What is React Native?
React Native is a framework created by Facebook (Meta) in 2015 that lets you build native iOS and Android apps using JavaScript and React.
Key Features
- Build iOS and Android apps from a single JavaScript codebase
- Uses a JavaScript bridge to communicate with native platform APIs
- Real native components — not WebView
- Hot reload for fast development
Notable Apps Built with React Native
- Skype
- Walmart
- UberEats
- Shopify
- Discord (partially)
React Native vs Flutter
| React Native | Flutter | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | JavaScript / TypeScript | Dart |
| By | Meta (Facebook) | |
| UI | Native components | Custom widgets |
| Performance | Good | Excellent |
| Community | Large | Growing |
Prerequisites
To work with React Native you need to know:
- JavaScript (complete the JS course first!)
- React basics (components, props, state)
- Node.js and npm