Peerbits’ guide to best React Native libraries, dev tools, and ecosystem to use in 2021

When it comes to React Native, there are a plethora of tools and libraries that developers can use for their project. But this abundance of variety also causes confusion among the React Native developers as to which tools and libraries should they go for.

To solve this exact confusion, we have come up with a complete guide on React Native libraries and dev tools that one should consider using in 2021. But before we begin let’s a have glimpse of the React Native ecosystem and its components.

React Native ecosystem

Build system

Build system helps developers to build new web applications with utmost care. Here it’s important to notice that the build system is not just the instrument for running scripts, instead, it has the ability to alter the shape and structure of the applications. However, for this to happen, there are a few things that must be followed:

• Running preprocessors and compilers.
• Asset optimization for production
• Managing internal and external dependencies.

Separate UI

Mobile app developers across the world know that the ability to write HTML, CSS, and JS within one file is one of the biggest challenges. However, with React Native in place, developers can effectively overcome this huge challenge.

Database

React Native also comes with many options for databases. The database developers can store data either dynamically or locally. This is interesting since most of the applications need offline-online synchronize support.

Here are a few of the databases which spreads Native’s local storage ecosystem:

• Firebase
• PouchDB
• SQLite
• Realm
• Couchbase

SQLite is quite popular as it offers a zero-configuration database engine. The best part about this is its library. Furthermore, it’s also specially crafted to work for iOS and Android.

Navigation

Some people find navigation simple; however, the truth is that React Native navigation is quite tough. React Native can be quite confusing due to a cluster of options and solutions. React Native offers different solutions for navigation which are mentioned below:

• Navigator
• NavigatoriOS
• React Navigation v5

Apart from these, there are also different module-based implementations that enable developers to induce navigation via developed apps.

JavaScript-based implementation module

JavaScript-based implementation modules ensure better performance due to their robustness. This is exactly what makes these modules different from the natively-coded navigation tools. Moreover, developers can use two different variants for working on embedding navigation in the React Native apps.

1. React Native Router Flux: It’s a robust library that is preferred by the majority of developers. It’s easy to use and also helps in restricting the navigational logic from the user interface of the developed apps.

2. React Navigation: It’s one of the most widely used navigation libraries which works well with native apps and with navigation tools. Furthermore, it’s also regarded as the improved version of the Navigational Experimental.

Native-based implementation Module

Developers opt for a module different than the one based on JavaScript, Native-implementation based, and straight to develop exceptional navigation solutions.

1. Native Navigation: This module is built by Airbnb developers for inducing native type navigational components in React Native. Furthermore, this module also has excellent libraries to use.

2. Re-route Native: This is a full typed interface that supports native elements along with eliminating the need to depend on JavaScript threads for embedding. Re-route animations also run on declared APIs which enables developers to override these animations when required.

Others

Some additional React Native solutions are:

1. React Native Scrollable TabView: This solution is only exclusive for Android developers which helps them to add flexibility in navigation.

2. Animated Tabs: This solution is used for introducing navigation between tabs. And React Native Animated Tabs is the first choice for many developers.

Leading React Native Libraries

There are a number of React Native Component Libraries which developers use across the globe. Here, we will be discussing some of the major ones.

React Native Component Library helps in customizing the app package using JavaScript. Moreover, with this, you don’t need to use any special syntax or language for defining styles. It’s also important to know that React Native components library accepts the prop named style.

The values and style names generally match how CSS works on the web application. The only exception is that the names are written in camel casing.

NativeBase

NativeBase is one of the major application development frameworks which helps builders to create a native mobile application that runs on mobile frameworks. The major targets of these modules are the feel, look, and UI of the application.

In simple words, it helps in programming the UI of any application. It also plays a major role in app development.

Shoutem

Shoutem is an app-building framework that helps in building and publishing native apps with the use of React Native and JavaScript. This library makes the app building process easier along with helping builders to save time by automatically setting up a part of the application.

React Native Elements

React Native Elements is a popular framework tool that assists in combining several UI modules which are totally open-sourced in a single place.

This library enables developers to dive into several packages which are premade for app development. These packages consist of a number of modules like the search bar, divider, and many more.

UI Kitten

UI Kitten is a React Native Components Library that can be used during the initial process of mobile application development. UI kitten also has 20 multiple purposes functions that are styled in a way to make the visual appearance look appealing.

It also has several inbuilt themes that have the option to create more. These themes can be added to give apps a sleek look.

React Native Material Kit

React Native Material Kit is unique because it brings its new way in the design to all the material which are used in the app development.

It has various types of materials such as cards, buttons, and range sliders that can also be used to give designs to applications.

