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Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

theimmigrantprogrammers.com

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Re: Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube is in danger of becoming the video site of last resort if they keep allowing SEO engineers to drive good content down and instead drive garbage to the top Also, I got my first DMCA takedown the other day. They said I'm allowed 3 before they delete my site. All my videos passed the copyright check when I uploaded them so I relied on that as fair use. It occurred to me that my site will inevitably be taken down…

I'm sure you've thought about this already, but you might want to `yt-dlp` your videos now if you care about preserving them.

Where would you host them?

Re: Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

#52
This is very inaccurate in many aspects, not sure if actually anything accurate in this except the fact that Airbnb did use and eventually dumped RN (source: I worked at Airbnb 2015-2019 on the platform team).

As others have linked, Airbnb actually did write a summary about this.

Basically what went down: For years Airbnb had actually pretty strong native mobile engineering both on iOS and Android (some of the best engineers I’ve worked with) there was no issue investing more in to it. The had the resources, platforms were working well.

The main challenge however was that anything the company needed to launch, needed to be built on 3 platforms at the same time (4 if you count tablet). Timelines were often tight which made the overall coordination between the platforms tough.

One the main examples of this was when 2015-2016 team I was part of basically redesigned and rebuilt the mobile apps, and created a design system/component/layout library at the same time for each platform. It was a huge effort.

At the same time, there was one guy basically hacking on React Native and ended he built the whole component system by himself in few weeks, compared to the months it took in native platforms. This was obviously impressive and company decided to experiment if we could use RN more to speed up development. I think the idea was never to fully replace the native platforms or even core flows, but there were lot of random flows and screens in guest and host apps which only minority of the users see.

So 2016-2019 there was a core team working on a RN adoption, and different people and teams used it in different projects. There were some technical issues at times with performance and navigation that got eventually solved.

However where it all came down was there wasn’t that much adoption and there wasn’t clear group who would actually use RN. Mobile engineers didn’t want to write RN code and web engineers didn’t want to build on mobile. RN also requires understanding of the native platforms, and if the point is build both for iOS and Android, then you need to understand both platforms which is a rare skill set.

So in the end it was just more complicated than it was worth.

I think new company/product can build the team and culture around RN will have better success.

I’d still think if it’s the right choice given what you are building. No matter how good you are I think the RN/Flutter apps can be ok it’s really hard to make them feel fully native.

Re: Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

#53

Airbnb switched away from React Native at a time when a lot of other high-profile companies did as well and wrote technical blog articles about it. Discord was one of the few dissenters: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17619609 Looks like they're doubling-down further still: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32310392 Looks like Shopify also picked up RN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22181873

The way Discord tamed React Native was writing its chat view entirely native. This is the area in which users probably spend 99% of their time. Similarly, in the Facebook and Instagram apps, React Native is banned from the home timelines and other areas where performance matters. Recently Discord finally ported their Android app over. Even if you separate the "change is bad" factor, many users report it's quite laggy…

Discord on Android has absolutely taken a step backward since the shift. Just a little bit in UX/I (text input is larger than it used to be and doesn't scale with any appearance settings), but significantly in assigning messages to the correct person. Many a time in the past few weeks where a chunk of my messages in a DM get attributed to the other person after a minute or two, presumably due to some sync issue. I ain't impressed.

Re: Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

#54
I don't mean to be too edgy here, but it has to be said.

Why does anyone care what technology AirBnB uses for their mobile apps or websites?

AirBnB is an incredibly successful company because of their marketing, ability to scale, and the fact they offered the right thing at the right time.

Their website however, is slow and clunky. Their apps are slow and clunky.

What about that side of their company is worth emulating?

Re: Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minor nitpick, I don't know if there really is such a thing as a singular "correct English", especially when you're comparing across cultural groups (but even within). There are so many variations between American English (and its various subgroupings), British English, Indian English, Singaporean English, etc. It's a widely-used living language, and one without a central authority (language regulator, unlike many ot…

Syntax affects semantics. Seeing "Why he dumped his clothes on the bed?" you can guess that they MEANT to say was "Why did he dump his clothes on the bed?" But there's a bit of uncertainty there, was that really what they meant to say? Or did they mean to say something like "Why did he dump his clothes on the bed IS MY QUESTION" but somehow the rest of the sentence got lost. Syntactically correct sentences have typic…

I think this is kinda missing the point: that what might look "incorrect" in one version of English is perfectly common and acceptable, maybe even "correct", in another. There is no one universal definition of "correct English". There is no one single English, even more so than in languages that at least have regulatory agencies (language academies).

