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React Native: The Promise vs. The Reality

JavaScript went full circle in 10 years—right back to server-side rendering.
I've watched this circus since the V8 engine launched. Browser wars forced us to invent build tools. SPAs promised the future, then SSR came crawling back for performance. Now TypeScript tries to fix JavaScript by... compiling back to JavaScript.
But the real adventure started when JavaScript invaded mobile.

The React Native Promise
"Any React developer can write native mobile apps."
To be fair, they delivered. React Native beats the hell out of PhoneGap and those other cross-platform disasters from the early 2010s.
But here's what they don't tell you in the marketing.

The Reality: Layers Upon Layers
Look at what you're actually building:
  1. TypeScript compiles to JavaScript
  2. JavaScript runs in a VM, talks to native code through a bridge
  3. Expo abstracts away native tooling (until you outgrow it)
  4. Native projects get generated when Expo isn't enough
That's a lot of places for things to break. And they will break.

What I Learned Building Real Apps
I built a React Native app for Core Strengths in 2019. Solid React team, reasonable budget. It worked.
But after acquiring 700+ apps at Loyal.app, I've seen what happens at scale. Our first React Native acquisition didn't show up until 2025—and when it did, here's what we found:
  • 80 dependencies
  • 71 devDependencies
  • 100,000+ lines of TypeScript/JavaScript
  • 10 screens total
Ten screens. A hundred thousand lines of code.
That's your first red flag.

The Hidden Costs Nobody Talks About

Performance Reality Check
React Native isn't "truly native." Complex animations stutter. Large data sets crawl. The JavaScript bridge creates latency you can't optimize away.
Even with the new Fabric + JSI architecture, you're still running JavaScript. Physics doesn't care about your framework choice.

The Native Module Trap
Need Bluetooth integration? Camera APIs? Background services?
Hope someone built a module for that. If not, you're writing Swift and Kotlin anyway—while maintaining a JavaScript wrapper.
Why not just build native from the start?

Debugging Hell
Errors happen deep in native layers. Stack traces point to minified JavaScript. You end up context-switching between four different languages to fix one bug.
I've seen teams spend weeks debugging bridge timing issues that wouldn't exist in a native app.

The Maintenance Nightmare
React Native moves fast. Libraries get abandoned. Version upgrades break everything.
After our costly Flutter upgrades last year, I'm not eager to ride that roller coaster again.

When React Native Makes Sense
Don't get me wrong—there are valid use cases:
  • Small team with React expertise
  • Simple apps with basic UI needs
  • Rapid prototyping when you need to test ideas fast
  • Tight budgets where native development isn't feasible
But if you're building anything complex, you'll hit the ceiling fast.

The Hard Truth
JavaScript promised to solve mobile development. Instead, it added complexity.
You're still dealing with Xcode. You're still handling platform differences. You're still writing native code when React Native isn't enough.
Except now you're doing it through three layers of abstraction.

What We're Doing Instead
For our React Native acquisition, we're rebuilding native. Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android.
Is it more work upfront? Yes.
Will it perform better, debug easier, and maintain cleaner? Absolutely.

The Real Question
Ask yourself: Are you choosing React Native because it's better for your app, or because it's familiar?
If your team knows React and you need an MVP fast, go for it. But don't pretend you're avoiding the complexity of mobile development—you're just moving it around.
Start simple. Pick the right tool. Ship something that works.