What strikes your mind when it comes to mobile app development? The fundamental element of providing an app is that it gives the end-user a wonderful experience. Correct!? Of course, it goes without saying that the application must have a superb user interface, an amazing user experience, as well as quick and error-free performance.

Would you like to know how the biggest players in the world’s economy are ensuring the same? They employ the React Native Framework to guarantee that their customers have a flawless app experience. The following three main factors explain why the biggest companies in the world favour React Native:

• React Native has become a popular framework for building mobile apps that run on both iOS and Android.
• Its ability to allow developers to use a single codebase for both platforms has made it a go-to choice for many.
• It Facilitates developers to focus on the more significant aspects of the project by allowing faster shipping for a top-notch mobile application.

React Native may urge you to use it because of its incredible USPs, but you are well aware of the difficulties it poses. Undoubtedly, React Native promises to give you an app that is very performant, but there may be times when the developers need to manually update the project. Programmers need to have a thorough understanding of the performance optimization standpoint to maximize the potential of this cross-platform technology.

However, like any app, performance is crucial to ensuring a good user experience. It’s essential that you optimize your apps as a React Native developer so they run smoothly and are simple to use. For achieving peak app performance, you must write streamlined, effective code utilizing the appropriate libraries and tools.

Check out these tips and tricks to boost performance and improve the overall user experience of your React Native app.

Best Tips to Boost React Native App Performance

Use the latest version of React Native

One of the easiest ways to improve the performance of your React Native app is to ensure you are using the latest version. Each new release of React Native app development framework includes performance improvements and bug fixes that can help speed up your app.

The command “react-native upgrade” may be found in the root directory of your project and is an easy way to update to the most recent version. Additionally, keeping your dependencies up to date also ensures that you are using the latest versions of any third-party libraries you are using in your app.

Use the Chrome Debugging Tools

The Chrome Debugging Tools are a powerful tool that can help you identify performance bottlenecks in your app. They allow you to inspect the JavaScript code that is running on your app, as well as view the layout and styles of your components.

To use the Chrome Debugging Tools, you will need to enable debugging in your app by running “react-native run-android –variant=devDebug” or “react-native run-ios –configuration Debug” depending on the platform. Once you have debugging enabled, you can connect to your app using the Chrome browser and access the debugging tools by typing “chrome://inspect” in the address bar.

With the debugging tools, you can view the performance of your app in real-time, as well as view the network requests and JavaScript console.

Use the Profiler

React Native includes a built-in profiler that allows you to see the performance of your app in real-time. The profiler provides a detailed breakdown of the performance of your components, including the time it takes to render and the amount of memory used. To use the profiler, you can enable it in the developer menu by shaking your device or running “adb shell input keyevent 82” on Android or “Command + D” on iOS.

With the profiler, you can identify which components are taking the most time to render and make adjustments to optimize their performance.

Optimize Images

Images are often a major cause of performance bottlenecks in mobile apps. To optimize the performance of your images, you should ensure that they are properly sized and compressed.

Large image sizes can slow down the performance of your app, especially on lower-end devices. Additionally, you should use a tool like React Native Fast Image to improve the performance of image loading in your app. This library uses a combination of native modules and web workers to improve the performance of image loading, which can significantly improve the overall performance of your app.

Use FlatList and SectionList

FlatList and SectionList are optimized components for rendering large lists of data in React Native. They are more efficient than the standard ListView component and can improve the performance of your app.

FlatList and SectionList use a virtualized list that only renders the items that are currently visible on the screen, which improves the performance of large lists. Additionally, these components support lazy loading and can help improve the performance of your app on lower-end devices.

To use FlatList or SectionList, you will need to import them from the “react-native” library and use them in place of the standard ListView component.

Improve Debugging Speed

The rate of troubleshooting significantly slows down productivity and app performance. You’ll observe that an application’s agility may be hampered by its bug count. Use Flipper to expedite the procedure and guarantee that all issues are fixed. It integrates effectively with both native app platforms and React Native.

The layout includes a network inspector and has a thorough log. You may monitor the functions, logic, and methods by integrating it with your code, which will cut down on the amount of time you spend troubleshooting.

Use PureComponent and shouldComponentUpdate

React Native uses a virtual DOM to update the components in your app. However, sometimes components re-render even when their props or state haven’t changed. To prevent unnecessary re-renders, you can use the PureComponent or shouldComponentUpdate.

PureComponent is a component that implements a shallow comparison of props and state, so it only re-renders when there are actual changes. shouldComponentUpdate, on the other hand, is a lifecycle method that allows you to control when a component re-renders. By using these tools, you can prevent unnecessary re-renders and improve the performance of your app.

Use third-party libraries with caution

While third-party libraries can be a great way to add functionality to your app, they can also be a major cause of performance bottlenecks. Before using a third-party library, you should always research its performance and make sure it is well-maintained and actively supported. Additionally, you should pay attention to the size of the library and make sure it is not adding unnecessary bloat to your app. It’s also a good practice to keep an eye on the number of dependencies and try to keep them minimal.

Conclusion

With that being said, React Native is a highly effective framework for developing mobile apps, but like with any app, performance is essential to ensure a positive user experience.

You can boost your React Native app’s performance and make sure it functions effectively by adhering to these 7 guidelines. Recall to always keep your app updated to the most recent version of React Native, identify performance bottlenecks using the Chrome Debugging Tools and Profiler, optimize images, use optimized components like Flat List and Section List, control when components re-render using Pure Component and should Component Update, and use third-party libraries with caution. These strategies will assist you in developing a high-performing React Native app that offers your consumers a smooth experience. Keep in mind that speed optimization is a continuous process, so you should keep an eye on your app and test it regularly to spot and resolve any performance issues that may occur.