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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

#251

Post by hellisothers »

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…

One thing I feel is overlooked in these discussions is WebView UI performance isn’t as good as native. You’ll always notice a difference scrolling a list natively vs on web. It just _feels_ different, same goes for all the other micro-interactions if pushing/popping views.

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

#252

Post by jamil7 »

pjmlp wrote: post #179
hugey010 wrote: post #101

I thought the cool thing to do was declare React Native dead for your org, not the new hotness?!? I try to re-evaluate my opinion of the mobile ecosystem monthly, and would love to know how people agree / disagree with my rankings: 1. Just make a web page 2. Native iOS & Android 3. Flutter 4. Some ordering of remaining cross-platform tools depending on requirements. (React Native, Vue Native, Xamarin, Ionic, Titanium…

I have a different order: 1. Just make a web page (specially since many apps are just pretty CRUD ones) 1.1 For certain devices WebGL/WebAssembly can eventually also be an option 2. Native iOS & Android 3. Native iOS & Android with server side driven code for the business logic (maybe even UI layouts) 4. Native iOS & Android for the views with C++ for business logic 5. Your point .4 regarding cross-platform tools I d…

Apollo Server and it's associated iOS and Android clients can make your 3rd option really easy to pull off as it generates your CRUD logic and model code.

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

#253

Post by zapzupnz »

npo9 wrote: post #120
dmix wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think that's inaccurate. There are plenty of push notifications that don't annoy people, that are often the primary basis for how people interact with certain apps — Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, etc.

Let's not assume that all push notifications are cynical attempts to get people engaged with the app or to push DLC. For things like mail, messaging, and plenty of other online services, push notifications are not just an important interface to the app; they can be the interface.

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

#254

Post by throwaway55554 »

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…

Is there an impact on battery vs true native?

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

#255

Post by davidwparker »

anon9001 wrote: post #232
tilolebo wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

React Native isn't the only abstraction out there. You could use Flutter, Ionic or similar. Or do they have the same issue?

They all have the same issues, but RN has the largest community.

Flutter has a larger number of "star" on Github. It also has more issues and more pull requests. React Native has 3x more followers on Reddit. So I guess it depends on your definition of community.

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

#256

Post by sixstringtheory »

arbhassan wrote: post #124

Meanwhile Shopify's CEO. [1] [1] https://mobile.twitter.com/tobi/status/1222551057798090752

Oof, not classy. I think every developer has had the experience where you think you're so close to the finish, just one more thing... and then hours, days, weeks have gone by. How can he be so sure they're going to strike it big?

This is a pictographic sunk cost fallacy.

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

#257

Post by EthanHeilman »

brlewis wrote: post #142
EthanHeilman wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Literally all of them could be implemented as responsive pages with acceptable performance. Speaking personally I like the division between highly sandboxed websites (no GPS access, no notifications, etc...) and trusted apps.

This is only because the trust given to apps is insane. No distinction between foreground GPS and background GPS? Sure, I wouldn't want web sites to work that way either. But if permissions were sane there would be no reason not to have native apps and web apps ask for the same permissions in the same way.

I don't ever want to give a website access to microphone because someone could turn it on via an XSS. Websites on the whole seem to be far more vulnerable than mobile apps because:

1. their code is refreshed on every load,

2. their software is often updated on a daily if not hourly basis,

3. they will often pull code from remote sources on every page load,

4. they don't even have to pass the minimal review and code signing of an app store,

5. and it is very likely that they are written in javascript.

I agree with your general point that better permissions would improve the situation. For instance asking each time it wants to use the microphone, rather than an approve once model.

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

#258

Post by noir_lord »

berns wrote: post #106
xyby wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

From the app store guidelines: 4.2 Minimum Functionality Your app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website. If your app is not particularly useful, unique, or “app-like,” it doesn’t belong on the App Store.

4.3 We'll continue to get away with this until the EU makes us stop.

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

#259

Post by acpacp »

anon9001 wrote: post #166
baron816 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> JS can be awkward and confusing. > JavaScript developers are cheap to hire There’s your problem. Go hire JS devs that know what they’re doing.

My point is that it's not a problem. I can take someone fresh out of bootcamp with a basic understanding of react components and css and get them churning out code that works on 3 platforms.

Good luck with that kind of project.

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

#260

Post by MuffinFlavored »

ppeetteerr wrote: post #197

I'm surprised no one is mentioning this: "At the beginning of 2019, we did a 6-week experiment on our flagship Point of Sale (POS) app to see if it would be a good candidate for a rewrite in React Native. We learned a lot, including that our retail merchants expect almost 2x the responsiveness in our POS due to the muscle memory of using our app while also talking to customers. In order to best serve our retail merch…

Why couldn't they help contribute to/optimize React Native to be faster?
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