Ionic vs. React Native: Which one should you go for when Building a Mobile App?
In today’s era of constant connectivity, information and data are more important than ever. Many businesses are abandoning traditional websites in favor of sleek, user-friendly mobile apps. To create a mobile app that operates on several platforms with minimal additional work, developers can take advantage of a hybrid mobile app framework.
These days, you may get various hybrid mobile app frameworks. In this article, we will go over one of the two most popular open-source hybrid frameworks for creating hybrid mobile applications: Ionic Vs React Native.
What are those frameworks?
Ionic Framework
Ionic is a free and open-source user interface framework for building mobile and desktop apps with web technologies, including CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), HTML5, and JavaScript. It facilitates the development of robust, cross-platform software.
The Ionic Native and Capacitor frameworks provide native APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and web-based components suited for mobile use. Drifty Co-created the Ionic framework in 2013 using Apache Cordova (formerly PhoneGap) and Angular.js as its foundation. In 2019, however, the Ionic platform was introduced with support for different front-ends.
You can use Angular, React.js, Vue.js, or even vanilla JavaScript with Ionic to develop a hybrid mobile app.
React Native Framework
When comparing the success of React Native with Ionic, there are significant differences. Ionic was a startup, whereas Facebook, one of the world’s largest and most well-known companies, launched React Native in 2015.
To construct native applications with React code, developers can take advantage of the cross-platform capabilities of React Native Mobile app framework. It runs invisibly in the background and connects to the device’s native components.
In the case of React Native, JavaScript may be used for the building of apps for both Android and iOS. It makes it easier to build apps that run on multiple platforms by providing “native” components that behave like the native UI (User Interface) elements of those platforms but are not native to any of them.
Ionic and React Native, in Comparison
You are familiar with frameworks like React Native and Ionic by now. Now we can begin contrasting React Native and Ionic to see how they vary.
Popularity
React Native is more popular than Ionic (at 12.5%), according to the Stack Overflow study of 2022. Recently, Ionic has been rising in popularity, but only some are aware of its features and advantages.
Learning Curve
React Native
If you are not familiar with React technology, the learning curve for React Native will be steep for you.
Ionic
Compared to React Native, the learning curve is much more manageable here.
Third-party Integration
React Native
Many useful libraries are included with React Native mobile app framework. While there is no shortage of third-party plugins, many of them can be difficult to integrate into a React Native app.
Ionic
Thanks to the Ionic framework’s extensive library, developers can easily locate plugins like Ionic, Apache/Cordova, and others. In addition, developing custom modules in Ionic is significantly simpler than in React Native.
Plugins and Community
React Native
Facebook and Instagram use and support React Native, which has helped to increase its popularity among developers. Therefore, the framework has a sizable group of people who can provide answers, enhancements, and news. When familiar with React, you will feel right at home using React Native.
Ionic
Ionic’s growth and popularity have been steady for some time now. You can search the community for the necessary plugins to gain access to native capabilities. In addition, there is a market in the community where members can buy and trade different plugins.
Debugging
React Native
Chrome’s developer tools, Consol.log, and the official React Native debugger app make it simple to inspect and fix bugs in JavaScript-based code used by React Native apps. Any editor, such as XCode for iOS apps or Visual Studio for Android apps, can be used for debugging if enough native code is used.
Ionic
Developers can benefit from the ease of debugging thanks to the special collection of tools included with Ionic, such as the Chrome dev tools. The plot, however, has a surprising turn. Projects that take advantage of Ng Cordova’s hardware features may find the debugging process more challenging.
Testing
React Native
You can use various testing frameworks with React Native, from unit testing up to full automation.
Ionic
Ionic’s end-to-end testing setup is quite close to that of Angular CLI (Command Line Interface). So, Karma can be used for checking individual parts. As a bonus, Jasmine and Protractor are used for integration and unit testing.
Application Size
React Native
In the case of the Expense Manager app, the React native build has a size of about 8.5 MB.
Ionic
In the case of the Expense Manager app, the Ionic build is about 3.2 MB in size.
Development Time
React Native
The development cycle for a React Native app averages about 1.5 months.
Ionic
The time required to create the Expense Manager app using Ionic is one month.
Which Framework Should I Use?
It is not easy to decide which is superior, Ionic or Native. All contribute in their own unique way. All we can do is compare and determine which one serves a particular function best.
Ionic is the option if you want to create an app that will be made available for mobile devices and a wide variety of operating systems. To that end, you will strengthen your online profile. Because the code is standard across all applications, maintenance and updates will be less hassle. You will also avoid wasting effort and materials. It is a handy addition that works with many different management systems (like MPMS, for example). Having a single hybrid app that works across devices allows for more precise control and reporting.
However, if you are looking for iOS and Android mobile design and development, you will find more success using React Native. It enhances the functionality of these systems for the benefit of its users. In addition, native apps tend to perform better and offer greater flexibility.
Summary
If you have decided which framework to choose for your next hybrid app development, you can contact a mobile app development company to hire app developers and bring your dream app into reality.
