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  1. Stackups
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  4. Cross Platform Mobile Development
  5. Expo vs Ionic React

Expo vs Ionic React

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Expo
Expo
Stacks811
Followers693
Votes66
Ionic React
Ionic React
Stacks69
Followers100
Votes0

Expo vs Ionic React: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this Markdown code, we will discuss the key differences between Expo and Ionic React, comparing them in various aspects to understand their unique features and functionalities.

  1. Development Environment: Expo provides a managed development environment, which means that we can access various services and libraries without worrying about the configurations and native installations. On the other hand, Ionic React offers a more traditional development approach where we have more control over the project configurations and dependencies.

  2. Native Component Usage: Expo has a limited set of pre-built native components available, and while it does allow for some customizations, it may not cover all the functionalities required for complex native features. Ionic React, in contrast, offers a wide range of native-like components out-of-the-box, providing more flexibility and options for building sophisticated mobile applications.

  3. Build and Deployment: Expo provides a simplified build and deployment process, allowing developers to build their app with just a few clicks and easily deploy it to app stores. Ionic React, however, requires a more manual build and deployment process, as it relies on the native mobile development tools like Android Studio and Xcode.

  4. Access to Native SDKs and APIs: Expo abstracts away direct access to native SDKs and APIs, which restricts the ability to use certain device-specific functionalities or interact with lower-level system components. Ionic React, on the other hand, provides more flexibility in accessing native SDKs and APIs, allowing for a broader range of integrations and customizations.

  5. Offline Support: Expo supports offline development and debugging, allowing developers to work on their projects without an active internet connection. Ionic React, on the other hand, may require an active internet connection for some development and debugging tasks, as it relies on certain cloud-based build services and live reload functionalities.

  6. Ecosystem and Community: Expo has a strong and growing ecosystem, with a dedicated community and a marketplace for various add-ons and extensions. Ionic React also has a well-established ecosystem and community, with a rich set of plugins and libraries available for integration and customization.

In summary, Expo provides a simpler and more managed development environment, while Ionic React offers more flexibility and control over the project configurations and native integrations. The choice between the two depends on the specific requirements, complexity of the project, and the level of customization needed.

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Advice on Expo, Ionic React

Furqan
Furqan

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceonReact NativeReact Native

Hello guys, I am new here. So, if I posted without specific guidelines, please ignore.

Basically, I am an iOS developer and developing native apps for the last three years. Recently, I started learning React Native to develop apps for both platforms. If anyone out there knows any useful resources that will become a better react native developer.

@{#newbie}|topic:null|

325k views325k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Expo
Expo
Ionic React
Ionic React

It is a framework and a platform for universal React applications. It is a set of tools and services built around React Native and native platforms that help you develop, build, deploy, and quickly iterate on iOS, Android, and web apps.

It is a native React version of Ionic Framework that makes it easy to build apps for iOS, Android, Desktop, and the web as a Progressive Web App. All with one code base, standard React development patterns, and using the standard react-dom library and huge ecosystem around the web platform.

-
Cross-platform; One code base; Standard React development patterns
Statistics
Stacks
811
Stacks
69
Followers
693
Followers
100
Votes
66
Votes
0
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 15
    Free
  • 13
    Hot Reload
  • 9
    Easy to learn
  • 9
    Common ios and android app setup
  • 6
    Streamlined
Cons
  • 1
    Poor docs
Integrations
React Native
React Native
iOS
iOS
Android OS
Android OS

What are some alternatives to Expo, Ionic React?

Ionic

Ionic

Free and open source, Ionic offers a library of mobile and desktop-optimized HTML, CSS and JS components for building highly interactive apps. Use with Angular, React, Vue, or plain JavaScript.

Flutter

Flutter

Flutter is a mobile app SDK to help developers and designers build modern mobile apps for iOS and Android.

React Native

React Native

React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.

Xamarin

Xamarin

Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language, to create mobile applications for the industry’s most widely-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

NativeScript

NativeScript

NativeScript enables developers to build native apps for iOS, Android and Windows Universal while sharing the application code across the platforms. When building the application UI, developers use our libraries, which abstract the differences between the native platforms.

Apache Cordova

Apache Cordova

Apache Cordova is a set of device APIs that allow a mobile app developer to access native device function such as the camera or accelerometer from JavaScript. Combined with a UI framework such as jQuery Mobile or Dojo Mobile or Sencha Touch, this allows a smartphone app to be developed with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Framework7

Framework7

It is a free and open source mobile HTML framework to develop hybrid mobile apps or web apps with iOS native look and feel. All you need to make it work is a simple HTML layout and attached framework's CSS and JS files.

Qt

Qt

Qt, a leading cross-platform application and UI framework. With Qt, you can develop applications once and deploy to leading desktop, embedded & mobile targets.

PhoneGap

PhoneGap

PhoneGap is a web platform that exposes native mobile device apis and data to JavaScript. PhoneGap is a distribution of Apache Cordova. PhoneGap allows you to use standard web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript for cross-platform development, avoiding each mobile platforms' native development language. Applications execute within wrappers targeted to each platform, and rely on standards-compliant API bindings to access each device's sensors, data, and network status.

Vue Native

Vue Native

Vue Native is a mobile framework to build truly native mobile app using Vue.js. Its is designed to connect React Native and Vue.js. Vue Native is a wrapper around React Native APIs, which allows you to use Vue.js and compose rich mobile User Interface.

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