React Native vs Kotlin: Everything You Need To Know

In the world of Mobile applications, there are plenty of options available when it comes to selecting the right technical stack. There are many different frameworks and languages available for developing mobile applications, out of which React Native and Kotlin are the two most popular choices for mobile application development. Both tools have their advantages, features, and use cases which developers need to consider before making a decision.

Today in this article we will deep drive in both frameworks and will make it easy for readers to make the correct decision. So, let’s get started.

What is React Native?

React native is an Open-Source JavaScript framework that was developed by Facebook in 2015 and it has gained popularity among developers as it also allows the development of cross-platform mobile applications, using React native developers can build cross-platform applications using a single code-base – Write once and deploy it on Android and iOS platforms.

Key features of React Native

• Cross-Platform Support: React native is mainly developed to support cross-platform development for mobile applications. It allows developers to use a single code base for iOS and Android mobile applications. Which helps in reducing the time and cost of the overall project.
• Combination of React and JavaScript: React native uses Java Script, a widely used programming language, and React, the most popular JavaScript library used for UI building. Developers who are familiar with React and Web development can take advantage of existing skills to build mobile apps.
• Native-like performance: Mobile applications created in react native look like native and give a smoother experience because they use native components that bridge the gap between web and native components.
• Hot reloading: One of the most useful and significant features of react native is reloading, it allows developers to check the result of latest code changes without re-running the application. Which results in quick debug and development.
• Large Community: Being a react native developer you can take advantage of large community support. Developed by Facebook, long presence in the mobile development market it has a large developers community that works continuously towards the framework growth.
• Declarative UI(User Interface): React native uses a declarative UI approach, where developers have to describe the required UI and react native will take care of updating and rendering UI.
• Support for native modules: React native has opened the way for developers to use modules developed in native languages like Java, Objective C , Kotlin etc. This helps developers to use platform specific features and good performance experience.

Advantages of React Native

• Mobile applications developed using react native gives native like performance and developers can use a single code base to build Android and iOS developers.
• Due to single code base – Multi platform application build it helps firms to reduce overall cost of project.
• Large and Strong community is a strong reason for developers to choose react native as a mobile development platform. Strong library availability helps developer in rapid development.

What is Kotlin?

Kotlin is a modern programming language developed by JetBrains, It was first introduced in 2011 as an alternative to Java, targeting the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). At first, It was initially launched to be used as a plugin in Android Studio. Later in May 2017 Kotlin was declared as the official Android Development language. It is the third language that fully supports Android development after Java and C++. The goal behind introducing Kotlin was to address various lacking features in existing programming languages, particularly Java while maintaining seamless interoperability with Java. Nowadays Kotlin has become most popular among developers and its community has increased in a large scale.

Key Features of Kotlin

After talking about how the journey of Kotlin was started, now we will look into key features of Kotlin that attract developers towards it.

• Concise code and readability: Kotlin is known for its concise syntax that helps developers to reduce boilerplate code. This makes code very easy to understand and more readable.
• Null Safety: One of the very popular and powerful features of Kotlin is its Null Safety feature, that distinguishes Nullable and non-Nullable types.This feature helps developers to prevent null pointer exceptions which is a very common issue in programming languages.
• Interoperable with Java: Kotlin is fully interoperable with Java, allowing developers to use existing Java libraries and frameworks seamlessly. This interoperability makes it easy to adopt Kotlin in projects with an existing Java code – base.
• Large scale audience adoption: Continue contributions of developers to its plugin and library making its community large and strong. Kotlin’s ecosystem has grown significantly in recent years.
• Coroutines support: To manage asynchronous tasks in a very easy and effective manner Kotlin comes up with the most powerful feature – Coroutines. Coroutine comes up with suspend functions which allow developers to pause and resume background processes.

Advantages of Kotlin

• In the form of extension functions, Kotlin allows developers to add new methods in existing classes without modifications in those classes.
• Apart from Android developers, back-end developers are also moving towards Kotlin due to its features like null safety and conciseness.
• Kotlin came up with Coroutines, which has made asynchronous programming more easy and readable compared to traditional callback based approach.

React Native vs Kotlin

Lets have closely look at key difference between both language by considering some important aspects.

