Getting Started with

React Native

Pros & Cons

Resources

Communities

Boilerplates

FAQ

• Cross-platform

• Performant, native feel (with

some effort)

• Great developer experience

• Push updates over-the-air

• Strong community

• Backed by Facebook

Pros

• Early

• Unstable (bugs, APIs)

• Ecosystem not fully

developed

• Polished apps are high effort

• You may need native code

(so JS + Obj-C + Java)

Cons

• We know JS / React

• We have lots of web

developers but few mobile

• Our design is brand-focused

• We’re willing to invest in RN

• We want to get into OSS

• We want OTA code updates

Maybe we should use React Native

• We don’t know JS / React

• We already have an iOS

team and an Android team

• Our designs are heavily

platform-specific

• We don’t have the time or

money for an RN team / OSS

Or maybe we shouldn’t

Resources

The RN Docs

Exponent

React Native Express

Communities

React Native Community Facebook Group

Reactiflux Discord

Exponent Slack

Boilerplates

Ignite - 3,607 stars

Pepperoni App Kit - 2,975 stars

Snowflake - 2,885 stars

Create React Native App

• We want to start coding now

• Optimize for short term

• Large team starting today

• We don’t know how to setup

redux + navigation + …

• We don’t mind accruing a bit

of technical debt

Maybe we should use a boilerplate

• We want to spend a few

days learning foundations

• We have a small team

• We’re experienced with the

modern JS / React stack

• We want to choose exactly

the right libraries for our app

Or maybe we shouldn’t

FAQ

Which navigation library should I use?

react-navigation*

*if you absolutely need native navigation: react-native-navigation

Should we use Flow?

I recommend no Flow to begin with

• Fewer things to learn • Less code to write • Tooling isn’t quite there • Can add incrementally later

Should we learn React JS before React Native?

Sort of

Typically "React JS" means React for the web. The web-specific stuff is not relevant (e.g. DOM elements and browser APIs). The React fundamentals are the same for web and mobile though (component lifecycle, etc), and you will need to learn those.

Can we re-use code between web and mobile?

Sort of

Certainly most of the non-React code can be re-used. If you want to literally write the same app for both web and mobile, there are two libraries to consider using: react-native-web and react-primitives. These both provide components that work on web and mobile. You could also just re-use a subset of your components that don’t render primitives (div, View)

Good Luck!

@devinaabbott

Questions, comments, etc