Why You Should Use React Native in 2025

We've spent years building apps and navigating the ever-changing landscape of mobile development. One thing has remained consistent: choosing the right technology can make or break your project. While Swift and Kotlin deliver top-tier native experiences, the overhead of maintaining separate codebases is a challenge — especially for startups and businesses looking to move fast.

That's where React Native shines. In 2025, despite new frameworks entering the space, React Native continues to be a powerful, scalable, and cost-effective solution for cross-platform mobile development. Let's dive into why.

Faster Development, Lower Costs

Time and budget are critical for any company, but especially for startups. React Native's ability to share code across iOS and Android significantly reduces development time and costs. Features like Hot Reloading allow developers to see real-time changes without restarting the app, making the development process smoother and more efficient.

For companies launching an MVP or iterating quickly on features, React Native provides the perfect balance of speed and flexibility without sacrificing quality.

A Thriving Ecosystem & Large Developer Community

After Facebook (Meta now) dropped support for React Native and made it open for the community, tech experts saw the end of React Native, but the opposite has happened. More companies, tech, and developers adopt it, and still, the community is growing.

One of React Native's biggest advantages is its massive developer community. Unlike newer frameworks that are still growing, React Native benefits from years of contributions, third-party libraries, and well-documented solutions to common problems.

Need a UI component? There's a library for that.
Stuck on an issue? Someone in the community has likely solved it.

This level of support means faster troubleshooting, better third-party integrations, and a more developer-friendly experience overall.

Native Performance with Flexibility

React Native has come a long way in terms of performance. Starting with 0.66, the new Bridgless architecture by default, With Fabric & TurboModules, rendering speed, and memory efficiency have improved significantly. While pure native development will always have an edge in ultra-high-performance applications (like advanced gaming), React Native provides near-native speed for most business and consumer apps.

Plus, if you ever need to drop down to native code for specific optimizations, React Native lets you do so seamlessly. This hybrid approach gives you the best of both worlds — cross-platform efficiency with the option to go native when needed.

Companies have adopted that, and even saw an increase in performance of 5 times faster:

The React Native team has merged some C++ Dynamic Libraries (libraries that load only at runtime, also known as .so files) into one library (libreactnative.so) for Android. Nicola (from Meta) showed us a demo where an Android app with React Native 0.74 ships with 43 dynamic libraries, but in React Native 0.76, the list of dynamic libraries has been reduced to 10. Ultimately, Android apps are now approximately 3.8MB smaller and have ~15ms less startup time

// Example of a React Native component with the new architecture
import React from 'react';
import { View, Text, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import { createTurboModule } from 'react-native/Libraries/TurboModule/TurboModuleRegistry';

// Define the Turbo Module interface
export interface Spec extends TurboModule {
  readonly getConstants: () => {
    readonly initialCount: number;
  };
  readonly increment: (count: number) => Promise<number>;
}

// Access the native module
const CounterModule = createTurboModule<Spec>('CounterModule');

export function Counter() {
  const [count, setCount] = React.useState(CounterModule.getConstants().initialCount);

  const handleIncrement = async () => {
    const newCount = await CounterModule.increment(count);
    setCount(newCount);
  };

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Text style={styles.count}>{count}</Text>
      <Button onPress={handleIncrement} title="Increment" />
    </View>
  );
}

Powered by the JavaScript Ecosystem

React Native leverages JavaScript, the most widely used programming language in the world. This means access to a vast ecosystem of libraries, frameworks, and tools that accelerate development.

For companies already working with React on the web, transitioning to React Native is a no-brainer. Teams can share knowledge, UI components, and even some business logic between web and mobile apps. This streamlines development and reduces the need for separate specialized teams.

Trusted by Industry Leaders

React Native isn't just for startups — many big names continue to rely on it, including:

• Meta (Facebook, Instagram)
• Airbnb
• Shopify
• Walmart
• Tesla

This kind of adoption proves that React Native is scalable, battle-tested, and capable of handling real-world production workloads.

Shopify, for example, has switched all their codebase to React Native, with impressive results.

Key Considerations for 2025 and Beyond

While React Native offers plenty of advantages, it's important to approach it with best practices in mind:

• Stay Up-to-Date — React Native is evolving, and keeping up with the latest updates ensures you're using the most optimized version.
• Optimize for Performance — While React Native has improved, proper architecture, state management, and avoiding unnecessary re-renders are key to ensuring a smooth experience.
• Use Native Modules When Needed — Some complex or performance-intensive features (like AR, VR, or heavy animations) may require native code. React Native's ability to integrate with Swift/Kotlin provides flexibility when needed.
• Prioritize Testing & Debugging — While React Native has solid debugging tools, mobile testing strategies (including device testing) should always be part of the process.

Final Thoughts: Is React Native the Right Choice in 2025?

Absolutely. In 2025, React Native remains one of the best choices for cross-platform mobile development. Whether you're a startup looking to build an MVP quickly or an enterprise seeking scalability, it delivers a great balance of speed, performance, and cost-effectiveness.

With a strong community, continued innovation, and real-world success stories, React Native isn't just relevant — it's thriving.

If you're considering mobile development in 2025, React Native should be at the top of your list.