The debate between native and non-native development has been going on for many years. Some people think that native development is the only way to develop, others prefer non-native development because of the convenience and the ability to quickly ship to different platforms. But the numbers show an objective picture.
React Native is one of the most popular cross-platform development solutions. AppFigures explored the number of new iOS and Android apps and games using React Native.
The popularity of React Native has grown significantly in 2018. The number of applications and games created using React Native then immediately increased by 111%. Further, the pace slowed down, but the popularity continued to grow, since then increasing by double-digit percentages annually.
Except 2022.
In 2022, the number of apps built with React Native has dropped by 43%. In absolute terms, 79,000 new React Native apps and games were released in 2021, compared to just 45,000 in 2022. And the downward trend is observed for both iOS and Android applications.
However, in general, the number of new applications on both platforms decreased in 2022. This is certainly one of the reasons non-native app releases have dropped. Overall, however, the number of new releases has dropped by about 12%, and React Native releases have dropped many times more. Both Apple and Google are working hard to make native development easier, and there will obviously be more and more native apps.