	React Native	Kotlin
Platform Support	React native supports cross platform development, It allows Android and iOS application build with a single code base.	Kotlin is declared as the official language for Android application development. It helps to build native applications.
Community Strength	Java Script has a very large number of developers which makes the React native community strong.	Kotlin has been Introduced as the official Android language a few years ago only so its community is less large then React native but its growing very fast due to its popularity.
IDE Supports	React native projects are developed using multiple IDE like Atom, Visual Studio Code and Other.	Android Studio is the official IDE for Android development. It provides robust tools, features and Plugins that help developers to make development easy.
Performance	React native offers good performance but still there would be some performance difference compared to the native development.	With Kotlin code is compiled down to the byte-code, so performance would be similar to Java, better then react native.
Language	React Native development uses Java Script and React. Experienced web developers can leverage their existing skills if they want to build mobile applications.	Kotlin is a statically typed language which runs on JVM. Kotlin is fully Interoperable with Java, so developers can use existing Java libraries.
Learning Curve	Easy for developers with back-end development experience. Easy language for newcomers as well as it has easy syntax and terminology.	Kotlin has received tremendous response from developers, and became very popular in a very short time. It has a huge developer community in such a short time.

System Requirements for Development

React native

• Operating System of your choice
• Node.js should be installed on the system
• npm package manager
• Code Editor like VS Code or Atom
• Android Studio

Kotlin

• JDK(Java Development Toolkit) should be installed on the system
• IDE like IntelliJ IDEA
• Android Studio

Use Cases

React Native

• Cross Platform support for Mobile Application: React native allows development of cross platform, which means with a single code base developers can build Android and iOS mobile applications. So for such requirements, react native is a good choice.
• Rapid development: React native provides Hot-Reload support that helps developers for rapid development and iteration, it also makes it suitable for projects with very strict deadlines.
• Cost-Effective Development: With single code base react native allows Android and iOS app build, that make it more cost efficient. So with the cost of a single platform, both platform applications can be developed.
• Community and Libraries: React native has a very large community, where developers are working actively to support existing libraries. This vast ecosystem has large numbers of components.

Kotlin

• Android(native) App Development: Kotlin is declared as the official Android development language, So Kotlin is the best choice if Android app is the only requirement.
• Existing Project with Java language: For some projects which are already developed with Java and need support or migration or latest tool support then Kotlin is suitable for such cases.
• Large enterprise app: Large enterprise like Banking, Medical or eCommerce where accuracy, stability is priority, in those cases Kotlin is better to go for.
• Platform specific requirements: for platform specific projects like BLE, Bluetooth, Sensor based applications native platforms are the best choice for best experience.

Market Analysis – Developer Adoption

React Native

• Popularity: For mobile application development react native has gained significant popularity, specially in cross platform market.Developers with good grip in Java Script have adopted react native widely.
• Adoption by major companies: Many huge tech giants, startups has adopted react native due to its single code base support along with good app stability. Many popular apps in the market like Facebook, Instagram and AirBnB are developed using react native.

Kotlin

• Growth in Adoption: Kotlin has gained significant response from the developers. Many new projects are starting in Kotlin as its primary language for Android Development.Developers are appreciating its null safety, conciseness, and lambda support.
• Support by Google: In the rise of Kotlin ara Google has played a vital role. Kotlin is fully supported in Android studio and Google promotes Kotlin for Android development. Google also held KeyNote sessions every year for new features announcements which keeps developers tuned.
• Modern Features: Kotlin has introduced modern language features like Coroutine which has made asynchronous programming more easy. Extension functions, Android KTX has received exceptional response from the Android App Developers.

Conclusion

Selection between React native and Kotlin depends on Specific requirement, Available developer teams, and budget available for Project. Both platforms have their own strengths and advantages which needs to be considered while selecting either language for mobile application development. For cross platform application React native is the best choice, while for platform specific features Kotlin is better choice for developers.

Happy coding!

FAQs

1. What is the Main difference between React native and Kotlin?

React native and Kotlin both serve different purposes for mobile application development. React native is a good choice for cross platform applications using JavaScript and React while Kotlin is the primary language for Android app development so Kotlin is a good choice for native Android development.

2. Which Offer better performance React native or Kotlin?

Being native language for Android App Development, Kotlin delivers better performance compared with Kotlin. React native runs on JavaScript runtime that uses bridge to communicate with native which introduces performance overhead.

3. Which are notable applications developed with React native and Kotlin?

Yes for react native, Facebook, Instagram, and Airbnb are the best examples. Kotlin has been widely adopted for Android development with applications like Pinterest, Evernote, Trello built using Kotlin.