How React Native Is Shaping Mobile App Development

Are you a mobile app developer looking for more efficient tools for your projects? Mobile app development is getting tougher and tougher as the market continues to grow. As a developer, you need to develop Apps which meet the demands of your users. To achieve this, adopt the right tools, like the React Native development framework.

Based on Statista data, the global mobile app market will generate over $935 billion in 2023 from more than $365 billion in 2018. The majority of this amount will come from in-app advertising and paid downloads. To gain a share in the marketplace, companies need to embrace new technologies to provide what consumers are looking for, such as seamless navigation and aesthetic appeal—the React Native development framework makes it all possible.

Table of Contents

• What is Mobile App Development?
• What are the Types of Apps?
• What are the Components of Mobile App Architecture?
• Things to Consider in Mobile App Development
• What is React Native?
• Top Reasons Why React Native is the Future of Mobile App Development
• Useful Tips on How to Become an Excellent React Native Developer

What is Mobile App Development?

Mobile app development is the process of developing Apps for mobile devices, like smartphones, tablets, enterprise digital assistants, and personal digital assistants. Mobile phone manufacturers usually pre-install some essential Apps on their smartphones during the manufacturing process. Developers, meanwhile, may deliver new Apps as web applications through client-side and server-side processing.

What are the Types of Apps?

There are several types of Apps for mobile app development. The choice of what kind of app to use depends on the priorities and objectives of an organization. Other factors include the use case, environment, and nature of the app. 

A Native App is a computer program or software designed to execute several specific tasks on a particular platform or environment. The two leading device platforms are Android and iOS. A native app can access and use device-specific software and hardware, like the address book and the camera on the device for which it is built. Some advantages of this app are fast performance and high reliability. The React Native development framework is for native Apps.

A Web App is a software or program which uses web technology and browsers to accomplish tasks on the Internet. Some web Apps are designed for a specific platform and will not work in others. 

A Hybrid App is a combination of native and web Apps. This app can utilise cross-compatible web technologies. A hybrid app may be slower than a web or native app since there is an extra layer between the platform and the source code.

What are the Components of Mobile App Architecture?

Mobile app architecture is a set of patterns, methods, and technologies used by developers to develop a fully structured mobile app. A mobile app architecture design has three essential layers.

Presentation Layer - focuses on the UI components that will make the app appealing to the end-users. In designing this layer, you should select the correct data format and employ reliable data validation methods to safeguard your Apps against invalid data entry. You should also identify the right client type and client deployment restrictions during the design process.

Data Access Layer - includes data access components, service agents, and data utilities/helpers. This layer should complement the app requirements to ensure the security of data transactions. In designing this layer, you should take into consideration the scalability of your app over time.

Business Layer - covers logging, caching, exception management, security, and authentication. It includes business components, workflows, and functionalities. In designing this layer, you should divide the functions into different categories to lessen its complexity. You should also determine the set of demands for each category separately for complex rules, data transformations, app policies, and data validation.

Things to Consider in Mobile App Development

Application architecture plays a pivotal role in the success of your app project. There are several things to consider in-app architecture design.

Mobile device type – Mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, come in different sizes and operating systems. It would be best if you took at these peculiarities in your design of app architecture. Other factors to consider are the device’s storage capacity, memory, central processing unit, screen size, screen resolution, and development tool framework availability. One framework growing in popularity is the React Native development framework.

UI – Your App’s UI should be simple and easy to use. It should be intuitive, highly interactive, and seamlessly interact with the users.

Navigation method – Another essential consideration is to determine the optimal navigation system as it will impact profoundly on the user experience. Among the navigation methods, you can choose a tag driver, stacked navigation bar, single vide, modular controller, scroll view, search-driven navigation, and gesture-based navigation.

Bandwidth requirements – In your architecture design, you should ensure your App will be accessible even in the worst Internet conditions. One way to do this is to develop data access, state management, and caching mechanisms that can work appropriately during intermittent or slow web connections. It would be best if you also considered speed and power consumption when deciding on hardware and software protocols.

Push notifications or real-time updates – This consideration is also essential as it will enhance the user experience. Real-time updates can be more appealing to users, but they can consume more data and affect battery life.

What is React Native?

The React Native development framework is an open-source mobile app framework utilised for the development of Apps for websites, universal Windows platform (UWP), iOS, and Android operating system. It is a native type of app introduced by social media firm Facebook in 2015 as a better version of React, which was released in 2011. Many mobile app developers are already using the React Native development framework in their projects.

Top Reasons Why React Native is the Future of Mobile App Development

Many developers use the React Native development framework for their projects. They even consider the framework as the future of mobile app development. Here’s why.

The React Native development framework is compatible with different platforms. Developers can develop both iOS and Android Apps using a single codebase simultaneously. By using the framework, developers can easily embed a code providing a more platform-specific authority to your app.

The React Native development framework offers a quicker development cycle. By using the framework, developers can reduce their development time by 30%. The framework can be used in both iOS and Android, resulting in shared data creation on these platforms.

The React Native development framework creates an appealing user interface (UI). A captivating and easy to use UI can drive users to your Apps. If you offer an improved UI, the users are more likely to explore the features of your Apps.

The React Native development framework has native app functions. Developers can attest that React Native Apps perform like just any native app. The framework allows seamless functions of the most complicated Apps, and its native widgets-based interface delivers a flawless performance. Other features of Native React include usability, animations, and scroll accelerations.

The React Native development framework offers live updates. Another advantage of using the framework is its live update feature, which is made possible due to the extensive integration of JavaScript. Because of this capability, users can update their Apps automatically.

Facebook and a community of developers support React Native development. Among the companies supporting the framework are Microsoft, Infinite Red, and Software Mansion.

Useful Tips on How to Become an Excellent React Native Developer

As a developer, considering trying the React Native development framework in your projects be prepared to face challenges, especially when developing complex Apps. In the meantime, here are some tips on how to become a better React Native developer:

Determine the right navigational library for your project. The proper choice of a navigational library at the start of your development journey can help ensure your success.

Use native debugging tools to debug the React Native development framework. Developers often experience debugging issues in React Native, particularly with complex Apps. These issues are due to the small differences between the debugging tools, Chrome JS and JavaScriptCore. To eliminate these problems, use Android Studio in debugging Android Apps and Xcode on iOS Apps.

Optimise React Native Images to achieve excellent app performance. It is a good practice to optimise images at the server level rather than at the client-side. You may use content delivery networks to host the images for easier uploading to the server.

Practice useful upgrading techniques. The proper method to upgrade a React Native app is first to unlink the native packages, do the upgrade, and then relink them.

Minimise app size in iOS and Android. To reduce the App’s size in Android, you should enable Proguard and shrink the size of the graphics. For iOS, you may use some workarounds.

Exert efforts in learning Native codes. Some of the core native languages you should study are Objective-C/Swift for iOS and Java/Kotlin for Android.

The React Native development framework can play a pivotal role in the future of mobile app development. With benefits like flexibility, easy integration, offline support, easy maintenance, and affordable cost, it has a bright future. Don’t be afraid to approach veteran app developers in Sydney to help you.

This article was originally published on https://jt.org/react-native-shaping-the-future-of-mobile-app-development/