#Backend dev here — tryna understand React Native / Expo

4 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

covert laurel
#

Hey folks 👋

I’m a backend dev (PHP/Symfony) working on a personal project — I wanna build both a website and an Android app.

Watched a JSM video about React Native yesterday and I’m a bit lost.
Like… can I just use React Native and somehow turn my website into a Play Store app? Or is that not how it works? 😂

From what I get so far:
React Native = the main framework (You build your website with this, but in a more structured way than react.)
Expo = a toolkit on top of it react native that help build ios/android app

here’s what I’ve understood so far (please correct me if I’m wrong and help me understand).
I also really want to learn good practices from the start (project structure, code reuse, etc.).

lost kite
# covert laurel Hey folks 👋 I’m a backend dev (PHP/Symfony) working on a personal project — I ...

hi nice to meet you 👋. for the website i recommend you to use react (+tailwind if u want), ofc u can use react native for both android (+ios) app and your website, but my recommendation is to use react for the website, and react native for mobile app. JSM has both react and react native tuts.

react native: a popular framework (made by meta) for building cross-platform mobile apps using js and react. unlike react (which is primarily for web development), react native lets you build native ios and android apps with a shared codebase.

expo: a development toolkit built on top of react-native that simplifies the process of building, testing, and deploying mobile apps. It provides preconfigured libraries, tools, and services to streamline development for both android and ios.

and also, react-native != website wrapper

react native isn’t a tool for wrapping your existing website into an app, it’s a framework for building mobile apps from scratch, using react styled components (react also made by meta), but those components render to native mobile ui, not html

i think i made it clear, but if u have questions, fire away 🔥

covert laurel
#

Okay i need to dig a but more i may go for react native for mobile app first then i will see for the web site with react.

And expo si just here to help build faster ?

lost kite