What are the best apps built with React Native? There’s no doubt the framework is popular among the biggest players. Let’s see who chose React Native and investigate why.
React Native is a JavaScript framework, designed for building genuinely native apps for platforms like iOS and Android.
It’s based on a JavaScript library created by Facebook called React, and thus brings its power to native mobile app development.
It corresponds with today’s mobile app development market needs, as with two operating systems dominating the landscape, enterprises creating mobile apps often face a decision:
React Native enables us to solve that problem.
The concept of creating apps using only one paradigm for all platforms sounds a bit unbelievable but using React Native makes it possible.
React Native allows the acceleration of the process of building apps across multiple platforms, thanks to the likelihood of reusing most of the code between them. React Native allows great performance, nearly identical to native apps, and extremely smooth animations.
React Native is a native version of the popular web library of the same name and its main purpose is to bring the power of React to native mobile apps development.
React Native components are pure, side-effect-free functions that return what the views look like at any point in time. Therefore, it provides a good customer experience.
Moreover, React Native allows us to write native apps in JavaScript for both Android and iOS. It gives us the ability to use all the native components like gestures, push notifications, camera, and location.
For this reason, it is easier to write state-dependent views, as you don’t have to care about updating the view when the state changes since the framework does this for you.
The UI is rendered using actual native views, so the final user experience is not as bad as other solutions that simply render a web component inside a WebView.
Of course, to succeed with React app development it's crucial to use the services of a top mobile app development company.
Let’s explore why those companies chose React Native and what are the results of their Android and iOS apps.
React Native commenced as Facebook’s hackathon project developed in response to the company’s needs.
Facebook wanted to bring to mobile all the advantages of web development such as:
That is how React Native was brought to life and leveraged in mobile app development for both iOS and Android apps.
Originally, Facebook only developed React Native to support iOS.
However, with it’s recent support of the Android operating system, the library can now provide mobile UIs for both platforms.
Facebook used React Native to develop its own Ads Manager app, creating both iOS and Android platforms.. Both versions were created by the same dev team.
<span class="colorbox1" fs-test-element="box1"><p>Fun fact: Facebook also made React Native open-source, with the idea that compatibility with other platforms like Windows or tvOS could be operated on by the development community, so stay tuned.</p></span>
What Facebook saw was a major performance improvement. Events Dashboard startup is now twice as fast.
Most of the advances made were done at the framework level, which determines your React Native app will automatically benefit when transferring to the latest version of React Native app.
The social networking platform isn’t the only React Native application that was produced under Facebook’s roof.
Facebook Ads was the first React Native app for Android and the first completely React Native based cross-platform app built in the company.
React Native has been instrumental in the development of Facebook Ads, enabling the creation of native mobile apps like the Ads Manager app. With React Native's cross-platform capabilities, developers could leverage a single codebase to build native apps for both iOS and Android.
This approach eliminates the need for separate web development or multiple native apps. By harnessing the power of React Native, Facebook Ads delivers a seamless user experience, taking advantage of the native features of each platform while streamlining the development process.
The framework for Facebook Ads seemed suitable for a lot of complex business logic required to accurately handle differences in ad formats, time zones, currencies, date formats, currency conventions, and so on, particularly that a big chunk of it was already drafted in JavaScript.
From a design viewpoint, the interface is clean with intuitive UX and simple navigation. The animations and transitions are perfect; they do not feel unnatural or buggy at any point.
The overall experience is brilliant, and if your marketing team isn’t using the app, Facebook strongly recommends them to start.
The first thing you will notice is that the app is lightning fast, regardless of the operations you want to perform; from checking the status of a current campaign to building a new one, all it needs is a second or two at most to navigate to the next level or access the data with ease.
Walmart has already proved its innovative attitude introducing Node.js into its stack. A few years later undertook a React Native project rewriting their mobile app into React Native.
Walmart aims really high, striving to become the world’s largest online retailer. With such big goals, the company needed to make bold moves that involved a higher risk to gain a competitive advantage, hence it opted for React Native development.
They always seek ways to improve customer experience by trying new technologies in their web development.
React Native allows great performance, nearly identical to native apps, and extremely smooth animations.
