, the team begins with the project development process without gaining a comprehensive knowledge of the idea behind. As a result of this, they come up with a mobility solution which is entirely different from the one that fits in the market, meet the stipulated goals, and make the target user base happy. This makes their app project go flop in the market.

3. Unrealistic Schedules

Real Solutions for Managing Unrealistic Proposal Schedules | Winning the Business

To ensure that their application hit the market at the earliest, many developers set the deadlines for every mobile app development phase without giving a thought to the time and effort required. As a result, they struggle to complete the tasks associated with each phase at the stipulated time and keep on postponing the project in the next phase, eventually resulting in piling up of the tasks and later, failure.

4. Lack of Resources

Benefits of app based learning - enguru

To create a mobile app, various resources and tools are required, including automated testing tools, analytics software, prototyping tools, etc. If these resources are not made available at the right time, it can delay the whole development process, affect the quality of the application developed, lessen its impression on the mobile market, and therefore, result in project failure.

5. Dependency Delays

Visualising Inter-team Dependencies | by Paddy Corry | Serious Scrum | Medium

In various app development agencies, different teams use the same resources or rely on each other for fulfilling their needs. In such a scenario, if a team fails to finish its tasks on time or provide the other team with the right assistance, the plans of other teams get automatically affected – which, on the long run, result in to app project failure.

Let me explain this with an example. Suppose you have hired a small app development agency where a single designer handles all the UI/UX design requirements. You want to get your app’s screens designed, but the team shares that he is occupied with some other app project. In such a situation, you are left with no option other than waiting for him to get free and make changes in your whole process accordingly.

6. Drift in Prime Focus

Shift from the prime intention behind development process is also one of the reasons for app project failure. This is so because every element of the app project has been crafted such that it fits to your prime vision and deliver some value to the target audience. When you make a transition in the prime goal, most of the elements lose their importance and the demographics of the target audience also changes, which eventually affect the success level of your mobile app.

7. App Design Without MindMapping and Wireframing

10 Free-to-Use Wireframing Tools | Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF)

Many businesses and developers overlook the importance of investing in mind mapping and wireframing. They do not follow the right app design process; they create the app screens directly and then jump to the coding part. This prevents them from looking into the hidden opportunities and challenges, and thus face the failure.

8. Absence of MVP Concept

Mobile App Wireframe Template | Moqups

Though it has been proven that following the digestible guide to Minimum Viable Products (MVP) can help you with meeting the needs of the progressively changing market and testing your app idea, many businesses overlook this phase. This eventually results in failing of the project and making it necessary for one to watch out for how to get a failing app development project back on track.

9. Lack of Coding with Proper Structures

Most of the time the codes that have been written for creating an application performs its job well, but is too complex and cumbersome to read, understand and upgrade. This makes it challenges to update an app or simply optimize the code – resulting into app crash and even failure on a long run.

10. Unidentified Risks

When talking about mobile application development, there are various challenges that remain behind the curtain in the beginning of the development process. If you do not have an experienced team with you, it will become difficult for you to tackle the situation and mitigate all those challenges, resulting in app failure.

11. Uninvolved Project Head

Running a Project Post-Mortem With a Remote Team

Since a project head is the one who allocates tasks to the right team members, look into the challenges they are facing, come up with relevant solutions, and foster harmony among the team, absence of a project manager also ruin the success ratio of your app project.

With this attended to, we have now become familiar with some of the popular reasons which makes a mobile app project fail in the market. So, without any further ado, let’s look into different steps followed by top mobile app development companies like Anteelo for recovering a failed app development project.

Steps to Revive Your Failed App Project

1. Invest in Discovery Phase

Why is Discovery Phase so important for your Startup?

There’s no denying to the fact that Discovery phase can help your application survive in the market. This phase can provide you with the right insights about the market, customer behavior, technologies and tools trending in the arena, and much more. This information can help you with validating your app idea as well as making a relevant development plan. So, look forward to investing efforts into this phase.

