Uncovering a Common Challenge in React Native: Reducing APK Size 🚀

Hello, LinkedIn community! 👋

Today, I want to share a recent experience developing with React Native and address a common problem that many of us face: the large size of the generated APK.

🤔 The Problem:

When building robust React Native applications, we often come across considerably large APKs. This issue can impact performance, user experience, and even make submission to app stores difficult.

💡 One solution:

I recently discovered an effective approach to significantly reduce APK size, especially in projects that make extensive use of libraries or dependencies.

1. Bundle Splitting:

I implemented "bundle splitting", dividing the code into smaller parts. This allows only relevant sections to be loaded on demand, reducing the initial size of the APK.

// Example of configuration in the file metro.config.js
const { createBlacklist } = require('metro');

module.exports = {
  resolver: {
    blacklistRE: createBlacklist(/\.server\.(js|ts)$/),
  },
};

2. Removing Unused Resources:

Audited and removed unused resources such as non-essential images, fonts, or libraries. React Native Resource Clean is a useful tool for this task.

npx react-native-resource-clean

🌐 Results:

These optimizations reduced APK size by more than 30%, significantly improving app performance and easing the submission process.

💬 Share your Experience:

Have you faced similar challenges in React Native? How do you address these issues? Let's exchange experiences in the comments! Together, we can create more efficient applications and improve our React Native skills. 🚀