Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native (engineering.shopify.com)

Article summary

Shopify has decided to build all new mobile apps using React Native, a framework for building native mobile apps using JavaScript. The company made this decision after experimenting with React Native and finding it to be a good fit for their needs. Shopify believes that React Native will allow them to bring the power of JavaScript and the web to mobile, adopt a reactive programming model, and consolidate their iOS and Android development onto a single stack. The company plans to continue hiring native engineers and contributing to the React Native community.

Main themes

• React Native adoption
• Mobile development tradeoffs
• Native vs web development
• Performance and limitations
• Future of mobile development
• Responsive web pages

What commenters say

• Some commenters question the decision to use React Native, citing potential performance issues and the fact that other companies have abandoned it in the past.
• Others argue that different companies make different tradeoffs based on their unique needs and priorities, and that React Native can be a good choice for some use cases.
• A few commenters express skepticism about the idea of proclaiming a particular technology as the 'future' of mobile development, suggesting that this kind of language is often used for internal PR purposes.
• Some argue that the future of mobile development may actually be mobile websites, rather than native apps, as browser capabilities continue to improve.
• Others point out that while some apps may not need native functionality, many popular apps do require features like accelerometer support, background processing, and Bluetooth connectivity.
• There is disagreement about the viability of responsive web pages as a replacement for native apps, with some citing examples of successful responsive web pages and others pointing out limitations and performance issues.
• A few commenters note that companies with existing native infrastructure may be less likely to adopt new technologies like React Native, and that greenfield projects may be more likely to consider alternative solutions.