Swift Or React Native: Which Framework To Choose For Your iOS App Development

When you want to develop an application for iOS, the first and foremost question will be like, shall I develop a native application or cross-platform application?Swift and React native both are new technologies that support application development for iOS. According to statista, the survey conveys that one-third of mobile app developers use cross-platform frameworks to develop a mobile application. The rest were using native tools for native app development. It is always better going with native app development when developing mobile app development. But some cases are using cross-platform for mobile app development. You may be wondering about your development project, which platform is good. Here we listed out that clarify your concerns between the technologies for mobile app development. Swift vs React Native: Choosing the Right iOS Framework is crucial for successful project development.

Swift Programming Language:

Swift is a native app-building framework for Apple. It is designed for one platform for developing iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS apps which is an upgraded version of objective C. Swift supports objective C and has 48.2k GitHub stars and 7.71k GitHub forks. Swift is suitable for the projects with complex infrastructure, in-app payment and iOS features.

Pros of Swift Programming Language:

1. Available code: Swift is an open-source language and currently distributed on the Apache License.
2. Error handling: It has a robust typing and error handling system which prevents errors and code crashes.
3. Less coding: The language is concise, which means it needs less code to perform the same task when compared to react-native. 
4. Faster coding: It is built with performance. So the language is simple syntax allowing the apps to be made faster.
5. Easy scaling: Swift language is extended with new features. So these types of language coding apps are more comfortable to scale.

Cons of Swift Programming Language:

• Swift is a native platform and only used for native platforms. So, to develop apps for both platforms iOS and Android, you need another language for android platform, i.e., Reactive or Java or Kotlin.

React Native Programming Language:

React native is cross-platform open-source native app development for both iOS and Android, which is maintained by Facebook. React native use Javascript, and 70% of code can be shared with different platforms such as iOS and Android. Codesharing reduces development cost and time of cross-platform apps. Reactive has 78.3k GitHub stars and 17.5k forks on Github.

Pros of React Native Programming Language:

Fast development: 90 % of the code for the mobile app is taken from web applications. So developing iOS apps with reactive is 33% faster than swift and takes 1. 5 months.

Less debugging: Bug tracing requires less effort with the react-native.

Hot reloading: It allows coders to visualise the code that is about to create. This makes the whole development steps more productive.

Feature expanding: You can extend the app functionality with existing javascript modules.

Less budgeting: you can run the project with a small team which reduces the price.

Cons of React Native Programming Language:

• App store restrictions: if you use react native, it uses libraries that update native code which the app store will reject.
• Lack of wrappers: Developers need to design custom wrappers to certify the app with native components, modules and API’s which takes time.
• Security: React-native is an open-source framework that has gaps in security validity. While developing related financial applications, it needs extra security patches.
• Complex design: Android and iOS have various design guidelines for the development of the application. It is tough to develop high-quality custom UI for react-native apps.
• Frequent apps: React native apps update its components frequently. 

Swift vs React Native for iOS App Development:

1. Speed of coding:

   Swift is the most time-saving code to develop an iOS app. Swift makes the process easier and purges out the drawbacks. So it is convenient to build an iOS app. Whereas react native, the framework used is Javascript, the language is easy to learn and powerful in making web apps. When building the android app with react native, we can even copy and paste the code to some extent where swift coding is done from the beginning, i.e., scratch.

2. Performance:

   This main feature decides which framework is more efficient because it is an essential consideration for the development of mobile apps. And this performance decided on three factors, i.e., allocation memory, energy impact for various tasks and CPU usage.

Swift works better when it deals with heavy computational tasks and graphical effects. Whereas in react native, developers develop modules, which acts as a medium between code and platform, helping in-app performance. React-native is better than the Swift when it comes to CPU usage optimization, but in graphical effects, it is a bit difficult to react native framework.

3. User interface:

   when developing an application on swift language, coders code it from scratch. So the app design elements are furnished separately. At the same time, react-native uses internal APIs to run native elements. The app itself adjusts to any screen size.

4. Community support:

   Swift coders can receive technical support from public forums while in the mobile app development process. Whereas react native is an open-source framework, coders get support from individual developers and companies globally.

5. Development cost:

   React native reduces the development cost by 30 – 35% when compared to native app development for the project. So it is a cross-platform framework cost-efficient solution for developing an application. Budget orientation framework.

6. Bugs:

   In React native, bugs are solved due to a single code base for both iOS and Android platforms. And also it is a single .jsx file and easy to resolve and maintain bugs

When to choose which one Swift Vs React Native?

Up to now, we have seen the pros and cons, how it works on each feature, but now you will understand when to choose swift and React native.

• Apps with a single platform – when to develop complex & powerful apps for iPhone users, it is better to go with Swift.
• Apps with complex user interfaces – when you need resource-intensive mobile applications with many user interface interactions. For example, messaging applications built-in with geolocation feature then go with Swift because complex application on native platforms is a good one.
• Apps with scalability, business applications with high-level security such as banks and fintech, demanding native platform APIs and payment systems choose the swift language to develop a mobile application
• Utilities and media players- it is easier to develop such media player and battery monitoring on swift because these apps use native features and API provided by iOS. Creating native wrappers for API’s increases the development cost and time.
• Fetch and display apps and apps with a single conference and event is good to go with react native framework.

Choose Swift for iOS App Development:

• Develop only iOS app
• When it is a complex app and needs a large platform-specific code.
• When maintaining an app for over a more extended period.
• When managing elements such as memory footprints and needs more interactions with a user interface such as games.
• When needs support new mobile OS features after platform support.

Choose React Native for iOS App Development:

• When a development requires a hot reloading, live reloading features and fast-developing time.
• Need an app for both platforms with a small team with limited resources and time.
• When the app looks and works the same for both platforms.

Both languages Swift & React native are potent tools for development for Swift iOS app development and react-native iOS app development. However, it is the right decision to take which one to go with development, and also it is based on the type of project. For better suggestions, contact us.