React Native App

This article was written by Klara Sánchez.

The truth is we decided to use React Native since it is a technology that is JavaScript based (one of our main languages at the company, so that implied a shorter learning time) but it then compiles in the two native languages. And, to be more precise, we actually use TypeScript which makes  types and code management easier. It means using a single codebase that is compiled into native code for each platform, which means that the resulting application is indistinguishable from one built using platform-specific tools.  

React Native is basically React with some native components and it provides a responsive user interface that reduces load time significantly. It was created in 2015 by Facebook and has since built a large community due to its ease of use, versatility and performance. It´s also much faster and cheaper to build apps in this technology as opposed to building two different ones in two different languages! 

One of the biggest advantages of React Native is that it allows developers to write code once and deploy it on different platforms: iOS, Android and the web. And although we at PromoFarma don´t use it for the web (we have another project for that) it is already a great advantage. 

Another one of the benefits of using React Native is that it allows the incorporation of third-party plug-ins, libraries tools, and APIs, so the dependencies are also similar to any other JavaScript technology such as Vue or React. It is compatible with Redux as well, great for managing the application state, React Navigation or Expo: a tool specifically designed for app development and testing.

It´s also a declarative programming model, and that allows developers to describe the user interface of their application in a simple, concise manner. That makes the code more maintainable and easier to write, which allows us to focus more on the logic of the application without worrying so much about the interface.  

One of the main challenges React Native presents is that it can be difficult sometimes to achieve the same level of performance and native feel as a fully native application. This has to do with the fact that it relies on a bridge to communicate between JavaScript code and native code and we all know that some things are lost in translation. 

Although it is a fairly new technology and is therefore evolving constantly, it has a large community already and a very powerful documentation. So it´s not hard to keep up with the latest developments and best practices.

Some parts of the development are a bit difficult, such as implementing rich push notifications or some SEO tasks as well as some dependency updates which affected us negatively. Therefore, since our launch, we have been iterating the application to make it even better and we work every day to fix small bugs or iterate stories to make them as perfect as possible.

Our UX expert, Sandra, is making a huge effort investigating and compromising between the UX needs and the development difficulties to make our app great without making our job impossible.

Also, Ana, our PO and our QA team are reviewing every day what we develop in order to achieve our goals. 

I joined the team once the application was already launched and had never worked with React Native before, but being comfortable with JavaScript and React, I could engage quite fast and deliver tasks pretty quickly. I am supper happy to be part of this team, it is super easy to work with colleagues and we have a lot of fun on all our meetings before getting back to hard work.   

To be honest, working in the mobile app team can sometimes be challenging (impostor syndrome and the likes always make our day to day harder), and the fact is that we are approximately 25% female professionals in the global tech world. Which is why it is crucial that we work in a safe space. Because our team is composed of so many great people besides the tech team (PO, TechLead, QA, etc.) I always feel supported and appreciated, and can say PromoFarma is such a space. I encourage any women developers to sign up for any job offerings at PromoFarma; it is most definitely an environment where anyone can feel comfortable.