React Native interview question · Most asked
What is React Native, and how does it differ from a hybrid (WebView) app?
Summary
React Native builds iOS and Android apps with React and JavaScript/TypeScript, rendering real native views rather than HTML in an embedded browser.
Longer Answer
Components such as View, Text and TextInput map to native platform views. Your JavaScript runs on the device (on the Hermes engine) and describes the UI; React Native's renderer creates and updates the native views. Hybrid apps (Cordova/Capacitor-style) instead render web pages in a WebView, so they look and scroll like web pages unless heavily customised.
Key Points
- Real native views, not HTML.
- One React codebase for iOS and Android, with platform-specific code where needed.
- JavaScript runs on the device; native modules expose platform APIs.
Deep dive: Mobile Apps with React Native and Expo: Your First App
Explanation
What interviewers look for
Clear distinction between native rendering and WebViews, and awareness that platform-specific code is still sometimes needed.
Follow-up questions
- When would you choose fully native development instead?
- How do you write platform-specific code?
More most-asked React Native questions
- When would you use FlatList instead of ScrollView, and how do you make long lists fast?
- Explain the React Native threading model.
- A screen in your React Native app is slow. How do you investigate and fix it?
- What is the React Native New Architecture?
- Where should you store data on the device, and what should never go in AsyncStorage?
- How would you make a React Native app work offline?
- How do you handle authentication tokens in a mobile app?
- What are the app states in React Native, and what should you do on each transition?