DEV Community

Cover image for React Native or Swift: Which to Choose for Your iOS App
Dreamsoft4you
Dreamsoft4you

Posted on

React Native or Swift: Which to Choose for Your iOS App

A large portion of our lives revolves around mobile apps. Alongside more sophisticated useful, well-liked, and functional applications. While iOS has an percentage of 27.83 percent, and Android maintains the majority in the range of 71.45 percent, the number of apps in the app store at the time of writing exceeds 3.9 million, as compared to 2.59 millions on Google Play.

Due to their tendency to pay higher wages and excellent in-app purchases, iOS can be the preferred platform businesses decide to build their apps. It's not difficult to understand why businesses first decided to create iOS apps, since revenues are among the most important goals in app creation. Swift is often the first thing that comes in discussions regarding the development of iOS apps.

Swift is a programming language. Swift allows you to build native iOS solutions. React Native is known as a JavaScript framework to build mobile apps that run across platforms is described. We'll look at Swift as well as React Native more in depth to assist with iOS creation in the following article along with their strengths and weaknesses the most important features and practical applications. For more information about the subject, let's examine React to Swift.

What exactly is Swift?

Programming language Swift creates programs for various platforms that include iOS as well as macOS. In order to substitute Objective-C, Apple introduced Swift in 2014. Swift is a programming language that has the support of Apple is fast being recognized as one of the most important languages for iOS programming. The process of creating an application in Swift that is able to run on different platforms is known as [cross-platform development]. Tools such as Xamarin, React Native, and Flutter are available to accomplish this. They both iOS and Android allow the app's deployment. Swift is supported by 59.7K toks, and has 60K stars in GitHub. It is imperative to hire ios developers who have demonstrated proficiency of this language. Swift programming language in order to build an efficient robust, reliable and scalable application.

After we have become familiar with it, we can look at the benefits and drawbacks of the rapid programming language.

The benefits of making use of Swift

  • Scalability
  • Improvement in performance
  • There is no memory footprint whatsoever
  • Automatically managing memory
  • Simple to master
  • Support across platforms
  • Free software
  • A rapid development

Limitations of using Swift

  • Smaller community
  • Incompatibility issues
  • A lack of skilled workers
  • A language that is fresh and comparable to the rest of the world.

Popular apps designed using Swift

  • Airbnb
  • Twitter
  • Test Center
  • Lyft
  • Slideshare
  • American Airlines
  • Uber
  • Cred
  • Asana

What is React Native?

This is where the JavaScript framework ReactNative is the framework used. With the assistance of this framework that Meta developed as well as supports, programmers can develop cross-platform mobile applications which can use up to 70 percent of their code across platforms such as iOS or Android. A wide range of technical support is offered to users of React native. Programming across platforms is quicker and more affordable due to features such as code sharing. For instance, on GitHub, React Native has 22.2K forks and the number of stars is 104K. It's recommended to hire react native developers for if you're planning to build a complex and widely-used product. The React Native is recommended when you are planning to build both a desktop and web-based application.

Benefits of using React Native

  • Hot Reloading
  • Modular Architecture
  • Cost-Effective
  • Libraries with rich libraries support
  • Native-Like Feel

Limitations of using React Native

  • Not recommended for applications that require a lot of resources.
  • Fairly New
  • Security Issues
  • It is dependent upon the Native Language
  • Questions regarding Licensing

Popular apps created using React Native

  • Walmart
  • Bloomberg
  • SoundCloud
  • Instagram
  • Wix

Swift Vs. React Native: Comparision

In creating a solid application, you need to be aware of a few things. Let's now compare React Native with Swift.

Performance
Performance of Swift as well as React Native is a must first. Swift applications usually outperform frameworks when compared. React Native provides a for the integration of native scripts in apps because the process of creating graphical effects using the framework is a burden. The developer can produce various tools and assets using this technique to handle work on development. Frameworks-based applications generally perform less well than the ones created with Swift. In contrast to React Native applications, Swift Apps perform exceptionally well despite having relatively high processing capability.

UI/UX
The UI components of React Native emulate native programs. Because React Native is in charge of native components, application components should also be upgraded every when a platform updates its OS. The whole program UI can fail if there's an issue that is fatal. Material design components should be used through third-party libraries , if developers need to implement a uniform experience across different devices and OS versions. Alternatives include Swift the application that Apple Inc. created for native platform development. This is why it makes use of UX concepts and seamlessly incorporates iOS UI designs. The UI elements have to be developed independently and the development on Switch has to start by starting from scratch.

Coding speed
The speed at which the code is written is also to be considered in this. On one hand it is concise and simple to learn and less prone to errors over objective C. The language embraced the legacy of Objective C simplifying the process and removing limitations. Swift is the most efficient method of building iOS applications by starting from beginning to finish.

The JavaScript React Native framework makes it easy to build complicated mobile apps. The process of learning React Native is straightforward and a variety of help from third parties is offered.

Stability
Despite being controlled through one of the popular language of programming, React Native. But, it doesn't produce actual native react apps. It uses internal APIs and libraries. This means that putting in an interface with the program and the platform is required. Swift however, on contrary, is able to create native applications that take advantage of all features on platforms. In the case of applications that consume a lot of resource, Swift performs better. Swift is an excellent choice for using the platform.

Curves of Learning Curve
The popular software programming language JavaScript is used by the program called react Native. In turn, anyone who is familiar using Javascript could begin to create React Native apps immediately. Swift is however, like Javascript, has some learning curves however it's quite simple to master.

Time-to-market
Since react native is based on JavaScript It leverages the power of developing easy-to-use but powerful web-based applications. It is simple to master and comes with a variety of resources to developers. With these options, developing with react Native is easier and speedier. But, rapid developers have limited resources and must to begin most of their projects completely from the ground up. Swift is speedy because it's derived from objective-C. Its ease to develop makes Swift an ideal option for iOS app development.

When should you make use of React Native?

  • When developing cross-platform applications.
  • Find an application that fits your requirements and is cost- effective.
  • If Live and Hot Reloading are needed for your application, they are
  • Create applications that must be completed quickly.

When should you utilize Swift?

  • Create applications that incorporate intricate user interfaces as well as problems with managing memory.
  • The development of software to work on one device (ios).
  • Create software that makes use of native iOS APIs and features.
  • Create apps that require maintenance and updates in the near future.
  • Develop financial apps that meet high memory management and security requirements.

Conclusion

Each of Swift along with React Native are great platforms to build mobile apps. The main factor to consider however, is the needs of your business. A few scenarios where Swift and React can prove useful are discussed in the previous paragraphs. When choosing the right framework, the requirements of your project are essential.

Top comments (0)