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From React Native to Swift and Kotlin

Shopify Moves Back to Native

Shopify Engineering

2024

02

The React Native Experiment

A major platform shift and the lessons learned

Shopify's Mobile Development Timeline

2015
Native Foundation

Built iOS and Android apps with native Swift and Kotlin

2017
React Native Adoption

Began migrating to React Native for cross-platform efficiency

2020
Peak Cross-Platform

Majority of mobile app running on React Native

2023
Return to Native

Announced decision to rebuild with Swift and Kotlin

Why React Native Initially?

  • 01
    Code Sharing Single codebase for iOS and Android development
  • 02
    Faster Development JavaScript ecosystem and hot reload capabilities
  • 03
    Team Efficiency Web developers could contribute to mobile development
  • 04
    Cost Reduction Fewer specialized native developers needed
05

Why Switch Back?

The realities of cross-platform development at scale

React Native vs. Native Development

React Native
  • Bridge performance overhead
  • Complex debugging across platforms
  • Dependency on third-party libraries
  • Slower UI responsiveness
Swift & Kotlin Shopify's Choice
  • Direct native performance
  • Platform-specific optimizations
  • Better developer tooling
  • Full platform capability access

Key Challenges Faced

speed

Performance Issues

JavaScript bridge creating latency in UI interactions

build

Build Complexity

Managing dependencies and build pipelines became difficult

code

Platform Constraints

Difficult to access latest native features quickly

groups

Hiring Reality

Finding quality React Native developers proved challenging

Thank You

Sometimes the best solution is the native one

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