When native app development was the norm for almost all the developers, Facebook brought React Native for app development for hybrid apps. React Native’s birth gave the idea of using only one language for developing mobile apps across all platforms to successful fruition. Since 2015, it has been leveraging and accelerating hybrid app development.Today, Facebook, which saw a huge opportunity to build a React-based framework for developing hybrid apps, attempts to step away from its past and modernize its plans due to two reasons:

It believes developers involved in React Native can better monetize the growing number of connected Internet-enabled devices.
On the other side, React Native can drive many sales for Facebook and heavily influence the tech communities.

The above facts highlight an essential phenomenon about React Native – companies seeking to prioritize performance, efficiency, and sales prefer to build apps using React Native.

The Rise of Mature and Robust React Native Apps

React Native’s popularity started with a war between native platforms of Android and Apple (Swift and Kotlin, respectively). The primary reasons were React Native’s unified development teams, improvement in velocity, and lower costs. The MVPs converted into full-fledged projects and gave rise to some of the most inspiring apps.A few facts that showcase the rapid growth of React Native in the app development sector:

In 2016, Overstock.com already implemented React Native.
In 2017, IFA, the adaptive publishing platform, got first place in the SERPs.
React Native is more than 50% of the apps crawled by Google, according to a study by STAT in April 2018.
From 2019-2021, React Native remained at 2nd position as the most preferred cross-platform mobile framework by software developers globally, briefly grabbing the 1st spot in 2020, mirroring its first five years.

Keep reading ahead as we dig into the most outstanding react native examples:

1. Tesla

Generally “steering” the world of high-tech electrical automotive, Tesla took a jump to consumer tech in 2016. React Native spearheaded the entire infotainment system in Tesla cars, enabling easy automatic updates over time. The infotainment code reached millions of users, as it produced 145k vehicles. The Tesla app designed to control these cars partially can also help diagnose and locate a car with a smartphone.

What Went Right for Tesla with React Native?

The infotainment system is now the biggest React Native consumer, alongside the touchscreen and window switches. Apart from that, Tesla also utilized React Native for developing an app that controls the user interface of these cars. It has a stunning dark theme for its user interface.

Why Tesla Chose React Native?

The need for a modern display and control system in the cars pushed Tesla to choose React Native for their future developments. The Tesla app is written in React Native, especially for their vehicles and Powerwall. Whether you have Android or Apple, the app can control all the features like horn, charger, locks, lights, and even the roof with equal finesse.

2. SoundCloud

SoundCloud rose to become a hub for more than 20 million artists, podcasters, and sound creators. The music and audio streaming cloud platform receive almost 12 hours of new content every minute. With support for more than 175 countries and 500+ protocols, Sound Cloud grew leaps and bounds in its popularity for its simple and easy user interface. As one of the most popular apps built with React Native, it made the experience of searching and listening to favorite sounds and songs worldwide straightforward with highly effective browsing.

What Went Right for SoundCloud with React Native?

The developers created the SoundCloud Pulse app for music creators to manage their accounts and grow their followers. At first, they faced some difficulties, as hiring iOS developers didn’t look possible. Also, they didn’t want to create a massive gap between the releases for both platforms. They started user-testing sessions with an independent research team with prototypes. It made it easier for developers to work on a React-based app than a native one.

Why did SoundCloud Choose React Native?

Versatility and easy accessibility to stream and listen to music tracks are the two principal reasons SoundCloud opted to go with React Native. React Native’s native modules helped them to bridge anything which has been built previously and passed on seamlessly through Javascript which made implementation very simple.

Also Read: 10 Reasons to Use React Native for Mobile App Development

3. Airbnb

The Bed n Breakfast on cloud started as a simple website for travelers looking for accommodation. With React Native, Airbnb built a straightforward user interface that is less complex, more powerful and has a fresh look. It made it easier for travelers to connect with hosts and book rooms and homes for extended stays. Moreover, it enabled the users to look at the rooms before booking, delivering a personalized experience.

What Went Right for Airbnb with React Native?

For Airbnb developers, the cost of integration with existing apps was high, but the efforts paid off in the end. It was reasonably easy to start with, even though some challenges came along the way. A significant challenge was that new people found it difficult to understand status management concepts in the app. However, the reusable code brought smoothness in refactoring and iteration. It recently released Epoxy Library for Android that implements React Native’s declarative syntax and others.Read Also : Real Estate Mobile App Development: Everything You Need to KnowFor the founders, experience and an intuitive interface were the two crucial factors for building the app using React Native. Further, they also wanted to give a sense of familiarity to their users, no matter which device they use and wherever they are. React Native proved highly beneficial to boost user engagement by 40%. Today, Airbnb boasts of a user base of more than 150 million people, 2.9 million hosts, and over 5.6 million listings across 200 nations.

4. Instagram

Instagram doesn’t need an introduction as the path breaking social media platform for sharing photos and videos. In 2016, it glided into integrating React Native with its existing technology to push features faster across Android and Apple versions. React Native is behind this incredible and widely used platform for developing its three main components: Feed, Explore, and Profile. Currently, it has a whopping 500-million user base with over 80 billion photos shared.

What Went Right for Instagram with React Native?

Instagram started integrating the framework for Push Notifications, developed initially as WebView. The user interface was already relatively straightforward, with no need to build the navigation. Developers initially came across a few challenges, but React Native came out strong by sharing almost 85% - 99% of code between Android and Apple apps.

Why Instagram Chose React Native?

The entire implementation took only one React Native developer who knew how to work with React Native, instead of having a whole team. Working with the language provides immense scalability to add new integrations anytime. All the existing Backend services can work well with React Native, making it easier to get instant feedback on performance.

5. Walmart

The multinational retail company of the USA, Walmart, has a chain of 11,000 supermarket stores worldwide. Their app built with React Native offers a seamless online shopping experience, product search, and in-store price checking. According to the developers, React Native made it possible to use almost 95% of the code base between both platforms. Moreover, they only required one team of JavaScript developers to bring the project to completion.

What Went Right for Walmart with React Native?

Walmart’s goal was to target multiple platforms without writing separate codes and expand their user base to Android instead of only iOS. Walmart mentions that the most significant benefit of working with React Native is the ability to leverage the same automation suite on both platforms. Further, it also helped them gain more control over announcing dates for update releases. Improving customer experience was another goal alongside enhancing the performance. React Native helped Walmart achieve these goals in a shorter span with identical native apps and smoother animations.

Why Walmart Chose React Native?

React Native allowed Walmart to use the skills of the same team for developing apps on both platforms, which helped them reduce labor costs to a great extent. The initial development stages and additional features needed less time, giving them a competitive edge to meet evolving demands. Moreover, they recommended working with React Native to build app projects for startups and Fortune 500 organizations.

Final Words

The scalability of apps, delivery costs and maintenance, and user interface complexity are the three central factors that make React Native immensely advantageous for business owners. The cross-platform framework works smoothly when:

Businesses need to target an audience on more than one platform
The app idea is conceivable by developing an MVP
The competitive edge doesn’t depend mostly on OS-specific featuresChoosing a trustworthy app development partner is one of the critical factors on which the success of your app projects depends. More so, it’s the skills and expertise of React Native developers who can help map out a suitable plan, estimate all the risks and opportunities, and follow a methodology that adheres to the deadlines. At Third Rock Techkno, our developers check all the above boxes to guarantee success.

MORE ON REACT NATIVE:How Much Does It Cost to Develop a React Native Mobile App?Pros and Cons of React Native Development in 2021Flutter vs React Native: What To Choose in 2021

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5 Most Inspiring Apps Built with React Native in the Mobile App Development Front in 2026