React Native for Building Great Cross Platform Products

W

hat is React Native?

React Native is a Javascript framework that was built by Facebook and re-licensed for use by third parties in 2017. It allows developers to create apps for both iOS and Android web stores using a single codebase and a single programming language. With React Native, developers have the ability to write one React code that compiles to native applications on both iOS and Android, rather than having to construct parallel codebases in multiple programming languages.

What are the Benefits to React Native Development?

Time and Cost Savings

Prior to the release of React Native a company was required to either find engineers that had experience with both iOS Android programming languages, or to hire separate developers to work on each platform individually.

In contrast, React Native allows you to have a single team of developers experienced in one primary programming language who can work on both platforms simultaneously in one single codebase. Depending on the functionalities of your app, at least 90% of the codebase can be shared across both platforms and since all the versions of your software are written in mostly the same code, updating and adding features becomes much faster and easier.

Though there are some differences between iOS and Android that need to be accounted for when using React Native, the time and cost savings of having one codebase are a huge benefit.

Open Source Libraries and the React Community

When using React Native you are taking advantage of the wider open source community and ecosystem that exists around React and Javascript.; A tremendous number of libraries exist that can be used for common mobile application features, meaning you won’t have to spend so much time writing code to add extra features to your app- it’s likely that that functionality has already been built and shared with the community.

Additionally, the number of engineers employed by Facebook, as well as a big open source community means a continued improvement in the platform over time.

Shared Web App Code

If your mobile app also calls for a web browser/desktop application, React Native can provide some reuse and sharing of code between those platforms. Because React Native is just React and JavaScript code, an experienced development team could get a head start on a web application.

Additionally, Electrode Native is an open source tool that will allow you to migrate existing React apps to React Native.

Who Uses React Native?

Because it’s such a reliable and powerful cross platform development tool, React Native is being used by many top companies to develop their mobile apps.

Facebook uses React Native for their social media site as well as for Facebook ads manager and Facebook analytics. Instagram was able to share around 85% of code between its Android and iOS apps by using React Native, allowing their team to deliver the app much more quickly than would have been possible using a Native solution. And Tesla’s app, an integral part of its user interface that enables users to remotely monitor and control their Tesla car or Powerwall from their iPhone or Android, was developed using React Native.

With React Native, developing and supporting apps for both iOS and Android is less effort it once was. From the ability to develop apps across platforms using one codebase to the benefits of utilizing the open source community, React Native provides an optimal framework for developing awesome cross platform products.

Lots of people want to know the cost of mobile app development. Actually, this question is quite difficult, because the accurate cost of any project is fairly a complex task, it depends on the scope of work and the features, the product should have. However, to make our potential clients’ life easier we developed an online calculator for an app development cost.

It should be kept in mind that the estimation is imperfect, but still, it will provide you with some understanding of the budget required for your app development. You can find the calculator on our site in the Business Application menu.

The project value estimate is based on the calculation of the total time needed for each chosen feature development or implementation, including Backend Development, Interface Design, Mobile, Quality Assurance, and Project Management. The hours needed for each phase are then multiplied by the rates of the engineers’ work and the final cost of the project is determined.

The first thing you should register is what kind of an app you want and pick the platform: iOS, Android, or Both. Then you will be given the list of features you can include in your app. In the right-side panel, you can see the total cost of each development phase.

You can also send a PDF file to your email, with the information gathered and the cost of every feature development in the context of a particular stage.

The following features are possible for integration into any app we develop, and you can define the set you need particularly later with our business consultants.

