As the mobile marketplace grows more competitive by the minute, creating a cross-platform app that’s engaging, efficient, and user-friendly is essential for any business looking to expand its digital presence. In that regard, React Native provides an ideal framework, supporting the development of high-performing apps with a single codebase for both iOS and Android.
However, the real power of React Native lies in its components — the building rocks that bring an app to life. Understanding which components to prioritize can make a significant difference in your app’s performance, scalability, and ability to captivate users.
Let’s dive into a breakdown of React Native components, from core to advanced, and uncover best practices to maximize their reusability.
Table of Contents
React Native Components
React Native is a mobile app development platform celebrated for its write-once, run-anywhere approach, allowing developers to build apps for both iOS and Android with a single codebase. This means less time spent on development, fewer resources needed, and faster deployment — advantages that translate into significant cost savings for businesses.
React Native components enable this streamlined approach by offering pre-built, modular units that developers can use and customize for specific features in cross-platform app development.
Let’s go through them.
Core React Native Components
Mastering the basics is essential, even if your team includes junior developers or if you’re just introducing React Native into your tech stack. React Native’s Core components act as foundational building blocks that can be easily customized to fit your brand and design requirements.
- View: At its core, View is React Native’s foundational component for layout and styling. It’s like the canvas upon which everything else is built. Every other component, from text to images, nests with View. For business-oriented apps, View allows for flexible design while keeping the structure simple and maintainable.
- Text: Essential for any app, the Text component handles all text elements. Its flexibility with styles, sizes, and weights allows businesses to present information clearly and professionally, whether it’s for a product description, user instructions, or terms of service.
- Image: A good image can convey more than words. React Native’s Image component supports various source options and image types, enabling teams to showcase products, logos, and other visuals seamlessly across devices. It supports local images as well as images from a URL, offering flexibility for various app needs.
- TextInput: Interactivity is key in an app, and TextInput allows users to enter text, making it crucial for forms, search bars, and any input fields. This component provides options for customizing the appearance and functionality of the input fields, ensuring users have a smooth typing experience.
- ScrollView: When businesses want to display long lists or catalog-style interfaces, ScrollView is crucial. It allows users to scroll through pages of content or product listings without loading multiple pages, keeping the user experience smooth and engaging.
- StyleSheet: The StyleSheet component allows organizing and applying styles across the app, providing a way to define reusable properties like colors, fonts, and layout. For businesses focused on branding and visual identity, StyleSheet ensures that an app’s look is both professional and cohesive.
Advanced React Native Components and Libraries
As your app becomes more complex and sophisticated, leveraging advanced React Native components and libraries can greatly enhance performance and functionality.
- FlatList and SectionList: Optimized for handling large data sets efficiently, these components provide smooth scrolling and improved memory usage, making them ideal for apps with dynamic, data-heavy content.
- React Navigation: A powerful and flexible navigation library that allows for smooth transitions between screens and handles complex navigation patterns.
- Reanimated: A library that enables highly performant, gesture-driven animations, allowing for seamless and complex animations without compromising performance.
- Gesture Handler: Provides better handling of touch gestures, including taps, swipes, and long presses, enabling smooth and responsive gesture-based interactions.
- React Native Paper: This is a library of Material Design components that helps create elegant, consistent, and visually appealing user interfaces (UIs) that follow established design patterns.
- React Query: Manages server state and data fetching, making it easier to manage complex data flows and synchronize data between the app and the backend, optimizing app performance.
Custom React Native Components
While core components are versatile, custom components offer businesses the chance to create a unique, branded experience. For instance, if you want to design a custom checkout experience, or unique navigation elements, custom components allow you to build those from scratch or modify existing ones.
Custom components make it easier to align the app’s design with your brand’s identity. By creating components that reflect your brand’s visual language and style, you can ensure that users feel a seamless connection between your app and your brand.
Built-in vs. Custom Components: Choosing Wisely
When building cross-platform apps with React Native, the eternal question arises: Should you stick to built-in components, or is it time to go custom? Let’s see how to think about it and how to decide.
Use Built-in Components for Consistency
Built-in components are designed to work seamlessly with Android and iOS. They’re reliable and will save you debugging headaches.
As Kevin Kristen, Advanced Solutions Consultant at Koderspedia, explains: “When deciding between built-in and custom components in React Native for cross-platform compatibility, it’s all about finding the right balance. Built-in components are a great choice for standard UI elements since they save time and effort.”
Go Custom When Performance Is Critical
If you’re building an app with high-performance needs, like a gaming app or a media-heavy social platform, custom components give you more control over how code runs on each platform.
As Serge Motin, Team Lead at Start Mobile, advises: “Custom components are used only if the built-in ones can’t deliver the required functionality or experience. Even then, I keep customizations minimal to avoid compatibility issues and extra maintenance.”
Choose Custom for UI Consistency
Sometimes, the built-in styling just doesn’t match your brand or design goals. Custom components allow you to unify the look and feel across both platforms without compromising on style.
Additionally, as Dhrumil Patel, Managing Partner at Logicbric, points out: “Custom components may be necessary for highly interactive or resource-intensive screens where you need to optimize specific aspects of rendering or data handling. Custom animations, gestures, and advanced UI elements often perform better when crafted to suit the exact needs of your app.”
By using custom components selectively, you can enhance complex interactions and unique design elements, making your app both visually distinct and performance optimized.
Why React Native Components Matter for Your App?
React Native components are essential for developing business apps that stand out in today’s highly competitive market. They enable rapid development, cost efficiency, and seamless performance without doubling the development efforts. In fact, React Native is favored by over 35% of software developers globally for its flexibility and powerful cross-platform capabilities.
Core components allow you to create a visually cohesive and functional user interface while advanced ones let you manage data and interactions smoothly, keeping users engaged.
For businesses, this component-driven approach ensures that apps are not only visually polished but also flexible and scalable, allowing for easy updates and new features to meet evolving customer needs.
React Native Components: The Bottom Line
React Native offers a versatile component ecosystem that supports apps at every level, from building basic UIs to creating highly optimized and complex apps.
Partnering with a React Native development agency, your company can leverage expertise in selecting and configuring the right mix of built-in and custom components to ensure your app performs well, looks great, and scales effortlessly.
Whether you’re a startup or an established brand, React Native can be a powerful tool for your app development journey.
If you’re still exploring your options and want to make an informed choice, take a look our article, comparing React Native and Flutter.
React Native Components FAQs
1. What makes React Native different from native development?
React Native allows for cross-platform development, meaning one codebase serves both Android and iOS platforms, while native development requires separate coding for each platform.
2. Can React Native support complex app functionalities?
Yes. With its range of core and custom components, React Native can support sophisticated features, from eCommerce checkouts to location-based services.