Walmart managed to improve the performance of the app on both iOS and Android by using fewer resources and within a shorter time span.
96% of the codebase was shared between platforms while the skills and experience of developers were leveraged across the organization.
Furthermore, rewriting the code of the Walmart mobile application to React Native allowed cross-platform compatibility, code reusability and access to custom native components. It lead to a more maintainable and scalable codebase. Collectively, using React Native contributed to a more efficient and robust mobile app experience for Walmart's customers.
Bloomberg’s new consumer mobile application for iOS and Android gives clients a streamlined, interactive experience with simple-to-access personalized content, videos, and live feeds featured across Bloomberg’s Media.
An engineering team at Bloomberg’s New York City headquarters produced the app using React Native app technology, the primary tool that actually delivers on the promise of cross-platform native app development.
<blockquote><p>„The consumer mobile app was huge endeavor because we had to transition the entire organization to React Native“ says Gabriel Lew, a senior application engineer at Bloomberg office who led the development team’s effort. </p></blockquote>
Another advantage of React Native is that it automates code refreshes, accelerating the release of new product features.
Instead of recompiling, your app reloads instantly.
Instagram accepted the challenge to integrate React Native into their existing native app.
They began with the simplest view you can imagine – the Push Notification view, which was basically implemented as the WebView. It did not require building navigation infrastructure, as UI was quite simple. Now, push notifications are an integral feature of the Instagram on mobile devices. Users can receive push notifications for various activities and events within the app, such as likes, comments, mentions, new followers, direct messages, and other important updates.
The dev team at Instagram faced a few problems on the way, but they substantially improved developer velocity.
Using React Native resulted in 85% to 99% code sharing between Android and iOS apps, depending on products.
Thus the team was able to deliver the app much faster than they would have with a native solution.
SoundCloud Pulse is an application for creators that helps them manage their accounts and keep their community humming.
When the company started designing the second set of native apps, they faced a few obstacles.
iOS developers were impossible to find and they didn’t want to have a huge gap between the iOS and Android releases.
Therefore, an independent research team started to run user-testing sessions with React Native apps prototypes.
Another reason why SoundCloud Pulse chose React Native for its companion app was to leverage developer velocity, streamline the implementation of business logic, and ensure optimal app performance.
Their experience with the framework was generally positive. Developers found it easier to work on a React Native-based application than on a native application.
Moreover, they were capable of building the application by themselves without frequent input from specialized mobile developers.
Townske is a travel-oriented app that caters to various mobile platforms, including iOS and Android. It aims to be your travel inspiration city guide on your next trip.
The app connects you with locals to get a list of their favorite places and creates a curated list of places to explore and experience as locals do.
It’s not mandatory for users to have an account, which is great, as it allows you to quickly find the next location you want to visit.
Imagine that you have low Wi-Fi connectivity, or that your battery is running low – in these cases, it’s a neat feature to have.
As it was already mentioned, React Native, a JavaScript framework, is specifically designed for mobile development. Unlike comprehensive JavaScript frameworks such as AngularJS or MeteorJS, React Native is UI-focused, making it more like a JavaScript library than a full-fledged framework.
React Native is focused solely on building a mobile UI. Compared with JavaScript frameworks like AngularJS or MeteorJS, React Native is UI-focused, making it more like a JavaScript library than a framework.
The resulting UI is highly responsive and feels fluid thanks to asynchronous JavaScript interactions with the native environment.
This means the app is faster and has better load times than a typical hybrid app, and a smoother feel.
Gyroscope is another among many popular apps built with React Native. It enables you to see the complete story of your life; it’s the health app on steroids.
Not only can you track steps, your workout, or your heart rate, but with the dozens of integrations, you can also track activities like productivity on the computer, or use sleep tracker and automatic Ai to make sure you get enough sleep.
Thanks to using React Native the data is exhibited in two attractive, well-designed views: Simple and Cards mode.
All tracked data is aggregated in daily/weekly/monthly statements, and you can also easily deep-dive into it and pick on which things you want to focus on next.
Started in 2006, Wix is an online company that provides web hosting and website design services.
Users can design and build their sites in HTML5/CSS, as well as mobile websites, using drag and drop utilities.
