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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

#531

Post by on_and_off »

divbzero wrote: post #184
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…

Ten years ago Facebook fought this battle and lost. [1] [2] [3] [1]: https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/using-ht... "Using HTML5 Today" [2]: https://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/11/facebook_admits_h... "Facebook admits HTML5 not competitive with Cocoa Touch" [3]: https://techcrunch.com/2012/12/13/facebook-android-faster/ "Facebook Speeds Up Android App By Ditching HTML5 And Rebuilding It Natively…

Native Mobile will be replaced by web in x years (where x is usually 2 to 5) has been uttered since day 1 of mobile apps.

I tend to skip reading these arguments nowadays unless they start by explaining why it hasn't worked so far and how it will be addressed.

edit : also, you can add progressive web apps to the home screen, so this ain't it AFAIK.

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

#532

Post by OJFord »

gorgoiler wrote: post #492
krrrh wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are thousands of desktop app developers that never got out of the hobby stage because they couldn’t get past the costs of processing payments, managing refunds, managing download servers, implementing licensing frameworks, implementing a smooth upgrade process, search engine optimization, establishing enough trust with users that they are confident they aren’t installing malware infected software, marketing, pu…

Part of what makes it so galling is because Apple has those competencies in spades anyway (SREs, designers, datacenters, bizdev.) Another aspect is that the App Store feels like a value-add for the actual marketed products — iPhones and iPads — and not something you are ever explicitly buying. It doesn’t show up on the receipt. People talk about buying a new iPhone, or getting then latest iPad. No one ever goes to th…

> Part of what makes it so galling is because Apple has those competencies in spades anyway (SREs, designers, datacenters, bizdev.)

But what do you mean 'anyway'? If Apple suddenly said 'you know what, App Store is EoL, do your own distribution' (because of legal or whatever reason) surely there would be a spade or two of those competencies that were consequently redundant?

I don't imagine they're hiring people to work on say Apple Maps; who subsequently say 'cor, good thing I'm here, someone should take a look at that unstaffed app store project'!

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

#533

Post by Normal_gaussian »

octodog wrote: post #451
Normal_gaussian wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simply, it doesn't affect me adversely at all. I think you have a misunderstanding as to how many notifications are generated. Today I received: * 3 reminders to eat * 1 security alert (delivery) * about two dozen instant messages between myself and clients * a couple of dozen CI alerts * 3 emails Its easy to have different levels of notifications, and filter message channels. I have less distraction now than I had i…

Do you use Whatsapp / Messenger regularly for social stuff? Coincidentally I was looking at my Digital Well-being settings in Android today and was told that I get over 170 notifications from Messenger a day.

I do. But I can't say I'm that popular! They are also muted and don't vibrate.

Most people I talk to work at the same time as me, so to get a social message during the day would be unusual.

Everyone knows to call if it matters.

Note: also be aware that the digital wellbeing count counts updates to an existing notification as a notification. As such my morning alarm counts a few dozen notifications (alarm in 8hrs, alarm in 7hrs, 30mins, 2 mins, etc.)

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

#534

Post by criddell »

asdff wrote: post #456
criddell wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Performance is about a lot more than speed. I want low battery, CPU, data, and memory usage. That's a lot harder to do in a web app.

It's the native apps that kill my battery, fetching content in the background all the time, not the mobile web which is suspended when I exit safari.

You think if those developers made a web app it would be significantly better?

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

#535

Post by scarface74 »

krrrh wrote: post #477
bsaul wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a developer of a pro app in a niche market trying to make a living on the app store, i can tell you those 30% are what prevents me from working full time on my app.

There are thousands of desktop app developers that never got out of the hobby stage because they couldn’t get past the costs of processing payments, managing refunds, managing download servers, implementing licensing frameworks, implementing a smooth upgrade process, search engine optimization, establishing enough trust with users that they are confident they aren’t installing malware infected software, marketing, pu…

Trust and payments being the largest.

I download any random crap on my iOS devices trusting that the sandbox and permissions model will keep the app from doing too many things I don’t expect. I’m not downloading a random app on my computer.

I can also pay a lot easier on my phone than digging out my credit card.

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

#536

Post by rhlsthrm »

crystaldev wrote: post #274
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…

> 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. This can't be understated. You can always tell when you've opened a React-Native (or similar "portable") app. It always feels like shit.

Instagram is React Native right? I wouldn't say it feels like shit.

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

#538

Post by hoyer_io »

avip wrote: post #118
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?

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

If you use a native wrapper and load a webview inside you can publish it in the AppStore.

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

#539

Post by linusjs »

There is really no technical reason why mobile can't be predominantly web-based now. Electron applications like vscode and figma show that you can make great software without any native code. Combine this with the fact that newer mobile phones are extremely fast, it just doesn't make any sense from a technical perspective why we need to use native all that often anymore.

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

#540

Post by fauigerzigerk »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #470
alexsexotic wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you ever heard of WeChat? The Facebook quivalent of China, which is on its own an operating system serving many miniapps. What's interesting about it it lets other apps access qr scanning and the WeChat wallet for payment.

Is WeChat an example of React Native?

I don't think so, but WeChat hosts so called mini programs that are implemented using Web(ish) technologies. There's a million of those mini programs with 750 million monthly active users. So it's an example of successful mobile Web apps if you will.
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