I switched from Flutter to Expo

React native is a good start for web developers to develop mobile applications

I started developing my first mobile applications a few years ago and at that time using react native was a game changer to me. I did not need to know a new language like java or swift. I could you markups which is expressive and I know it as the back of my hands.

But then the marriage between me and react native could not last long since react native at that time (version 0.5 or 0.6 I did not remember exactly) was limited in native functions, laggy, hard to develop smooth experiences.

Then I found Flutter

I was developing a mobile application for making shopping lists and react native could not deliver high performance 60fps when filtering a list of more than 10 items even with flat list. Then I saw flutter as alternative, I tried and Flutter was really a framework that could fix my performance issue.

During the time working with Flutter, I found that I was not as productivity as I worked with react native even I have worked with Flutter more than 1 year. I think it was due to the way dart language works, it is not declarative as react.

I released 3 apps with Flutter in 1 year, I worked mostly 1-2 hours in my free time in 2-3 days a week.

And now I am back with React Native and Expo

After the new version of react native came out with new architecture, hermes and Expo became offically recommended on React Native site, I decided to give it another try and this time I am happy. Expo now is much better, I love builtin navigation solution and it works similarly to nextjs or remix. The performance is also better now.

At the time I am writing this blog, I am developing my two applications, one is a clock and the other for travel. I have another one in react native without expo, I will probably soon change it to expo also.