Two popular features of Wix are that developers can create their own web applications to market to other users and that users do not need to know any coding to create a website.
There are several navigation options available for handling navigation in react native apps like:
The company didn’t settle for any of these, they required extremely configurable navigation and screen options along with a properly maintained and updated codebase.
That’s why they created their own wix-react-native-navigation. See the project on Github.
Whereas native app development is usually linked with inefficiency, lower productivity, and longer time to deployment, React Native delivered Wix the speed and agility of web app development in the hybrid space, all that with native results.
Delivery.com empowers the neighborhood economy by enabling customers to order online from their preferred local restaurants, grocery stores, wine and spirits shops, and laundry and dry-cleaning providers.
Every day more than one million delivery.com customers explore their areas and order from more than 10,000 regional businesses while at home, at work, or on the go.
With headquarters in New York and an expanding presence throughout the U.S., delivery.com offers e-commerce an integral part of local everyday life, helping customers shop, businesses grow, and neighborhoods thrive.
The company adopted React Native to connect the map with the device’s functions like rotate, zoom, and the compass while utilizing less memory and loading faster. If the app supports older operating systems (and older devices), this can help keep the app to run smoothly.
React Native is primarily used for building mobile applications. It is ideal for creating apps that require a native look and feel, fast development cycles, and cross-platform compatibility. Whether it's a social networking app, e-commerce app, travel app, or any other type of mobile application, React Native can be a great choice.
Examples: Facebook, Instagram, and Airbnb have all used React Native to develop their mobile applications.
React Native is well-suited for developing MVPs. Startups and entrepreneurs often use React Native to quickly build a functional prototype with a native-like user interface. It allows them to validate their ideas, test market demand, and gather user feedback before investing in full-scale development.
Example: Discord, a popular communication platform, initially built its app's mobile version using React Native as a rapid MVP development approach.
React Native is gaining popularity for building enterprise-grade applications. It offers code reusability, which can be beneficial for large-scale projects where multiple platforms need to be supported. React Native's ability to integrate with existing native codebases also makes it suitable for adding new features to existing enterprise applications.
Example: Bloomberg, a leading financial information and news provider, uses React Native for building parts of their mobile application.
Many companies use React Native to build internal applications for their employees. These applications could include project management tools, communication apps, employee directories, and more. React Native enables rapid development, allowing companies to quickly address their internal needs and improve productivity.
Example: Wix, a website builder platform, utilizes React Native to create internal tools and applications for their employees.
React Native is often used for rapid prototyping and proof of concept development. Its fast development cycles and reusable components allow developers to quickly build interactive prototypes and validate their ideas without investing extensive resources upfront.
Example: The Facebook Ads Manager app was initially prototyped using React Native, allowing the team to quickly iterate and gather feedback.
While React Native is primarily used for mobile development, it can also be employed to create single-page applications (SPAs) for the web. With frameworks like React Native Web, developers can reuse their React Native components and logic to build SPAs, providing a consistent user experience across different platforms.
Example: SoundCloud, a music streaming platform, uses React Native Web to build their web player, providing a consistent experience across platforms.
React Native can be used to build hybrid mobile apps that combine web technologies with native capabilities. These apps run inside a WebView but have access to device features through native modules. React Native's performance optimizations make it a suitable choice for hybrid apps that require a balance between web development ease and native functionality.
Example: Discord, mentioned earlier for MVP development, also utilizes React Native for their desktop application, which combines web technologies with native capabilities.
React Native's over-the-air (OTA) update feature allows developers to push updates directly to users' devices without requiring them to download a new version from app stores. This makes it convenient to perform A/B testing, roll out new features, and fix bugs quickly.
Example: Wix utilizes React Native's OTA update feature to push updates and test new features in their Wix mobile app without requiring users to download a new version.
React Native can be used to build multimedia-rich applications such as video streaming apps, audio players, podcasting apps, and image editing tools. It provides access to device media capabilities and can leverage third-party libraries for advanced multimedia functionality.
Example: SoundCloud, in addition to their web player, has also used React Native to build their mobile apps for music streaming and discovery.