Furthermore, it also consists of progress bars, spinners, etc. for radio buttons, display loading, and checkboxes, etc.

React Native Lottie

This library helps in adding animations to the applications. Every animation which is added to any of the apps via this library is in JSON format.

Since the size of animations is small, it becomes easy to manage the application. This also makes the user interface of the app easy to use, simple, and more exciting.

This library is available for free and consists of animations that can be used for app development.

React Native Vector Icon

This Component library enables builders to add icons to the developed applications. These applications consist of over 3000 icons. It also enables builders to choose the icons which are required for application development.

The vector icons also enable developers to customize to extend icon styles. The addition of such icons in the application makes it easier for the user to use the application.

Ignite CLI

Ignite CLI is also considered as a starter kit for native apps along with the default Native boilerplate which is present in the builders. These are responsible for building native apps free of cost.

It’s extremely beneficial for the developers since it gets installed easily and helps developers in the app-building.

React Native Mapview

The React Native Mapview enables the map modules. Furthermore, it also helps the API to control features on the map. Mapview offers a variety of ways by which you can customize the style of the map.

Moreover, you can also change the position of the map view. Developers can also animate along with zooming into the location as per their requirements.

Developers find this module quite useful since it uses React Native API which is known as Geolocation to ascertain the global position. This Geolocation API exists on a global navigator object through navigator.geolocation.

Following are a few of the methods that are available in the navigator.geolocation:

• getCurrentPosition enables developers to request a user’s location at any given instant of time.
• watchPosition is very similar to getCurrentPosition.

React Native Gifted Chat

React Native Gifted Chat is a chat UI that enables users to send messages effectively and quickly with more features as compared to the others.

Developers can use this library for chat User Interface. However, its wider scope has replaced most of the companies. This library is written with Typescript and it uses its 0.8 version.

This library has very customizable modules. It also enables users to attach media, pictures, etc. with the help of easy composer actions with multi-line input.

Ant-design

Ant-design is a consolidated development framework of Webpack, NPM, DVA, and Dora. The thing which makes this component library special is its wide and unique customer base.

Furthermore, users can also nest UI components that can provide a smooth user experience. This React UI library allows seamless integration and ES6 support.

React Native Material UI

The React Native Material UI offers around 20 components for React Native. These components include avatars, dividers, subheaders, action buttons, drawers, toolbars, and much more. These are highly customizable components that use material design in their construct.

Here it’s possible to extend customization that is made to the theme to different components as well. Furthermore, the local changes can be made simply by overriding styles wherever required. This library has got more than 3000 stars on GitHub.

React Native Paper

React Native Paper is an open-source library. This Material Design library fulfills almost all the needs of the developers since it covers most of the use cases. Furthermore, it also helps developers in building responsive interfaces for the web and mobile at a lightning speed.

No matter which platform you choose, whether it’s Android or iOS, React Native Paper always offers developers all the required tools and instruments to ensure a flawless user experience of the application.

In addition, this library is actively managed, maintained, and developed by its community. It consists of 30 customizable components that can be adjusted as per the choice of the platform. Moreover, this library complies with RTN standards and accessibility which makes the application accessible and inclusive to users having diverse backgrounds.

React Native snap carousel

As the name suggests, this is a carousel component of React Native. This library comes with multiple layouts, images, various previews, performant handling of items, etc. This library works well with both the platforms Android and iOS. Furthermore, it also comes with tricks and tips on performance optimization.

This library has over 8000 stars on GitHub. Developers can use this library whenever they are looking to add stylish sliders to their app.

React Native Developer tools

If you’re still confused as to which React Native developer tools you should go for then don’t worry as we have made a list of the top tools. Some of these tools are useful for beginners and others are useful for experienced developers.

We have also given credit to the creators of these tools. So, let’s have a look at these top React Native Developer Tools for 2021.

Webstorm

Webstorm is a robust, lightweight IDE for JavaScript, web, TypeScript development which is also equipped for complex server-side development and client-side development with Node.js. This React Native tool helps in writing codes of high quality in quick time regardless of the magnitude of the complexity of the project.

Furthermore, it has out-of-the-box support for almost every popular technology along with a range of inbuilt developer tools which eliminates all the time required in setting up the development environment and gets you straight to the work.

Atom

Atom is an open-source and free text editor which is quite popular for its hackability or easy approach. GitHub launched atom in February 2014. Atom is known to support Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Atom also enables developers to select various open-source packages to add more functionalities and features. Its services include cross-platform editing, an in-built package manager, bespoke designs & themes, and navigation of multiple files through a single window.

