Backstage Interviews

The team wanted to improve a difficult-to-maintain codebase, make development easier, and help developers move between platforms. React Native also offered a path beyond an Objective-C-only app. Adding it to an existing application brought extra repository, packaging, release, and upgrade work.

Martin says his team had used React Native in production for over a year and a half, in apps used by millions. He considers it production-ready for teams willing to work around limitations and adapt designs. He estimates performance in a standard app at 90% to 95% of native, with room to improve.

Martin names Slick Carousel as a library he is proud of because it became widely used, while he personally uses Spectacle more often. He sees React Native adoption growing through Facebook’s maintenance and community contributions. He favors sharing components across mobile and web, while suggesting less-used native APIs could move into separate modules to ease maintenance.

Martin says his team plans to focus on tooling, including expanding the Detox ecosystem and exploring bitmap snapshot testing for React Native components. He also points to Detox Instruments for investigating app behavior and performance issues. He describes React Native EU as a welcoming community built around friendships and collaboration.