Thinking about switching to cross-platform mobile dev. Ionic or React Native, and why?

Neither and never

@practiseSafeHex Why not?

@Aruixe spent too long using shitty cross platform tools, spent even longer believing people that “this one is different, it’s much better”

They are all buggy, poorly thought out and only offer a fraction of the functionality.

There is a place for mobile websites, there’s a place for apps, I think cross platform is a hacky cheap awkward middle-ground

@practiseSafeHex I've been fiddling around with React Native for about 4 hours now, and to be honest 90% of my time was spent trying to understand odd concepts and debugging with tools that seem clunky. So I agree with your statement so far.

@Aruixe if you want to try react native you should first learn react.

Anyway, between the two, react native is better because it doesn't use web views, and you can write native code if you need to.

You should also give xamarin a try.

@shellbug I have some knowledge of React, but have never used Redux (which I'll probably have to start using very soon). It gets clearer after some perseverence but I still find the need to develop using Expo annoying 😕

@Aruixe you don't need expo.

@shellbug Do you develop using the simulator or via your own Android/iOS device?

titanium also compiles down to native code and not webviews. But it’s still shit.

1. Every time there is a new feature released with a new OS, you have to wait for the cross platform language to catch up.

... or write a bit of native, defeating the purpose as having an app written in multiple completely different languages is a massive pain.

2. In order to have it not as a 1 to 1 mapping between languages, you often end up with someone else interpretation of how an API “should” work, hardcoding certain params or not exposing properties.

3. Often don’t have access to all API’s, methods, parameters etc because one platform will work differently.

The majority of my work to date has been working for startups, just passed the no money stage, who started with cross platform and now wanted native apps. Very few people (in my experience) see cross platform as an end solution, but more a temporary quick workaround to get something out quickly.

@Aruixe I use the ios simulator and Android emulator for development, and try it on my phone when I'm done.

@practiseSafeHex Great overview, thank you. It will make me reconsider the use of those frameworks for sure.

What the point now? Apple prohibited this solutions

@rostopira what? Source?

@rostopira No they havent. They cant stop you from developing like that.

Anyone tried Flutter (by Google and uses Dart)?

Ionic is slow and buggy. Avoid.

@shellbug @ThaOneDude source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/...

@rostopira that's different. That's banning apps generated from commercial templates, not app created using frameworks.

@shellbug if they will ban Xamarin and others, why do you think Cordova / Ionic will survive?

@rostopira wow. Just wow.

Well, it's their loss really.

@rostopira wasn’t aware of this at all. Thank god for that. Can’t stand these tools

@rostopira reading articles online this morning about that screenshot. Mostly people are saying its fake, and there has been no word from Apple yet on it.

Fingers crossed its not a spoof, but it might very well be the most sinister prank of all time :-(