Nuclide

Similar to Atom, Nuclide is also an open-source and free React Native tool; however, it’s generally developed as a single package over the top of Atom. Nuclide also has high hackability and it also offers the support of a huge community of developers who are always ready to help other developers.

Nuclide also comes with in-built support for Flow. Moreover, it also includes auto-complete, inline errors, and jump-to-definition features.

Nuclide was released by Facebook in the year 2015. It comes with a cluster of services like Hack development, working sets, Remote and JavaScript development, in-built debugging, task runner, mercurial support, etc.

Visual Studio Code

Microsoft created Visual Studio Code which is known for its open-source and free React Native source code editor. This tool supports TypeScript, JavaScript, and Node.js for all JavaScript developers.

Furthermore, it also has a strong ecosystem of extensions that supports other languages such as Java, PHP, C#, C++, and Python. It also supports runtimes like .NET and Unity.

The thing which makes this tool quite powerful is the combination of developer tools like IntelliSense code completion & debugging and source code editor. This tool was released in April 2015 and is written in TypeScript and JavaScript. Furthermore, it also supports all the important platforms such as Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Expo

Expo is an open-source toolchain for React Native developers which offers several features like a Slack community, documentation, community forums. Moreover, it also provides a rich source of React Native components such as the Expo SDK library and native APIs for both Android and iOS platforms.

Flow

Flow is a React Native programming tool that provides static typing. It was released by Facebook in November 2014 and since then it has emerged as a developer’s favorite tool for reliable, fast, and simplified coding.

It’s an open-source and free tool. It’s also known for offering services such as real-time feedback, ease of integration, type interference, and customizable JavaScript. Flow also monitors errors in code via static typing annotations.

Redux

Redux is one of the highly recommended React Native tools in the developer community as it provides time-traveling debugger and live code editing. With the help of Redux, developers can create applications which can run on the different environments like native platform and front-end.

It’s also has a very small file size which is just 2KB and it works quite well with React.js and other libraries. Andrew Clark and Dan Abramov developed Redux.

ESLint

ESLint is also an open-source React Native tool that makes use of JSX and JavaScript languages. It also helps in error detection during the exploring and programming of existing source codes.

ESLint operates on Node.js and is known to support the development of various cross-platform applications such as Mac, Linux, and Windows. Furthermore, it also offers advantages like clear documentation, in-built and customized plugins, transparency, etc.

Firebase

Firebase is one of the most renowned React Native tools that is used for the application’s backend. Firebase is the best option when it comes to the database service of the application or if you want to add some additional features to the application.

One of the major advantages of Firebase BaaS for React Native applications is that it simplifies the entire development process.

XCode

Many times, developers don’t need tools just to offer a coding environment. Instead, you need it also for debugging the code efficiently along with adding few things to the code. If you’ve such a similar requirement, then XCode is the best option for you for React Native development of iOS applications.

It’s because XCode is the best development environment for macOS and iOS. This tool enables developers to create applications on custom configuration and along with offering easy install iOS packages to the applications.

Android Studio

As XCode is the best React Native tool for app development on the Apple environment, Android Studio is the best tool for developing apps on the Android platform. This tool uses different languages for application development which makes it easier for developers to create React Native applications with Android Studio.

Another major advantage with Android Studio is that it offers several options for debugging and testing applications with the assistance of a huge catalog of emulated mobile phones which are available on the platform.

Furthermore, Android Studio also helps the developers to know about the different versions of Android where their developed applications will work.

React Navigation

React Navigation has gained a lot of attention from React Native developers across the world because it enables the developers to establish navigation and routes in the native applications via navigators like Drawer and Stack, Tab, etc.

This tool is written in JavaScript and it helps to create components for both Android and iOS platforms. Furthermore, it also offers bespoke JavaScript and Extensible platforms.

React Native tools

React Native Tools is nothing but a Visual Studio Code extension. It provides a helpful environment for React Native app development projects. It also assists developers while they are debugging the codes. React Native tools are free and it runs the react-native command with the use of a command palette. This tool is developed by Microsoft.

Enzyme

Enzyme is a free JavaScript tool which widely used for app testing. Developers use this tool as it is easy to traverse, manipulate, and asset the React Native components. Its APIs are flexible and intuitive. Airbnb released the Enzyme tool in 2015.

Conclusion

The ecosystem of React Native is really massive. Although we tried our best to mention all the dev tools, libraries, navigation, database, and many more. Even then we are sure that we might have missed out on a few since it’s such a huge ecosystem.

When it comes to proper utilization of all these dev tools and libraries, then Peerbits has top-notch React Native developers who possess the required skills and experienced to use all the libraries and tools mentioned here. To know more in detail, you can contact Peerbits. Also, you can hire offshore React Native developers for your next project.