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Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

engineering.shopify.com

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Re: Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

#111

Post by k__ »

oakesm9 wrote: post #96
k__ wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flutter and React-Native are different directions, I think. For higly customized UIs (think Ableton Live, Photoshop, Excel, etc.), I'd say use Flutter, because of the non-native rendering, it will look the same everywhere. Otherwise use React-Native.

Exactly this. They are very different systems. Flutter renders onto a "canvas" and has a completely custom implementation of "native-like" views for each platform. They need to reimplement everything about platform views from scratch. React Native lets the native OS render actual native views, but lays them out and controls their properties using Javascript. You get the native behaviours "for free", but you do someti…

Yes. The common denominator isn't as low as one might expect. I'd guess at least 90% of all apps could be easily done with React-Native.

Re: Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

#112

Post by Klathmon »

phreack wrote: post #70
newfeatureok wrote: post #7

Honestly I think the future of mobile will just be... mobile websites. What's missing until regular websites have parity with mobile apps in functionality? - Accelerometer and all sensor support (some of these are already supported on various browsers on various OSes) - Background support - Bluetooth - WiFi - Better notifications - etc. Sure there will always be a need for native, but 99% of apps don't need any of th…

It can't be overstated how many apps are absolutely dependent on working push notifications (all chat for example) and can't be replicated as websites. And that's not yet implemented for iOS so we're all at Apple's mercy until it is, which may never be.

While the web notification story on android is much better than on iOS, it still has it's own share of issues.

The biggest one that i've run into is how exact timing of notifications is difficult. Sometimes notifications can be delayed for hours and there's not really much you can do to fix it, other times they will arrive minutes later.

I previously worked on a PWA which had to be converted into a thinly wrapped webview for Android because we needed notifications to pop within seconds of their scheduled time, and we just couldn't achieve that with web notifications at the time.

Re: Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

#113

Post by wdb »

anon9001 wrote: post #76

Shopify is right to use React Native. I build an app with React Native Web and we produce Android/iOS/web from the same code base with 3 developers. No, it's not perfect. Yes, JS can be awkward and confusing. Yes, a truly native app built by expert platform-specific developers would be better. But I'm able to ship this product with less than half the team size I would need for native development. JavaScript developer…

Don't know last time I tried React Native and wanted to use some cool feature of iOS. I either had to write my own RN plugin in Swift/ObjC or wait for someone else to do it.

Re: Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

#114

Post by pastor_elm »

newfeatureok wrote: post #7

Honestly I think the future of mobile will just be... mobile websites. What's missing until regular websites have parity with mobile apps in functionality? - Accelerometer and all sensor support (some of these are already supported on various browsers on various OSes) - Background support - Bluetooth - WiFi - Better notifications - etc. Sure there will always be a need for native, but 99% of apps don't need any of th…

Shopify's growth model relies on bringing people into an app dependent ecosystem. They're not looking to be a one app company. They want users to locked into having many Shopify apps. When people are using mobile sites, the sense of dependency just isn't there. Not to mention it feels terribly inconvenient and the tracking can be stymied.

Re: Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

#115

Post by wpietri »

hota_mazi wrote: post #6

And in a couple of years, "Why we are moving away from React Native at Shopify". Not slamming React Native but the sensationalistic headline. Anyone with a bit of experience in software should know better than making this kind of silly proclamation about the future of your software stack.

Sadly, this sort of public PR campaign is surely related to an internal PR campaign. Often followed by a declaration of Totally Amazing Success, shortly after which the person who led the campaign will use the victory to move to a higher position, possibly at a new company.

Re: Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

#116

Post by Androider »

fredgrott wrote: post #52

Hahaha ahaahah gee what happens when Android Fuchsia hits oem devices this year? CES surprise coming..

In the unlikely event that Fuchsia ever makes it out without being strangled by the rest of the Android organization, or someone high-up waking up and taking a look at it (eye of mordor style)... absolutely nothing? For the next 5-10 years at least as Android devices are slowly replaced in the marketplace with Fuchsia through device turnover rates alone. You think Android version upgrade stats are abysmal today? And you want to replace the whole base OS? Good luck with that.

Re: Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

#117

Post by LeoNatan25 »

sandGorgon wrote: post #68

I think one of the coolest things that Shopify is doing is this: We’re sponsoring Software Mansion and Krzysztof Magiera (co-founder of React Native for Android) in their open source efforts around React Native. and We are working with Discord to accelerate the open sourcing of FastList for React Native (a library which only renders list items that are in the viewport) and optimizing for Android. Basically RecyclerVi…

Without synchronous view layout, it's not really possible to have a truly recycling view without many warts. We've (Wix) been hacking at this for years, and it's not possible. You either block the UI or view flash for the user if fast enough scrolling is performed.

Facebook engineering promised synchronous layout will come at some point, which will open the door to that.

Re: Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

#118

Post by avip »

xyby wrote: post #94
berns wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you solve the lack of push notifications on iOS?

For iOS, can't you just wrap your web application in a thin native app layer that provides the push functionality?

You can, you just can't publish it on the appstore.

Re: Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

#119

Post by robertoandred »

bonestamp2 wrote: post #107
xenihn wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But RN apps are not web apps...?

Tricky question. They start as web apps since they're built with mostly web technologies, but then they're compiled as native apps with native components and they don't run in the browser. So, I'd lean towards "no" -- they're not web apps at runtime.

React Native apps do not use web technologies.

Re: Building all of our new mobile apps using React Native

#120

Post by npo9 »

dmix wrote: post #98
jammygit wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t stand push notifications, I disable them all except for a couple (like signal). They are usually only part of the app to manipulate you into using it constantly

What's your point? Do you think you represent most people? Can you not just turn it off? Notifications have fine tuned controls on both iOS and Android with schedule Do Not Disturb features and varying levels of priority (iOS has 3 tiers). Plus per-app controls to disable them from annoying apps, which in newer versions of iOS prompt you before they turn on, making them opt-in. It's essential for communication apps (…

> Do you think you represent most people?

I've seen poor push notification quality increase uninstall and churn rates. I think the lesson is that many people are quickly annoyed with push notifications.

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