React Native Core Principles and Best Practices
Article Summary
The React Native team at Facebook just pulled back the curtain on how they decide what to build next. Spoiler: cross-platform consistency isn't their top priority.
The React Native team at Facebook published their core principles that guide how they prioritize work and make decisions. This transparency piece reveals what drives the team behind one of the most widely adopted mobile frameworks.
Key Takeaways
- Native experience trumps cross-platform consistency: renders to platform primitives like UITextField
- Facebook runs hundreds of React Native screens serving billions across device spectrum
- Hermes JavaScript engine built from scratch to dramatically improve Android start times
- Near-instant feedback during development: code changes visible in seconds, not minutes
- Cross-platform C++ architecture enables parity from mobile to VR to game consoles
Critical Insight
Facebook's React Native team prioritizes native performance and developer speed over cross-platform uniformity, validated at massive scale across billions of users.
