React Native vs React Navigation

Overview

React Native

Stacks34.4K

Followers29.5K

Votes1.2K

GitHub Stars124.4K

Forks24.9K

React Navigation

Stacks1.4K

Followers348

Votes1

React Native vs React Navigation: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this markdown, we will discuss the key differences between React Native and React Navigation.

Rendering Platform: React Native is a framework that allows developers to build cross-platform mobile applications using JavaScript and React. It directly renders native user interface components on both iOS and Android platforms. On the other hand, React Navigation is a JavaScript-based library that provides routing and navigation functionalities for React Native applications. It does not directly render native components but uses the JavaScript-based navigation stack to manage screens and transitions.
Development Focus: React Native focuses on enabling developers to build complete native mobile apps using JavaScript. It provides a set of pre-built UI components that closely resemble native ones and allows access to native APIs. React Navigation, on the other hand, primarily focuses on solving the navigation and routing challenges in React Native applications. It provides a flexible navigation system with support for nested navigators, tab-based navigation, and customizable transitions.
Code Structure: React Native organizes the codebase in a modular manner, where each screen or component is written as a separate file. React Navigation, on the other hand, introduces a component-based approach for defining navigators, screens, and navigation options. It allows developers to define a navigation hierarchy using declarative components and props, making it easier to manage navigation-related code.
Learning Curve: React Native requires developers to have a good understanding of JavaScript, React, and native mobile app development concepts, as it involves using native APIs and modules. React Navigation, on the other hand, leverages the knowledge and concepts already familiar to React developers. If you have experience with React, learning and using React Navigation will be relatively easier.
Customization Flexibility: React Native provides extensive customization options, allowing developers to access native APIs and build truly native-looking applications. It provides a bridge to connect JavaScript code with native components and modules. React Navigation, although flexible, might have limitations when it comes to deep customization of certain navigation features that require direct access to native components or native-specific APIs.
Community Support and Ecosystem: React Native has a large and active community with a wide range of open-source libraries and tools available. It benefits from the popularity of React and has a vast ecosystem of resources, tutorials, and community support. React Navigation, being a specific library for navigation, also has a supportive community but is relatively smaller compared to React Native.

In summary, React Native is a cross-platform mobile application development framework that renders native user interface components on iOS and Android platforms, whereas React Navigation is a JavaScript library that provides routing and navigation functionalities for React Native applications. React Native focuses on building complete native mobile apps, while React Navigation primarily addresses the navigation challenges. React Native emphasizes native customization and requires a broader knowledge of mobile app development, while React Navigation leverages React concepts and simplifies navigation management.

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Advice on React Native, React Navigation

Nick

CTO at Pickio

Jun 2, 2020

Decided

We built the first version of our app with RN and it turned out a mess in a while. A lot of bugs along with poor performance out of the box for a fairly large app. Many things, that native platform has, cannot be done with existing solutions for RN. For instance, large titles on iOS are not fully implemented in any of existing navigations libraries. Also there's painfully slow JSON bridge and many other small, yet annoying things. On the other hand Flutter became a really powerful and easy-to-use tool. A bit of a learning curve, of course, because of Dart, but it worth learning. Flutter offers TONS of built-in features, no JSON-bridge, AOT compilation for iOS.

491k views491k

Comments

Andrea

May 26, 2020

Needs adviceon

Vue.js

Vue Native

React

I'm a huge fan of Vue.js and I'm pretty comfortable with it. I need to build a mobile app for my company and I was now wondering whether I could make use of VueJS with Vue Native instead of switching to React. I know Vue Native builds on top of RN. My question is whether I'd have as much freedom with Vue Native over RN and whether you feel like Vue Native is "production ready" or not. Not sure of which shortcomings I may find using Vue Native... Thanks a lot!!!

336k views336k

Comments

Furqan

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceon

React 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

React Native	React Navigation
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.	Start quickly with built-in navigators that deliver a seamless out-of-the box experience. Navigation views that deliver 60fps animations, and utilize native components to deliver a great look and feel.
Native iOS Components;Asynchronous Execution;Touch Handling;Flexbox and Styling; Polyfills	-
Statistics
GitHub Stars 124.4K	GitHub Stars -
GitHub Forks 24.9K	GitHub Forks -
Stacks 34.4K	Stacks 1.4K
Followers 29.5K	Followers 348
Votes 1.2K	Votes 1
Pros & Cons
Pros 214 Learn once write everywhere 174 Cross platform 169 Javascript 122 Native ios components 69 Built by facebook Cons 23 Javascript 19 Built by facebook 12 Cant use CSS 4 30 FPS Limit 2 Slow	Pros 1 Easy to use

What are some alternatives to React Native, React Navigation?

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

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 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 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

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, 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 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.

Expo

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.

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.

Related Comparisons

React Native vs React Navigation: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this markdown, we will discuss the key differences between React Native and React Navigation.

Rendering Platform: React Native is a framework that allows developers to build cross-platform mobile applications using JavaScript and React. It directly renders native user interface components on both iOS and Android platforms. On the other hand, React Navigation is a JavaScript-based library that provides routing and navigation functionalities for React Native applications. It does not directly render native components but uses the JavaScript-based navigation stack to manage screens and transitions.
Development Focus: React Native focuses on enabling developers to build complete native mobile apps using JavaScript. It provides a set of pre-built UI components that closely resemble native ones and allows access to native APIs. React Navigation, on the other hand, primarily focuses on solving the navigation and routing challenges in React Native applications. It provides a flexible navigation system with support for nested navigators, tab-based navigation, and customizable transitions.
Code Structure: React Native organizes the codebase in a modular manner, where each screen or component is written as a separate file. React Navigation, on the other hand, introduces a component-based approach for defining navigators, screens, and navigation options. It allows developers to define a navigation hierarchy using declarative components and props, making it easier to manage navigation-related code.
Learning Curve: React Native requires developers to have a good understanding of JavaScript, React, and native mobile app development concepts, as it involves using native APIs and modules. React Navigation, on the other hand, leverages the knowledge and concepts already familiar to React developers. If you have experience with React, learning and using React Navigation will be relatively easier.
Customization Flexibility: React Native provides extensive customization options, allowing developers to access native APIs and build truly native-looking applications. It provides a bridge to connect JavaScript code with native components and modules. React Navigation, although flexible, might have limitations when it comes to deep customization of certain navigation features that require direct access to native components or native-specific APIs.
Community Support and Ecosystem: React Native has a large and active community with a wide range of open-source libraries and tools available. It benefits from the popularity of React and has a vast ecosystem of resources, tutorials, and community support. React Navigation, being a specific library for navigation, also has a supportive community but is relatively smaller compared to React Native.

React Native vs React Navigation

Overview

React Native vs React Navigation: What are the differences?