React Native vs native apps: which should you build?

What each approach actually means

A native app is written separately for each platform, in Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android. You end up with two codebases, usually two sets of developers and two backlogs to keep in step.

A cross-platform app, such as one built with React Native, shares most of its code between the two platforms. Screens and logic are written once and the framework renders real native interface components on each device. You still publish to the App Store and Google Play separately, but the work behind them is largely shared.

When one cross-platform codebase is the right call

For most business apps, cross-platform is the sensible default. The things these apps do are well covered:

• Lists, forms, dashboards and search
• Sign-in, user accounts and permissions
• Maps, location and push notifications
• Camera, photo upload and document scanning
• Payments and subscriptions
• Working offline and syncing later

It also fits when you want both platforms at launch without doubling the budget, when your team already works in JavaScript or TypeScript, or when you want a single backlog so a new feature arrives on iPhone and Android together.

When fully native is worth it

Native earns its extra cost when the app leans hard on the phone itself. Be honest about whether yours does:

• Games and heavy 3D or real-time graphics
• Advanced augmented reality
• Deep integration with brand-new operating system features on release day
• Demanding background processing or very low-level hardware access
• Animation-heavy interfaces where every frame has to be perfect

If none of those describe your product, the cost and delay of two native builds usually buys you very little.

What it means in practice

Cross-platform does not mean build once and forget about the platforms. You still test on real iPhones and Android phones, you still deal with platform differences in things like permissions and notifications, and you still go through App Store and Google Play review.

What changes is the shape of the work. One team, one set of screens and one backlog, with a small amount of platform-specific code where it genuinely matters.

Questions to ask any studio before you decide

1. 1.Which of my features need platform-specific code, and how will you check they work on both?
2. 2.Do you test on real devices, and on which versions of iOS and Android?
3. 3.Whose name will the Apple and Google developer accounts be in?
4. 4.How are fixes and updates shipped between store releases?
5. 5.What happens if we later need a feature the framework does not support well?

A studio that answers these specifically, and tells you when native is the better choice, is usually one you can trust with the rest.

Where we land

We build mobile apps in React Native with Expo and TypeScript, because it suits the business apps most clients need: one codebase, both stores, and a back end that can be shared with your website. If your idea genuinely needs fully native code, we will say so before you spend anything.