React Native
Meta's open-source framework for building native iOS and Android apps with React and JavaScript.
HN commenters like it for over-the-air updates123 and for keeping iOS, Android and web in one codebase, often with Expo handling the tooling.456 The most common complaint is slow performance compared with Flutter or native,78 followed by painful upgrades and dependency churn.910
Why people recommend it
OTA updates · 3
Shipping UI changes, features and bug fixes over the air without app store releases is a major draw.
“It's why I love React Native and over the air updates.”
“At work, we use react native, and although the upgrades and stuff are painful, I'd never give up the ability to ship over the air updates.”
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“you can ship the actual UI stuff in seconds.”
Single codebase · 2
One codebase for web, iOS and Android cuts testing and maintenance compared with separate apps.
“switched web, ios, android all back to expo/rn. I love that testing is only (almost) only thing now”
“React Native: totally viable, because core business logic is the same.”
Expo tooling · 2
Expo handles builds and store deployment so developers rarely touch Xcode or Android Studio.
“React Native + Expo is also a good option if you want to touch the iOS/Android IDEs as little as possible.”
“switched web, ios, android all back to expo/rn. I love that testing is only (almost) only thing now”
Native extensibility · 2
Custom plugins and JSI bridges let apps call native SDKs and libraries.
“you can ship the actual UI stuff in seconds.”
“linked into React Native through a custom JSI bridge”
Caveats and dissent
Performance · 2
Some commenters found it slow, noting the Hermes VM lacks a JIT.
“React Native is slow.”
“We tested react native but found it slow”
Upgrades and dependencies · 2
Upgrades are painful, and the npm-based ecosystem can bring dependency problems and project rot.
“At work, we use react native, and although the upgrades and stuff are painful, I'd never give up the ability to ship over the air updates.”
“React Native, with its dependency hell, project rot, npm ecosystem under the hood, and transpilation with lax runtime leaking into TS, is a total no-go for me.”
Third-party packages · 1
Many features need third-party packages that Flutter or native provide out of the box.
“React Native: totally viable, because core business logic is the same.”
Custom UI polish · 1
Custom components often need per-platform work, and premium polish can approach the effort of two native apps.
“When you've got custom elements it isn't always the cross-platform write once you think it is.”
Learning curve · 1
One commenter argued JS developers are not immediately effective in React Native.
“those JS developers cannot be immediately effective coding React Native (Expo) anyway”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- What's New in Flutter 3.47 4 mentions
- Shopify is moving from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin 3 mentions
- Ask HN: What Is the State of App Development in 2026? 3 mentions
- App Store Rejection of the Week: Dark Hours 1 mention
- SwiftUI After 7 Years: A Story of Mediocrity 1 mention
- AI doesn't generate working products, that's still your job 1 mention
Data: react-native.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 17
“switched web, ios, android all back to expo/rn. I love that testing is only (almost) only thing now”
“At work, we use react native, and although the upgrades and stuff are painful, I'd never give up the ability to ship over the air updates.”
“React Native is slow.”
“We tested react native but found it slow”
“React Native, with its dependency hell, project rot, npm ecosystem under the hood, and transpilation with lax runtime leaking into TS, is a total no-go for me.”
“those JS developers cannot be immediately effective coding React Native (Expo) anyway”
“React Native: totally viable, because core business logic is the same.”
“It's why I love React Native and over the air updates.”
“I have been using React Native in my professional work for so long”
“My stack for this project is React Native and Supabase”
“React Native + Expo is also a good option if you want to touch the iOS/Android IDEs as little as possible.”
“I've built one android app with React Native as a passion project”
“When you've got custom elements it isn't always the cross-platform write once you think it is.”
“you can ship the actual UI stuff in seconds.”
“I had initially written our first demo in React-Native”
“linked into React Native through a custom JSI bridge”
“The app is built with React Native (Expo SDK 54).”