Reasons to Choose React Native over Swift
No business today can survive without a mobile presence. Are you planning to launch one for your brand too? If you are, you are most likely torn between what to choose from a technology perspective - React Native or. Swift. And no surprise - these are the two most popular options to build iOS apps - specifically.
Both these options can give you remarkable apps, that perform well for your end users. Still, several factors can help you decide when to choose one over the other. To help you make the best choice, we have covered below details and differences for both and hope it comes in handy the next time you think of an app build.
What is React Native?
React Native is a framework built on JavaScript, and was created by Facebook to make it easier for developers to launch cross-platform apps, faster. Because React Native uses JavaScript - one of the most popular coding languages in the world today - it is one of the most popular choices for mobile app developers (according to Statista, over 68% of developers use JavaScript today).
React Native also give you an edge from both a time to market and cost effectiveness perspective. As a result, businesses can penetrate the market faster, and deeper. Let's take a closer look at some of the other advantages that React Native brings:
Advantages of React Native
It is pretty straightforward to build excellent and inexpensive iOS apps using React Native because of its several advantages, such as:
Saves significant time
As mentioned earlier, React Native is Operating System-independent, drastically decreasing efforts and the time it takes to launch an app in the market. This is possible as React Native lets developers write a single code that can then be used to power apps on both iOS and Android platforms (with only a few simple changes). This is one of the stark differences between React Native and Swift.
Single Team, Dual Apps
Using React Native for the source code helps you create iOS and Android apps, so you will need only one team that knows JavaScript instead of two for both platforms. With React Native, you also end up avoiding timeline discrepancies that often arise when you have two separate teams developing two similar apps simultaneously. Besides this, having a single app development team also helps to avoid problems that occur if one of the developers from the team calls in sick, as their teammates can easily handle their work too.
High-end automation
Software development is more than merely writing code; it extends to testing, releasing, bug-fixing, etc. Experienced developers delegate these tasks to automated coders so the software development process gets accelerated and helps avoid routine.
React Native lets developers delegate usual tasks to third-party services, such as Amplify, AppCenter, etc.
Entry to nativeness
Though you may not be able to create an app wholly based on the iOS Native Platform, you can make significant parts of the app using this cross-platform technology. This is a great way to ensure cost-efficiency in app development for the iOS platform. Simply put, you can use native tools with React Native to build crucial parts of the app with less performance-affecting features. You can create an inexpensive app in a significantly short period.
Disadvantages of React Native
As with any technology, there are some drawbacks to using React Native for iOS and Android app development, such as:
Performance
According to experts, cross-platform apps are not as good as native apps' speed and performance. React Native apps tend to take up more space on the storage device and consequently can create a low-quality experience for users.
However, this issue arises only when comparing highly dynamic products, such as games.
Longer testing process
Though you may be able to quickly create apps using React Native as it uses a single source code, the testing process can take up more time when comparing React Native vs. Swift performances. Remember, React Native apps take more time and precision when testing, as errors can arise on iOS and/or Android platforms.
What is Swift?
Swift was created by Apple specifically for developing native iOS apps. It is a compiled programming language that has gained incredible popularity in the mobile app development industry. Swift has become the better alternative for programmers using Objective-C for app development. In comparison, Swift is simpler than Objective-C, allowing developers to use native hardware features and create feature-centric and high-quality apps.
Advantages of Swift
Let's take a swift look at the main reasons why developers have switched to Swift to create iOS apps:
High speed
According to Apple, Swift is 2.6 times faster than Objective-C. It uses a simple syntax and integrates LLVM tools to compile the code directly into the machine code. The ability to accelerate the app development process gives Swift its name.
Safety
Using Swift to create iOS mobile apps causes less error as it has type-safe features. This allows developers to identify potentially incorrect codes while typing and prevents them from flagging mistakes during code execution.
Besides this, Swift can automatically define all memory accesses, preventing the program from crashing.
Readability
Swift has a simple syntax and is easier to learn, making it a more readable technology than others. To use Swift, app developers only need a few lines of code to create functional apps, which helps to decrease the overall time to market.
Disadvantages of Swift
Swift is relatively new and is far from building an extensive developers' community, including expansive libraries and varied packages. Still, the language is relatively popular for app development and is currently ranked as one of the best languages for app development.
React Native vs. Swift - Comparison
Now, let's compare React Native vs. Swift for better understanding:
User Interface – React Native uses native APIs and components and lets developers build native-like apps. Swift is made exclusively to create native iOS apps which ensure high-quality UI for iOS devices.
Stability – Though React Native can replicate native UI quite decently, it cannot achieve the level of stability that Swift provides; thus, Swift is preferable to build stable, feature-rich apps - specially when you are asking too much from the app from a performance and graphics perspective (like a game for example).
Performance – Swift is significantly superior in terms of performance over cross-platform development. This is highly noticeable when comparing the graphic effects-dense apps and React Native vs. Swift performance.
Coding speed – The speed of coding depends on your goals. If you are creating an app only for iOS, then Swift is the better choice. However, if you want an excellent cross-platform app, then React Native is significantly faster.
Documentation – React Native and Swift are developed by well-reputed tech giants Facebook and Apple, respectively, so they have excellent documentation capabilities.
Conclusion
React Native vs Swift is really a question of whether you want to build a cross-platform application or a native to iOS only application. As we earlier mentioned, both approaches are capable of giving you genuinely great applications, but as a rule of thumb, choose React Native if you want to develop a cross-platform app and go with Swift when the app requires native platform capabilities.
Hope the blog helped. If you have further questions, or want to discuss your specific used case with us, please do reach out to below.
