React Mobile Development : The Golden MEAN

This article describes the most effective techniques for creating mobile apps (and reacting in general to mobile development) to help you navigate the opportunities available.

In the aim of better targeting the target audience, many companies are following cutting-edge trends. There is no surprise today that even a coffee house or laundry has a website of its own. A unique web page, like a recognizable logo, is an essential part of an image. But apart from the site, there is another useful asset that sometimes remains undervalued despite all the advantages. We are talking about mobile apps.

Unlike websites, mobile apps make it possible to use all the mobile device features available. Geotagging allows users to be identified and give them an individual offer based on this information. By connecting to the Internet, smartphone apps are available 24/7 and help the customer always have a small part of your company near to him.

When you decide to take the advantages listed and build a mobile application together with the website, we will warn you that this is not the only decision you need to make. Given that there is more than one way to create these apps, you can choose an option that suits you best. Different parameters such as quality level, development time, or costs may guide you.

Native apps : The most popular case of development of mobile applications using the appropriate programming language

Phone Gap : A platform which enables mobile applications to be built using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript

React native : A software that can be used in the React JS system to create apps

Angular and Native script : Why not take best from two different frameworks?

Native apps :

In the process of developing native applications, there is not so much exotic. You choose the medium for the goal. Then you use the correct programming language: in the case of iOS, Objective-C or Swift, or Android, Java. Quality is the main advantage of native mobile devices. Native applications, for instance, compile to the Dalvik bytecode under Android, which leads to high performance. Fluid animations, multi-touch support, computer hardware control, and other features will be available.

But what in our sense does native mobile design mean? First, a mobile development team should be employed. Then you should determine your favorite mobile platform. You must recruit another team of developers according to your preference. Or even a few of them, if you think about all the existing platforms. You can imagine the total cost.

In addition, the use of specific technologies and programming languages is necessary for each platform. This means that the initial project separates into the many small projects despite following the general idea, which typically raises the development time.

Phone Gap :

PhoneGap is a platform that uses web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to build hybrid mobile applications. One of the key pros of such approach is the ability to build applications that expend a minimum of effort on multiple platforms. Hybrid software versions for different platforms are not very different so that a single development team can adapt the working code to different environments.

Significant cost savings is the obvious benefit of using systems like PhoneGap. Despite the fact that well-known software technologies are in use, it is unclear in this case whether any web developer can use PhoneGap to create good mobile apps. There are certain nuances. But you should still find that in this case the process of creating a mobile multi-platform application is much simpler.

It can be managed in a short time by a single team. But the sides of this technology are soft. We talk about results. This leaves a lot to expect. Hybrid mobile apps can be defined as web pages with the ability to make calls to the native API within the native browser (UIWebView in iOS, WebView in Android). You could build a great UI, but the actions of native applications must delay some details.

Obviously, if your target is a high-loaded request, PhoneGap is not a perfect choice. But always there's an option. And if you're still looking to save cash, yet high performance is important to you, try React Native.

Also Read : Angular vs React : Who will win the Show?

React Native :

React JS is a framework developed by Facebook that can be used to build modular components of the UI. In addition, React Native enables mobile applications to be developed using React.js. This software gained popularity rapidly, producing plenty of additional modules and tools. There are tools for routing, Structor's React UI creator, map overlay, etc. So, what is the reason for this popularity?

First of all, React provides modern technologies such as isomorphic JavaScript and Virtual DOM that significantly increase the level of performance. We must agree that if we equate it to the "normal" web development, the application development system looks a bit different. React uses the HTML-like programming language called JSX to create UI components.

We only state that design includes some form of mixing HTML and JavaScript without going into details. This means a developer must learn some new tricks before joining React entirely. But the opportunity to recycle software, which is particularly important in our case, can completely compensate for this obvious inconvenience. Depending on the input data, the designer will simply define how the UI element will look. Then, after the change in the state of the component, React will do the rest of the job applying changes.

The components created can be reused simply to create a mobile app for iOS or Android. This allows the production time to be minimized while maintaining the overall cost similar to the development costs of PhoneGap. But the advantage is the success in this situation. JavaScript software runs independently from the UI thread on its own thread. So, everything works pretty well, even in high-loaded applications.

Angular + Native Script :

The concept enforced by the proper system does not need to be strictly followed.

Angular is a platform designed to create Single Page Applications. If you want to create quick and react website, it's well suited for your venture. But we also want to get mobile apps in our situation. That's why we need the structure of the Native Script. We can create mobile multi-platform applications with its support.

Angular can therefore be used to build the software that will act as a website and, if appropriate, rendered by Native Script as a native application. Sounds similar to the example from PhoneGap. But the main difference is that for rendering applications, Native Script does not use UIWebView or WebView. Alternatively, the native UI elements are used.

Such a combination of frameworks allows you to build a native application based on the web application that has been developed before. As a result, it will reduce costs and development time.

Conclusion :

The further development is that there are more ways to create mobile applications. Today, almost every company has options. If costs and time are not an issue and you need extreme performance, you should probably choose native apps. They work quickly, they have access to all the features of the system. Nevertheless, according to the number of target platforms, the cost increases. If your target is a website with iOS and Android mobile apps, make sure you can afford it.

At the other hand, React Mobile Development could be a fair option in the case of a startup or a company which wants to save and minimize development time. A website or mobile apps can be built using the same methodology which works well on any platform. Components of the react UI can be quickly reused, significantly reducing development time and simplifying testing.

Author Bio :

Jeevan Kumar is a technology enthusiast and strong believer in agile product development. He is a Senior Content Strategist of Fortunesoft IT Innovations - React.js Development Company