Which is better React Native or Native iOS and Android Development for building Mobile applications ?

 

React Native vs Native (iOS, Android)

 

Properties/Feature	React Native	Native (iOS) – Swift / Objective C	Native (Android) – Java / Kotlin
Development Environment Setup Steps	In addition to Node server Development environment, Native Development Tools (iOS and Android) would also be required.   As it doesn’t completely remove the need of going native.   Online Development using browser without any system setup is also possible using https://snack.expo.io	Requires just installing XCode from Apple App Store as per this URL- https://developer.apple.com/xcode/	Simple Installation steps (see URL below for details):  https://developer.android.com/studio
Development Tools	Tooling mostly based on open source projects and comparatively less advanced than that for native development   Developers can choose from many Web Development Tools   React Native extension for Visual Studio is very popular.	XCode - Good support from Apple.   Mostly Proprietary from the platform vendors.	Android Studio - Good support from Google.   Mostly Proprietary from the platform vendors.
Multi-Threading Support	No (React Native Core is currently based on single threaded JavaScript).   However parallel execution with hamsters.io is also possible	Yes (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/dispatch)	Yes (https://developer.android.com/training/multiple-threads)
Refactoring & Static code analysis	Refactoring is difficult (due to JavaScript).   Using TypeScript can bring in support for advanced refactoring and static code analysis along with advanced development tools.   React Native projects may also include code written in ObjectiveC/Swift for iOS and Java/Kotlin for Android.	XCode has good Refactoring Support for both Swift and Objective C.	Android Studio has good Refactoring Support for Kotlin and Java.
Low Level Hardware Access	No	Yes	Yes
Cross Platform	Code Sharing possible between iOS and Android.   JavaScript could be slightly inconsistent on platforms or you may want different UX in different platforms (requiring platform specific React Native coding)	Targets only Apple Devices	Targets only Android Devices
App Center Code Push	Can be quickly updated via Code Push without involving App Store	No (Requires tedious App Store approval process for submitting an app updates with bug fixes or new features.)	No (Users needs to update the app via Play Store for getting latest updates from the app developer)
Faster Development[AB1] [TT2] [TT3]	Yes (Due to following Reasons) -          JavaScript & JSX usually requires lesser lines of code -          React Native Code Updates could push faster to clients (both Dev and Prod) using features like Hot code reload or code push updates. -          Debugging & Development Tools are Faster -          Plenty of Code Generators and Boilerplate code Templates -          You may also need some platform specific code which will be bundled for iOS or Android specific bundles.	No	No
Hot Reload Supported	Yes (Saving code changes reflects immediately in Device)   Using live reloading the app could be reloaded every time the code is changed without having to rebuild it manually.	No	No [AB4] [TT5] [TT6] (Instant Run for Android is similar but for many cases it might need Cold Swap or Warm Swap, where reload of Activity and Application is required). Refer: https://medium.com/google-developers/instant-run-how-does-it-work-294a1633367f#.8j91tz11c
Simpler Component Lifecycle	React Component Lifecycle:   https://levelup.gitconnected.com/componentdidmakesense-react-lifecycle-explanation-393dcb19e459	iOS Component Lifecycle:   https://docs-assets.developer.apple.com/published/f06f30fa63/UIViewController_Class_Reference_2x_ddcaa00c-87d8-4c85-961e-ccfb9fa4aac2.png	Android Component Lifecycle:   https://developer.android.com/guide/components/images/activity_lifecycle.png
Platform Maturity	~ 5 years	10+ years	10+ years
Runtime Initialization & Initial Render Time	React Native Bridge API is required to communicate between react native and native.   Initialization Time (runtime needs to be initialized) — it’s difficult to use in launch screens.	Faster	Faster
CPU & GPU Usage	React-Native uses the GPU of the iPhone slightly more effectively than Swift	Swift uses the CPU of the iPhone more efficiently than React-Native   (See URL below)	Lower than React Native (See URL below)
Memory Usage	React-Native somehow leverages the iPhone’s memory much more effectively than Swift does	Comparing Performance between Native iOS with Swift and React Native   https://medium.com/the-react-native-log/comparing-the-performance-between-native-ios-swift-and-react-native-7b5490d363e2	Marginally Lower than React Native https://thoughtbot.com/blog/examining-performance-differences-between-native-flutter-and-react-native-mobile-development
Crash Log	Crash Monitoring (third party tools like https://www.bugsnag.com/ might be required)	Supported by iOS Platform	Supported by Android Platform
Debugging Across Platforms	Debugging React Native crashes are more challenging if the issue spanned across React Native and native code as stack traces won’t jump between React Native and native.	Not Required	Not Required
Gesture Supports	Low	Better	Better
App Size	Slightly bigger (by ~ 8MB) than Native App.   There is an ongoing Lean Core initiative to reduce it. https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/23313	Usually smaller than that of React Native App	Usually smaller than that of React Native App
Required Development Skills	Web (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) and React (including Node) Development along with some native mobile app development.   React Native enables Learn-once/write-one-ish/run-many strategy for delivering functionality to our customers.	Swift and Objective C	Kotlin and Java

References

·         React Native at Airbnb - https://medium.com/airbnb-engineering/react-native-at-airbnb-f95aa460be1c

·         The (not so) hidden cost of sharing code between iOS and android - https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2019/08/the-not-so-hidden-cost-of-sharing-code-between-ios-and-android/

·         React Philosophy & Patterns

o   https://levelup.gitconnected.com/react-component-patterns-ab1f09be2c82

o   http://lucasmreis.github.io/blog/simple-react-patterns/?utm_source=mybridge&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=read_more

o   http://krasimirtsonev.com/blog/article/getting-from-redux-to-state-machine-with-stent

Android Studio has a feature called Instant Run that is able to apply some changes without building a new APK. [AB4]