2. Perform Competitive Analysis

5 Competitive Analysis Frameworks Explained with Visuals - Alexa Blog

While the discovery phase will help you to know what’s popular in the market and validate your idea, competitive analysis process will provide you with detailed information about the features and technologies that you must add into your tech stack and the business model to opt. So, look into how to perform competitive analysis for your mobile app idea.

3. Revisit Your App Goal

16 Mobile App Metrics You Need To Track In 2020

When it comes to how to fix failed app projects, revisiting your app goal and comparing it with the failed mobility solution is also an effective way to make a fresh start. This is because most of the time unclarity of app idea or change in the prime focus has turned the app idea flop.

So, do not skip this step.

4. Gather Your Resources

1. Gather your resources | AWID

The next step to turn your failed app project into a successful investment is to gather all of your resources and funds. By doing so, you will  be able to evaluate how much funds and resources you need more to meet the needs of the recovery process and how to collect them, which will eventually help in lessening the risk of further app project failure.

5. Look into Code Reusability Possibilities

In this step, you will consult with the hired project manager and look into what extent of code can be reused for recovering your failed software and how much time can be saved. This will provide you with a new answer to how long does it take to build a mobile app and thus, proceed more effectively.

6. Make a New Plan

Make A New Plan, Stan

Whether it’s about how to overcome app development failure or revive a failed project, making a new plan based upon the insights gained from the above steps will definitely help you. It will provide you with a new approach to mitigate the challenges and build the application for driving higher ROI.

So, invest your time and effort into the process.

7. Set the Priorities

How to Set Priorities. Keep your focus by clearly defining… | by Sorin Dumitrascu | Medium

Now when you have curated a new development plan based upon the reasons behind the project failure, the next step is to assign priority to each element of the process. When you set a priority for each task, it becomes far easier to overcome further loss and recover your project effectively.

So, sit your development team and look forward to planning the priorities.

8. Address Issues in Real-Time

Resolve Customer Issues in Real Time Using Acquire and Salesforce Live Agent

Another step that falls in the category of distressed app development project recovery is to addressing the issues in real-time.

When you encourage your dedicated project management team to test the application at regular intervals, it becomes easier to come across the unidentified risks and opportunities, which further increases the chances of success in the recovery environment.

Likewise, when you do not keep the audit process for the day of delivery and keep on sharing your feedback and suggestions on the recovery process, it becomes far easier to fix your failed app project.

So, keep this in mind.

9. Change Leadership

Change Leadership is the Key to Change Management in the Digital Era

Though it is not directly in your hand – being a client – you can still suggest your hired application development team to change the leader of the team dedicated to your project. This will help in dealing with the challenges associated with the development process as well as that arisen internally in real-time and ensure that all the tasks are done on-time and in harmony.

10. Maintain Proper Communication

Communicate This | Best Practice

Last but not the least, prefer to have a streamlined communication throughout the development process. This will keep you and your hired project development team on the same page and prevent the chances of misunderstanding. Besides, it will enhance the chances of improving the app model by exchanging feedback and suggestions in real-time. So, do not overlook this factor.

With this, we have covered the reasons for app development project failure and how to recover your project from them. While this implies that it is the finest time to invest your effort and time into the process, there is one more thing you must look into – i.e., to determine if it is apt to recover your project or not.

This is because in various cases, the need of the project has changed so drastically since the day its development started that even if you recover your failed project, you will again have to upgrade it as per the current market trends, business plans, and customer needs. Or better say, give a complete transformation to the project which will demand efforts equivalent to that invested in development from scratch. In such scenarios, it is better to leave the failed project as it is and begin with the application development process from scratch itself.

So, taking the same thought forward, let’s wrap up this article by looking into how to decide when one should hire a project manager and recover their project and when they should simply leave it and make a fresh start.

When to Recover Your Project and When to Begin from Scratch

When it comes to distinguishing when to recovery your app project and when to build a new one, here are some of the questions that you can turn towards for clarity:-

  1. Has the need of the project changed and to what extent?
  2. Has the project priority changed? If so, is it required to hold the project for some time or abolish the idea?
  3. Do you have enough funds to continue the app project? If not, how are you going to arrange funds and in what time interval?
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