React Native
Write React, get real native components — the fastest path from a web team to a mobile app.
What it is, and why we use it.
React Native lets you build mobile apps in React: your components translate into the platform's real native widgets rather than being redrawn. The result feels like the OS, shares logic with your web app, and can ship JavaScript updates over the air without waiting for store review.
We pick React Native when a client's product (and team) is already React-shaped — shared types, shared state logic, sometimes shared components between the web app and mobile. The New Architecture (Fabric + JSI) has closed most of the old bridge-performance gap.
React Native vs Flutter vs Native (Swift / Kotlin).
React Native's natural rivals are Flutter and going fully native. The trade-offs are real — here's where each one earns its keep.
| Dimension | React Native | Flutter | Native (Swift / Kotlin) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language | JavaScript / TypeScript | Dart | Swift & Kotlin |
| How UI is drawn | Real native components, driven from JS | Own engine paints every pixel itself | The platform's own components, directly |
| Feels native? | Yes — it is native UI underneath | Convincing imitation; identical across platforms | By definition |
| Team reuse | Any React/web developer is productive in weeks | Requires learning Dart — small lift, real lift | Two specialised teams |
| Updates without store review | Yes — OTA via CodePush-style tooling | No — full store release each time | No |
| Performance under load | Good; New Architecture removed most bridge stutter | Excellent — compiled, no bridge at all | The ceiling |
| Visual consistency across platforms | Diverges — each platform renders its own way | Pixel-identical everywhere | Two designs by definition |
React Native wins when
- The company already runs on React — instant team leverage
- Web and mobile should share logic, types and even components
- You need to push fixes over the air, hourly if necessary
Flutter wins when
- Pixel-perfect brand consistency matters more than platform feel
- Heavy custom animation and graphics work
- Low-end Android performance is a hard requirement
Native wins when
- Deep OS integration: widgets, watch apps, system extensions
- Maximum performance is a product feature, not a nice-to-have
- You're committed to one platform only
React Native is our recommendation when the client's gravity is already in the React ecosystem. The economics of one TypeScript brain across web and mobile are hard to argue with — as long as the design brief doesn't demand pixel-identical platforms.
Thinking about React Native?
Tell us what you're building — we'll tell you honestly whether React Native is the right tool for it.