React Native app development has become one of the most common mainstream methods for developing mobile apps. React Native framework today has over 96.8K Github Stars and a huge community. And it helps React Native developers leverage great cross-platform app development benefits.
Adorebits has been one of the early adopters of React Native framework and it has delivered over 250+ mobile apps built on this framework. We are bestowed with a team of 30+ app developers who excel at leveraging app development best practices.
So, here we bring some of the essential tips that React Native developers would like to use for mobile app development:
1. Employ ESLint
With JavaScript, you will require code quality control and so you must employ a linter. ESLint extension is a great choice as one can install and start using it within no time. To get the right value from this extension, you must install it in the initial phase of the project itself. However, for some specific applications, you might want to do away with its rules. In such a case, you can disable it via the .eslintrc configuration file.
2. Maintain Consistent Style Object Labels
Now when your project has a CTA button with a style object named submitting, then make sure you use the same style object label for every CTA button across the project. The same goes with all the other elements, follow the style object’s name consistently. This is one practice many React Native developers usually follow.
3. Flexbox is a Must
Yes, it is obvious, but every few days I come across some React Native developers employing absolute element positioning instead of flexbox. This is a wrong practice and it fades the component reusability altogether. Whenever you design any app on React Native, ensure to use flexbox. It works akin to the CSS counterpart in the web. The only difference between the CSS counterpart in the web and the flexbox in React Native is that the flex-direction defaults to a column in the latter.
Also Read: How To Hire Dedicated React Native Developers: Cost, Skills
4. Limited Use of Ternary Operators
The simpler practice is Writing color = error ? ‘black’: ‘gray’.
However, you may try to reduce the code lines by using the ternary operators. For example, Writing color = error? (id === myID) ? ‘black’: ‘blue’: ‘gray’ which is complex. Therefore, you must use ternary operators concisely as they make the logic look complex and difficult to read.
5. Ensure Your App Doesn’t Contain any Sensitive Data
Today, app security and data privacy are some of the biggest concerns. And you cannot afford to risk your app security by leaving sensitive data in your app. Ensure that you as a React Native developer do not leave your API keys, client confidential data, project IDs, domains, API secrets, or any other private data inside the app. Instead, you can hold this type of data on the servers.
6. Make Release Builds Efficient by Removing Log Statements
You might experience a slower app performance owing to abounding console.log statements. And it is more evident when you use redux-logger logging libraries. And so, the right practice is to disable the log files while you make a release build.
7. Use Right Label, Dimensions, and Size for Image Resources
Make sure your image names are easily comprehensible. An image name like logo_small.png is not as clear as brand_logo_black_small.png. One can easily reuse a clearly labeled image resource.
Moreover, make sure you add the @1x, @2x and up to @3x dimensions for your images so they look impressive for various screen sizes on both iOS and Android devices. This is a no-brainer, as if the image dimensions are small, your app will display blurred images which is absolutely off-putting for the app users.
There are several apps that you can use to compress your image’s file size without compromising its quality.
8. Understand the Right Use of async/await syntax
It is a common practice to use async/await syntax for your React Native projects. This practice helps you avoid the callback inconvenience and exudes clean coding. However, this practice also makes your asynchronous code synchronous. So, you need to think about if there is any parallel dependency on the previous code. If so, using the async/await syntax might not be the best thing. If the project has many independent API calls, you can create a Promise for all these async calls. Then you can place these promises in an array to run Promise. all() on it. This array will finish faster than individual requests finishing one by one.
9. Employ Inspector, Live Reload, and Hot Reload Features
Using Inspector is a must as it helps you eliminate the use of abounding console.log statements. React Native also offers the Live Reload feature so the developers do not have to manually refresh the app every time. The Hot Reloading feature of the app enables React Native developers to redesign screens faster by assessing the changes in real-time.
10. You May Require Style Overriding
In case you require a syntax to override an existing style object or to modify the style dynamically, here it is:
<View style={[ container style, my style ]}>…</View>, here container style is the existing style and my style overrides it.
11. Place your API calls in componentDidMount()
Some of you are already aware of it, however, some may still try to fetch data in the componentWillMount() method. You must not fetch data in render(), nor in componentWillMount().
There are two reasons for it:
- componentDidMount() is a legacy method
- It is not able to block any render() call and therefore performance will remain low
Moreover, every time you want to render the component with void state values you must handle the default state. So, you must place all your API calls in componenetDidMount(). It will define the right data and rendering flow.
Into the Conclusion:
Above are some essential tips that will help you create a high-performance mobile app using React Native. Moreover, if you wish to Hire React Native App Developers, contact us today.
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