• E-mail login It’s a typical login scenario when the user has to provide his email/username and password for authorization. This feature also includes e-mail verification function and the password recovery in case of need.
• Social login. It’s a secure way of user authorization, which does not require a password but allows signing in with social media credentials. Though relatively new, this form of login is now preferred by more than 75% of users. The most popular platforms for that are Facebook and Google, followed by Twitter, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and other platforms.
• Dashboard. To balance an enjoyable experience of your users and your management data, a data dashboard is a feature to implement. It’ll provide an at-a-glance view of KPIs relevant to your business processes. The dashboard usually contains numbers, charts, and other data types visualized. A dashboard is useful because it can provide relevant information which can be turned into action. Each client indicates which data exactly he or she wants to see in the dashboard of the app ordered.
• Activity Feed. It is a list of the user current activities in the app. It helps to track the most interesting recent activity taking place in the application.
• Rating System. It allows users to rate the content of the app or other users. Recommendations are a very powerful thing nowadays and thus your users can see who provides expert opinion or most useful advice, who is most reliable or trustworthy in some aspect. The credibility of the content thus becomes more valuable automatically.
• Camera /Photos. Today, there is hardly a person who does not have a high-powered digital camera in their pocket. The smartphone camera can become quite useful and beneficial through granting your app access to it. It will allow taking and saving photos right away.
• Gallery — Photo / Video. The feature which can be implemented to make it possible for the user to store photos and videos in the application, create albums, and adjust visibility settings.
• Camera / Video. You can also provide camera permission to shoot and save videos in the app.
• GeoLocation. The current user location can be useful for many reasons, allowing to spot the place he is in and find the way around in the first turn as well as for the app to provide the most up-to-date info based on locality.
• Maps. The maps can be integrated into the app to visualize the user locale or some objects position on the map as well as for creating routes. Here offline mode is also worth consideration.
• Compass. A good feature for many apps to prompt the user the way around to certain places nearby.
• Custom User Interface. In case you want to add up personalization to the software solution you develop, it’s one of the options — allow the users to choose the interface to their individual liking.
• Accept Payments.In case your app has something to do with commerce, various secure payment options are a must. The most usual systems we work with are Stripe, PayPal and Apple pay. However, we can integrate almost any payment method. Once we faced the integration of two local Scandinavian payment facilities and adjusted their flawless functioning. The variety of payment systems will facilitate transactions for your users and add up to your app rating.
• Sync Across All Devices. Nowadays it’s possible to synchronize the app data across various devices. You can implement auto-synchronization or a back-up function to synchronize data when it’s necessary.
• User Profiles. You can customize the way your user profile has, how the information associated with a user arranged and what settings are available.
• Audio / Music. In case you want the users to listen to audio messages or music, you can provide them with such opportunity in-app. While streaming can be convenient, it eats up mobile data, so the feature is valuable for the applications dealing with audio data or music.
• Messaging. The feature which can be implemented to facilitate communication between the app users.
• Shopping Cart. In case your app sells goods or services, shopping cart is an inevitable feature, which will help you gain and keep your users, people now value the opportunity to make orders in a single click.
• Search. To facilitate quick and convenient data obtaining and usage, the function of search is absolutely necessary. It will help your users get the necessary info right away and in no time.
• Task List. In case you need some kind of administrative functions and team management, you can benefit from a task list feature.
• Barcodes. Scanning of barcodes has become a required feature for many popular mobile apps. It helps to compare prices in stores, tracking assets through the supply chain or managing inventory. A proper barcode scanner can turn your app into a powerful business tool.
• QR Code. It facilitates the detection of QR Codes for scanning and retrieving additional data. Nowadays it is possible to detect a QR code on an invoice or shipping note and additionally save it as a PDF. The feature can be quite convenient for business purposes.
• Calendar Integration. To plan and track the activities, users will always appreciate having all in one place and that’s where an integrated calendar can come quite handy.
• Social Sharing. It’s not only a means of data sharing and social involvement but a powerful tool to engage the audience and convert it into paying customers. Being a modern trend it’s a feature worth considering.
• 3rd Party API Integration may be useful for a number of reasons, it’s a common thing nowadays to integrate payment options in such a way, however, a number of other services may be integrated in such a way: Redmine, Jira, Slack, Channel Manager, Google Calendar, etc.
• User Privacy Settings. The privacy of a user should always be the first priority, however, you can implement certain settings by default or use a customized approach so that each user can adjust the privacy and visibility of his info to his liking and preferences.
• SMS Integration. It may become quite a handy function allowing to send SMS right from the app, without the necessity to switch to smartphone functions. It’s a handy feature to integrate for certain system notifications, to confirm authorization, for instance, or to notify the user that the car has arrived in case of uber-like taxi service.
• Push Notifications. Most use cases required to notify the customer about a promo in a timely manner. To have the ability to send push notification right from the start is important to keep an active community of users.  It’s a feature to integrate for certain user notifications, promo, call to action, and trigger events..
• Approval / Moderation. In case you allow your users the possibility of providing feedback, leaving reviews or commenting, approval or moderating function is essential, to manage the content published by the users.
• Reporting.The feature should be integrated for the convenience of data administration and quick access to various data layers. It’s reasonable to implement it for management and analytical functions.
• Content Management System. To publish information of various kind and administrate it, you should be able to manage your content and schedule it. To have such functionality Content Management System should be implemented into the app you work on.
• Payment Administration. Payment system integration has two sides to it: – possibility to make payment for the users and the possibility to manage payments for the admins, in case you integrate a payment system think of the possibility.
• User Administration. To provide the users with certain opportunities and manage their roles inside the app consider user admin feature implementation.
• Ticketing System.It’s the opportunity to create and close support queries by managing and streamlining the process of issue resolution. Through the individual elements called tickets a context is provided what issue is set in and its related characteristics — category, priority, etc. To have a single point of contact between the service provider and the consumer you should consider implementing the system into your app.
• Feedback System. At present people rely more on the reviews and feedback from other people than on some formal information about the place or service they are going to use. A good idea is to include the feature to your app.

We hope now, after reading this guide you have a better understanding of the solution you want to create and the features your mobile app requires for and a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

Make the calculations, send us an inquiry, and let’s review it. We know how to deliver a cutting-edge product and valuable services, even in a very tight budget, plus we are always open to discussion.