You must have seen how popular smartphones are becoming day by day. Smartphones are one of the major sources through which you can connect your audience or customers with the help of various types of mobile applications. 

And in regard to this, you may have a look at this stat of smartphone users worldwide from 2014 to 2020.

 

So, there are various technologies that are coming in front of us with the rise in mobile application development for smartphones. 

It starts with Hybrid application development frameworks that are based on languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in order to compile and deploy apps across multiple platforms. After that, there are native frameworks with the help of which you can use web tools for mobile development but can also use the native API of Android or iOS.

The purpose of both these platforms is the same that is the creation of mobile applications with the help of web technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript. The thing that differs them is their features they are available with and their nature that in which manner they communicate with the APIs of specific platforms.

In this piece of article, we will disclose the facts about two kinds of frameworks- React Native and Ionic along with their features and drawbacks. 

But before starting the discussion, it is mandatory to tell you that you can hire Ionic developers for hybrid mobile app development and React Native to build cross-platform framework to build native apps.

Hybrid and Native Apps

Before doing any discussion between Ionic and React Native, let’s know what is actually the difference between hybrid and native apps are. Hybrid apps are basically websites embedded in a mobile app which are called as webview. They can be developed with the help of languages like  HTML5, CSS, and Javascript and use the same code instead of the platform in which they actually run. They use the native features of the device like GPS or camera with the help of tools like PhoneGap and Cordova. 

On the other hand, Native apps are built in the language which is needed by the platform it targets Objective-C or Swift for iOS, Java for Android, etc. They have direct access to all the features which are provided by the platform without any problem and restriction. 

Which One Should You Choose: Ionic or React Native?

Let’s have a quick look at the nature and features of both these platforms individually so that is may become easy for you to choose the best one according to your choice and requirements. 

Ionic Framework: Better Performance And Elegant Design

Ionic is a standard framework that was launched 5 years ago by Drifty.co for hybrid mobile app development. With the help of this, developers are free to build apps for most of the platforms with the help of just a single code. It is based on web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and platforms like PhoneGap/Cordova in order to provide the native-like experience.

It is one of the most famous frameworks through which you can build feature-rich, modern and elegant apps.

React Native Framework: Build Native Apps Using React

React Native is a cross-platform framework that is based on Java technology and is developed by the Facebook community. Developers with the help of making use of a single codebase can build enhanced and native-like apps. This framework aims to build amazing applications with JavaScript and React. 

Facebook is having a dedicated community for making React Native a more advanced tool and it uses React Native in most of the apps. 

React Native vs Ionic: The Key Differences

The language stack

Ionic

Ionic is a framework that is based on Angular which is a Javascript framework.  It makes use of HTML templates for its views. As views and logic are clearly separated so it is in the Model-View-Controller pattern. 

React Native

React Native is based on the Javascript framework React, which is why it uses Javascript code which is very similar to HTML but is known and called JSX. Here, the display logic is blended in with the business logic. Basically, this is not an issue as most of the developers are comfortable with JSX. But if in case, you are working with a team, then it will be a little difficult for editing template files and writing CSS. It is not like this that the developers will take weeks to get comfortable with this, but they might need a little time what is actually going on. 

Design consistency

Foremost, if in case, you want to design system and desire to enforce UX and brand consistency in all the apps and digital experiences, this could be done in one way only: If the components are shared in all digital platforms, like mobile, desktop, native, and the web. Apart from this, With the help of using web components, you can reuse the component for any project that is built for one app. And this is considered to be the one and only way. 

Portability

Your UI runs on a portable, standardized layer as you know that Ionic is based on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. With the help of open web standards, Ionic makes this possible for you to build a component that automatically works without caring on which platform your app is running. Apart from this, you will find yourself enabled to run your Ionic apps on new platforms like Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) with no changes.

Performance:

The reason behind why developers choose React Native over Ionic is that React Native offers an experience which is very close to Native and that is why developers are obsessed with this native feeling. Here you are required to modify some platform-specific components as it desires to offer closer native appearance. 

React is very suitable for large-scale applications as it is a more stable framework. It is able to provide great performance and responsiveness which needs a very high budget. 

On the other hand, Ionic is known as browser apps using mobile-optimized HTML, CSS, and JS components. It is able to provide a hybrid approach to app development and is suitable for the rapid prototyping of an app. Apart from this, it is able to fulfill modern needs in a way that shows that reflect once, runs anywhere software paradigm.

At times, there could be some issues with the performance and the reason behind this is that a lot of callbacks to the native code involved, and you are required to download various plugins in order to access native features. 

Plugins and Community:

A number of plugins are available for React Native. Apart from this, with the help of a wide community, React Native is able to find important information, updates, and solutions to solve your issues. In order to use PhoneGap/Cordova plugins, there is a plugin available for this also. And this is really helpful to access various mature plugins from the other communities.

On another hand, For Ionic too, you can find an established and grown-up community which is very helpful in assisting and solving your issues.  In order to get native features, there are a lot of PhoneGap/Cordova plugins available. 

Final words

In a nutshell, it could be said that both these frameworks are doing well at their own place. 

But if you keep a low budget and want a high performance, then you can go for Ionic.

And if you are having a high budget and want unlimited high performance, then you should go for React Native development services.

Hopefully, this piece of article is somehow successful in letting you know that what is the basic difference between the features and the nature of React Native and Ionic. If you really found this article fine then drop your opinion in the comment section.