Each English-speaking region comes up with their own rules, perhaps initially descended from a group of British or American emigrants, but evolving over time to form their own variants. It happened from the slave trade, it happened from the age of sail, it happened in Hawaii, in the American South, in the American West, in the Philippines, in India, in South Africa... they all speak subtly different variants, with different rules.

There is no universally correct use of English. There are various rules documented in various dictionaries and grammar/style guides, and reinforced by teachers and higher-class people of various societies, but those are descriptive, after-the-fact illustrations that follow the evolving language, not the other way around.

It's one thing to say that a child's usage of language is incorrect because they haven't learned it yet, within a certain cultural context. It's another thing entirely to presume that your region's usage of English is the only "correct" one. There's no such thing.

Examples (American vs British):

"Data is" vs "data are"

"Do you have a car?" vs "Have you got a car?"

"I already saw that film" vs "I've already seen that film" etc.

color vs colour, trunk vs boot, etc. more examples here: https://www.thoughtco.com/differences-between-american-and-b...

For the blog title in question (which isn't an American vs British difference, to be clear, but possibly an Indian English construction -- not sure), the sentence is perfectly clear, with or without the "did". There isn't some weird ambiguity about it, especially in the context of a tech blog. I agree that it sounds strange to American/British ears, but it's not really "incorrect", it's just a regional stylistic difference -- or so we surmise. Give it 50 years' worth of population growth and migrations, and that construction might very well become the more common one, leaving the American and British versions sounding quaint and foreign.

Now, maybe a related question is whether the writer should've written in the American style, kinda like how many foreign English singers will emulate an American accent. In that case it's not a question of correctness anymore, but of adapting your communications for a cross-cultural context and targeting a specific group of English users and their traditions. I'm not arguing that the author should or should not have done that, just that their choice wasn't "incorrect". Just different from what we're used to.

Re: Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

#56
post #4
post #3

Right near the beginning: > Till the year 2012, Airbnb was just a React website. React wasn't released until 2013.

First thing I noticed as well! I think nowadays younger developers mostly simply equate "web frontend" with "React" subconsciously. :)

It was Rails and React was maybe adopted more broadly after 2016

Re: Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube is in danger of becoming the video site of last resort if they keep allowing SEO engineers to drive good content down and instead drive garbage to the top Also, I got my first DMCA takedown the other day. They said I'm allowed 3 before they delete my site. All my videos passed the copyright check when I uploaded them so I relied on that as fair use. It occurred to me that my site will inevitably be taken down…

I'm sure you've thought about this already, but you might want to `yt-dlp` your videos now if you care about preserving them.

I've been on YouTube since the beginning. In the early days I uploaded a short clip from a favorite movie but YouTube removed it. A bunch of other people downloaded it and kept re-uploading it until YouTube finally gave up. I guess their new tact is tougher. They threaten to delete your account now.

Re: Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

#58
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it strange that it seems less wrong to me without the question mark?

No, in American (and I think British) English, it's common to add a word before the subject in a question. "Why Airbnb dumped RN" does not have to be a question. But when it is, American and British speakers expects an "auxiliary", I think it's called... from wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject%E2%80%93auxiliary_inve... "Sam enjoys the paper" is fine. "Sam enjoys the paper?" sounds weird, like you're que…

To me it sounds like this:

"Sam enjoys the paper?" could have emphasis on "Sam" and sound fine - it is asking if it is Sam or someone else who enjoys the paper.

"Sam enjoys the paper?" could have emphasis on "enjoys" and sounds fine - it is asking if Sam enjoys the paper or feels some other way.

"Sam enjoys the paper?" could have emphasis on "paper" and sounds fine - it is asking if Sam enjoys the paper or something else.

And "Does Sam enjoy the paper?" sounds fine too - it is asking a more specific yes/no question.

Re: Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

#59

I don't mean to be too edgy here, but it has to be said. Why does anyone care what technology AirBnB uses for their mobile apps or websites? AirBnB is an incredibly successful company because of their marketing, ability to scale, and the fact they offered the right thing at the right time. Their website however, is slow and clunky. Their apps are slow and clunky. What about that side of their company is worth emulati…

I mean you've made the fantastic point for why people care already.

People care especially if they feel a very successful business has slow and clunky apps. It's research.

How did they end up in the position they're in? What good/bad decisions do they feel they made?

Obviously it's interesting to people in the space. Where is anyone saying it's because they want to emulate it?

Re: Why did Airbnb dump React Native? (2021)

#60

Airbnb switched away from React Native at a time when a lot of other high-profile companies did as well and wrote technical blog articles about it. Discord was one of the few dissenters: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17619609 Looks like they're doubling-down further still: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32310392 Looks like Shopify also picked up RN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22181873

Does anyone know if Facebook is written in React Native? Also what's the role of React Native in Oculus/AI/AR apps?
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