One codebase that becomes a real app on both iOS and Android. It is a strong choice for most apps, and there are a few where it is the wrong one. This page is honest about both.
In plain terms, before the pitch. It matters because it explains where the savings come from and why the result still feels like a proper app.
React Native is a framework, built and maintained by Meta, for making mobile apps. You write the app once, and it runs as a genuine native app on both iOS and Android. Not a web page wrapped to look like an app. The real thing, on both platforms, from one project.
The old way meant building the same app twice, once for each platform, with two teams and two sets of everything. React Native collapses that into a single codebase, which is where most of the time and cost saving comes from.
It has been around for years and sits behind a large number of apps people use every day. That maturity matters: it is a settled, well-supported choice, not a bet on something new.
You build
One codebase
iOS
App Store
Android
Play Store
The single codebase is not just tidier. It changes the cost, the speed, and how the app is kept alive after launch.
Both platforms come from the same code, so you are not paying for and waiting on two separate builds. That is usually the biggest line saved.
Change something once and it reaches iOS and Android together. No fixing the same bug twice, no one platform lagging behind the other.
Many changes can be pushed straight to users without a fresh app store review each time. Fixes and tweaks reach people in hours, not days.
React Native renders actual native components, so scrolling, taps, and transitions behave the way people expect on their phone.
It is built on JavaScript and React, among the most widely known tools in software. Finding people to work on it later is straightforward, so you are not tied to a rare skill set.
If you also have or want a React web app, a good amount of thinking and some logic can carry across. One world of tools instead of three.
It is the right default for a large share of apps, which is why it is popular. It is not right for all of them, and we would rather point you elsewhere than sell you the wrong tool.
We are not tied to one framework, so we have no reason to push you toward it. We build React Native, Flutter, and fully native apps, and recommend whichever actually fits your idea. If React Native is right, this is why. If it is not, we will say so on the call.
React Native carries a few old reputations, some fair once, most out of date now. Here is where each one actually stands.
Isn't it slower than a native app?
For the vast majority of apps, the difference is not something a user would ever notice. It only shows up in the extreme cases, like heavy games or constant intensive graphics, and those are exactly the cases we would steer toward native anyway.
Is it only good for simple apps?
No. Some of the largest and most complex apps in the world run on it. Complexity is handled through how the app is built, not by the framework hitting a ceiling.
Will it be able to use the phone's features?
Camera, location, notifications, payments, and the rest are all available. When something truly new or unusual is needed, native code can be dropped in for that one piece while the rest stays shared.
Is it a risky or fading choice?
The opposite. It is backed by Meta, has years behind it, and a large community keeping it current. Hiring for it later is easy, which is a real part of lowering long-term risk.
In working slices you can hold on a real device, not one long stretch ending in a reveal.
We agree what the first version does and confirm React Native is genuinely the right fit before a line is written.
Screens for the real flows, checked on both platforms so it feels right on each, not just one.
The shared codebase, built feature by feature, each one testable on a real iPhone and Android phone as we go.
Checked on both platforms and a range of devices, because the same code can still meet different screens and quirks.
Submitted to both stores, handed over documented, code yours. We stay on for updates or step back cleanly.
Weighing frameworks, or want to see the native and cross-platform routes side by side? They all sit right here, same team.
Related app services
Both are excellent, and for most apps either would do the job well. React Native leans ahead when your idea sits close to the web world or you want the easiest hiring pool later. Flutter can edge in front for highly custom, animation-heavy interfaces.
We build both and have no stake in the answer, so we recommend based on your app, not a house preference. If you want the fuller comparison, our Flutter page covers its side.
Less than building the same app twice natively, because one codebase covers both platforms. The actual figure depends on what it does, how many screens, what it connects to, and how much is custom. A focused first version is the smaller number.
We scope the core first and price that, so your first commitment is to a defined starting point rather than an open-ended build.
It works on both from the shared code, and we test on both so each feels right rather than one being an afterthought. Where the two platforms have different conventions, the app respects each instead of forcing one look onto the other.
That testing on real devices is part of the build, not an extra. It is how we make sure the shared codebase does not mean a compromised experience on either side.
Usually, yes. We start by reviewing the current code to understand its state, then agree what to fix, improve, or add. Sometimes it is in good shape and we carry on. Sometimes parts need rework, and we will be straight with you about which.
You are not committing to a rebuild by asking. The review comes first, and the honest picture of what you have comes out of that.
Yes, fully. The code and the app store accounts are yours, handed over documented so any React Native developer could pick it up. Because it is built on widely known tools, that handover is genuinely easy.
There is no lock-in. You can keep us on for updates or take it elsewhere whenever you want, and being easy to leave is deliberate.
A focused first version is usually a couple of months, and one codebase for both platforms is part of why it is quicker than the native alternative. More features, more connections, and more custom work extend it.
Because we build in slices, you see it running on a real phone early and often, rather than waiting until the end to know where it stands.
Thirty minutes on what you are building, whether React Native is the right tool for it, and roughly what a first version would take.
Or email hello@culmen.digital