10 Common Mistakes to Avoid During React Native App Development

An open-source JavaScript-based mobile app framework created by Facebook, React Native is used to build cross-platform applications (for Android, iOS, Windows, etc.) using the same codebase with refined user experiences. In other words, one code can be shared across platforms which saves developers a lot of time and resources. What’s exciting about React Native is it enables mobile app developers to use React’s framework along with native platform capabilities and thus helps them develop apps that look and feel truly native.

Read: Native vs Cross-Platform Development: What’s the Right Fit for your Project?

The framework has been adopted by many businesses around the globe including the likes of Facebook, Uber, and Skype, and receives huge community support. It is undoubtedly a remarkable framework for building high-quality scalable applications. Although React Native has gained immense popularity and grabbed the attention of mobile app development companies worldwide, developers often come across some challenges and make some mistakes during react native app development. One needs to be well-versed with its entire ecosystem to avoid creating a mess with the JavaScript syntax that could negatively impact the user experience.

You may also like: React Native vs Flutter: A Detailed Comparison

So, in this article, we will take a look at some of the common mistakes that you should avoid when developing React Native apps.

1. False Estimations

Yes, React Native allows for code reusability and has several reusable components but developers must understand that the page structure and the layout of an app can vary considerably on different platforms. Secondly, if you are creating a web application, it is important to check all the endpoints offered by the backend. They should all be coded correctly as you will have to handle the app logic.

So, always consider and prepare for two separate layouts and keep in mind the database structure before forming your estimation.

2. Not reading codes of external modules

Developers try to save a lot of time through external modules which is a very common practice. Since they are tagged along with documentation, it makes things faster and easier. But it is mostly seen that either the modules break or do not work as expected. For this reason, React native developers must pay attention to the code and read it carefully. Doing so helps you identify the associated problems with the module and guides you on how to solve or tackle them.

3. Bad coding practices

One thing that you should understand is leveraging bad coding practices won’t allow you to extend the application. Worse, you will have to modify the code from time to time if the requirements exceed. And since the code isn’t extensible, you will have to write a huge piece of code. So, what’s the solution?

Don’t come up with a plan when you have already started coding. Form a plan and then start coding. Follow good coding practices to ensure code readability. For instance, use property restructuring. Break down the render elements into readable helper functions. Use a meaningful name for variables to define prop types, separate life cycles, methods, and elements in the component.

4. Incorrect planning/set-up of redux store

During react native app development, developers often focus more on planning the layout of the application and less on the data handling part of the project, which makes managing the app and its data a bit arduous. This is where Redux helps.

Redux is a powerful tool that helps in managing and storing the app data correctly and effectively. One important thing with Redux is that it is better suited for large-scale applications. You will have to write a lengthy piece of code even for minor modifications. So, it is advised to opt for Redux for heavier applications and avoid it for small projects.

Furthermore, the redux needs to be planned or set up in the right way else it can mess up with the logic tests, debugging, and application data flow. For that matter, you need to:

1. Form a store hierarchy and arrange your files

2. Incorporate the first reducer function

3. Include more reducers and integrate them

4. Add middleware

5. Configure the store

5. Left “console.log” statements

Console log statements are very useful and even assist you with debugging the app execution. But what if you leave the log statements in the app?

It can be a critical issue if the render methods and logic are kept inside, mainly those that are asynchronous as they may affect the JavaScript thread. Also as per the documentation, it involves calls from documentation libraries such as the redux logger which calls even in the production mode that eventually makes the application slower.

6. Not writing a Unit test

Another common mistake that developers make when developing react native apps is not performing unit testing. This step usually gets ignored by most developers because they are habitual of working without written unit tests. But moving ahead in the development process without a unit test in place can prove to be a risky move.

Addressing the bugs and issues at the very last moment or post the product’s launch can be a strenuous task. When a product that contains glitches is made available to the public, it creates a negative impression about the product as well as the brand. The best way to avoid it is to test its functionality and ensure all components are working perfectly, prior to the product release. This is where unit testing comes in extremely handy.

Unit tests allow developers to test the individual units or components of the application to validate that each component is working as expected. This is done during the development stage (coding phase) to fix the bugs early and helps developers save time and money in the end.

7. State’s direct mutation inside the render function

You can see in the above image how View and Datastore are interconnected. The latter carries your entire data in component and the former is rendered on the state basis following which it consumes a new state from the data store and displays it on the screen.

To accomplish that, React comprises a Set State () function which captures the new state and compares it with the previous state.

Post merging with the previous state, a new state is finally added and sent to the state datastore. This cycle is accessible throughout the component lifetime when you build an application in React Native.

Now, if state mutation is done directly, the lifecycle gets disturbed and corrupts all previous states, which results in unnatural/unexpected app behavior and may even lead to the app getting crashed. You are also likely to lose track of the state across components and will compel you to custom code in place of React. On top of that, you will be bounded with unmanageable code and a heavy application.

8. Using Stateless component

The stateless component was a great option for developers to boost React Native performance up until React 16 but not anymore. Some still use it but it’s not that effective now.

Stateless component doesn’t extend any class and neither has any local variable. They simply return what is assigned to them in the DOM. They offer easy testing ability, rapid implementation, and allows the team to launch the product in the market faster. But they aren’t considered ideal for the present case scenarios.

It has been overtaken by pure component which seems to be a better option to accelerate the React Native development process and improve performance. The reason why developers prefer it is primarily because of Shallow comparison. This is beneficial for applications with complex User Interfaces as it reduces the render operations, the reason being it comes with a life cycle method that automatically performs the shallow comparison and then checks for re-rendering. Unlike stateless component where re-render happens when the parent component re-renders, pure component re-renders only when a change is identified in the props’ states.

9. Unoptimized Images

Adding to the mistakes to avoid when developing React Native apps is leaving the images unoptimized, and unoptimized images consume a lot of space and memory. Image optimization should be a high-priority task as it directly impacts your app’s performance. Also frees up storage and memory. You can perform the following task to optimize images-

1. Resize the image (into smaller size) before uploading it into React

2. Use only WebP format for the image to accelerate the load time and reduce bundle and binary sizes

3. Keep PNG as a priority over JPG

4. Cache your images locally

10. Overlooking project structure

Not a major one but new and inexperienced React native developers often do not organize their project structure or invest time in its framework which makes it quite difficult to run and maintain the project. It is therefore advised to structure the projects, files, and folders as they make things comfortable. Having a good project framework helps in quick development.

So, these are some of the common mistakes that developers make while developing react native apps. And now since you know what they are, avoid making these mistakes during react native app development.
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