React Native can be utilized to develop applications for controlling and monitoring IoT devices. With the help of native modules and libraries, developers can integrate React Native with IoT platforms and create mobile apps that interact with connected devices, sensors, and home automation systems.
Example: SmartThings, a home automation platform by Samsung, has employed React Native for their mobile app, allowing users to control and monitor their IoT devices.
React Native can be employed to build location-based applications, including navigation apps, geolocation-based social networks, and delivery tracking systems. It can leverage device GPS capabilities and utilize mapping libraries to provide real-time location services.
Example: Waze, a popular navigation app, has incorporated React Native to deliver a consistent user experience across iOS and Android platforms.
React Native can be used to create educational apps, language learning platforms, online course platforms, and e-learning tools. Its fast development cycles enable the creation of interactive and engaging learning experiences across mobile devices.
Example: Khan Academy, an online learning platform, utilizes React Native for their mobile application, offering educational content to users on the go.
React Native is suitable for building fitness tracking apps, health monitoring tools, workout planners, and nutrition tracking applications. It can integrate with device sensors and wearable technologies to collect data and provide personalized health and fitness insights.
Example: Sweat, a fitness training app, has utilized React Native to create their mobile app, providing users with personalized workout plans and fitness tracking features.
React Native can be used to create event management apps, ticketing platforms, and event discovery applications. It allows users to browse, purchase, and manage event tickets while providing event organizers with tools to promote and manage their events.
Example: SeatGeek, a ticket marketplace, uses React Native for their mobile app, allowing users to discover and purchase event tickets.
React Native can be utilized for developing social networking applications with features such as news feeds, user profiles, messaging, notifications, and social sharing. It can integrate with social media APIs and enable real-time interactions among users.
Example: Discord, apart from its internal and hybrid apps, is primarily known as a social networking app that connects gamers through voice, video, and text communication.
React Native is suitable for on-demand service apps, such as ride-hailing, food delivery, grocery delivery, and home services apps. It enables the development of user-friendly interfaces and seamless interactions between customers and service providers.
Example: Uber Eats, a food delivery platform, has employed React Native to develop their mobile app, enabling users to order food from various restaurants.
React Native can be combined with AR and VR frameworks to build immersive experiences. It can create applications that overlay virtual objects onto the real world or provide virtual environments for training, entertainment, or visualization purposes.
Example: Viro Media is a platform that uses React Native to build AR and VR applications. They provide tools and libraries for developers to create immersive experiences.
As shown in this article, React Native apps are equipped with a powerful, modern technology that helps businesses all around the globe reach new customers on mobile platforms without the need for creating their own native apps.
They are fast, effective, and React Native is relatively easy to learn for JavaScript developers.
If you’re thinking about expanding your reach and services to smartphones consider choosing React Native.
Thousands of apps are using React Native, from established Fortune 500 companies to hot new startups, some popular apps made on React Native include Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Airbnb, Skype, UberEats, Tesla, Bloomberg, and many more. Moreover, Shopify also decided to start building new mobile apps with React Native.
Airbnb decided to move away from React Native due to several reasons, including the challenges they faced in achieving consistent performance across different devices, limitations in accessing native features, difficulties in maintaining a shared codebase, and the need for faster development cycles.
TikTok primarily used native development tech stack like Java and Kotlin for Android and Objective-C and Swift for their iOS app.
React Native is used for developing mobile apps, including enterprise apps, e-commerce apps, social media apps, travel and hospitality apps, on-demand service apps, and IoT apps.
Yes, React Native is a good choice for app development due to its cross-platform capability, code reusability, native-like performance, active developer community, faster development cycles, and cost-effectiveness.
Yes, it is possible to build a complete app using only React Native.
React Native provides a comprehensive framework that allows developers to create fully functional mobile applications using JavaScript code. With React Native, you can implement UI components, handle user interactions, manage state, make API calls, handle navigation, and perform other app-related tasks. While React Native provides access to many native device features, there may be cases where you need to write platform-specific code or integrate native modules to access certain functionalities not available out-of-the-box. However, for the majority of app development scenarios, React Native offers the tools and capabilities to build an app without relying on additional frameworks or tech stack.
In 2023, React Native is still a great choice form cross-platform app development. May believe, that in the future it will be a top choice for mobile app development.
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