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# There's an app for that - on the role of cross platform development in the app development ecosystem

Think building mobile apps requires massive budgets and dual codebases? Discover how React Native and Expo let you ship true native experiences using just your web development skills.

- **Speakers:** Aleksandra Desmurs-Linczewska
- **Event:** WeAreDevelopers LIVE
- **Published:** November 3, 2021
- **Duration:** 35:09
- **URL:** https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/278-there-s-an-app-for-that-on-the-role-of-cross-platform-development-in-the-app-development-ecosystem

## Summary

The initial wave of smartphone excitement promised an 'app for everything,' but traditional native development often stifled innovation due to the high cost of supporting separate iOS and Android codebases. By shifting the perspective to building fun, low-stakes projects, developers can overcome the intimidation of mobile tooling. Cross-platform frameworks solve this structural bottleneck, enabling teams to push out mobile applications swiftly, efficiently, and with drastically lower financial overhead without sacrificing user experience.

Comparing the modern app ecosystem highlights why React Native continues to be a heavily favored option. While Cordova wraps web code in a browser shell—placing limits on deep native capabilities and scaling performance—and Flutter requires learning Dart, React Native compiles JavaScript directly into an actual application with full native hardware access. Supported by heavy ongoing open-source investment and specialized tooling like the Hermes runtime engine, developers can leverage their web skills directly in mobile environments. Tools like Expo further flatten the learning curve, surprisingly allowing developers without Apple hardware to write, test, and render iOS applications.

The iterative journey from an initial concept to publishing on Google Play and the App Store is highly accessible for solo engineers. Creating simple applications demonstrates that mastering fundamental state management, styling, and component composition in React Native inevitably mitigates typical mobile performance issues. Organizations additionally aren't forced into a risky, all-or-nothing migration; 'brownfield' development strategies allow for the piecemeal integration of React Native screens directly into existing native codebases. Furthermore, because the final bundle compiles down natively, QA engineers can execute automated mobile tests using traditional native frameworks without needing to understand the underlying JavaScript code.

**Keywords:** cross-platform app development, react native framework, cordova webview shell, flutter dart ecosystem, expo testing environment, brownfield application integration, native module implementation, mobile component composition, react native paper, hermes javascript engine, automated native mobile testing, app store publication, mobile application performance, hybrid mobile architecture, ios and android codebases

## Chapters

1. **Overcoming barriers to simple cross-platform mobile development** (00:03) — Lowering the barrier to entry by creating simple and fun cross-platform applications.
1. **Comparing architectural costs between native and hybrid workflows** (04:59) — Reducing resource overhead by shifting from native silos to write-once publish-anywhere codebases.
1. **Evaluating capabilities across dominant cross-platform mobile frameworks** (06:06) — A comparison of the largest cross-platform frameworks based on language requirements and performance characteristics.
1. **Analyzing market penetration metrics among mobile framework deployments** (10:54) — How installation statistics reveal the underlying success rate of applications built with different frameworks.
1. **Transitioning from frontend web development to mobile environments** (12:53) — Moving from wrapper frameworks like Ionic to generating genuine native applications with unified codebases.
1. **Examining the ecosystem and roadmap of core native libraries** (14:28) — How corporate sponsorship and open-source contributions drive the evolution of mobile JavaScript engines.
1. **Testing applications locally without requiring proprietary hardware systems** (16:48) — Leveraging open-source platforms to write and test cross-platform mobile apps without mandatory operating systems.
1. **Mastering animations and rendering through simple learning projects** (20:46) — Utilizing a lighthearted side project to understand application structure, animation rendering, and styling mechanics.
1. **Navigating the vendor publication and application screening process** (23:59) — Overcoming screening hurdles to successfully publish verified applications in major platform application stores.
1. **Developing core open-source projects in scaling consulting environments** (27:08) — How contributing to core open-source libraries and dedicated research programs accelerates engineering growth.
1. **Optimizing component composition to prevent mobile rendering bottlenecks** (29:37) — Understanding frontend composition principles before writing mobile views ensures you avoid common rendering limits.
1. **Selecting mobile user interface libraries for rapid prototyping** (30:56) — Relying on established open-source component ecosystems allows developers to rapidly deploy visually cohesive layouts.
1. **Executing automated application tests across native compiled builds** (31:36) — Using traditional native testing tools to validate compiled application output sidesteps modifying development codebases.
1. **Integrating cross-platform modules into existing native legacy codebases** (32:51) — Strategies for inserting cross-platform features incrementally into established native environments enable smooth codebase migrations.
1. **Balancing engineering cost factors when defining mobile architectures** (33:45) — Balancing engineering compensation costs and time-to-market advantages drives decisions towards scalable multi-platform languages.

## Related Moments

- [Transitioning to React Native from web development](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/274-making-the-switch-from-web-to-mobile-development) (from "Making the switch from web to mobile development")
- [Defining native applications and the history of React](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/277-hands-on-react-native-from-zero-to-hero) (from "Hands-on React Native: From Zero to Hero")
- [Improving developer productivity with cross-platform mobile application frameworks](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/533-the-power-of-the-community) (from "The power of the community")
- [Comparing declarative cross-platform architectures like Flutter and React Native](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/555-flutter-packages-and-plugins-a-look-under-the-hood) (from "Flutter Packages and Plugins - A Look Under the Hood")
- [Transitioning developers from React web to React Native mobile](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/448-challenges-of-building-react-and-react-native-apps) (from "Challenges of building React and React Native apps")
- [Challenges for web developers transitioning to native development](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/122-unleash-your-web-skills-on-native) (from "Unleash your web skills on native!")

## Related Articles

- [Cross Platform Mobile Development Frameworks to Use in 2025](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/404-cross-platform-mobile-development-frameworks-to-use-in-2025)
- [Native Web Apps: Are We There Yet?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/83-native-web-apps-are-we-there-yet)
- [A Guide to Choosing the Right Tools for App Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/391-a-guide-to-choosing-the-right-tools-for-app-developers)
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