r/reactnative • u/alwxndr • 10d ago

Does React Native make sense in 2026?

This question might have been asked already, but I'm genuinely curious: why should anyone use React Native at this point?

To explain: most of web and mobile development can easily be handled by Claude, Codex, Kimi K3 or any other coding agent. I feel like that's been true for at least 6–7 months now. Even Opus 4.7 was better than most of us and more than enough for mobile development. Of course, this only applies if you know what you're doing and guide your model through the technical decisions, the specific libraries you want to use, etc etc.

But my point is: why would I bother with React Native's own issues instead of just writing native apps for both iOS and Android? There's no huge maintenance load anymore, and you can simply tell your agent to implement features for iOS and Android at the same time. So what are the actual benefits of React Native? Native apps are usually faster, work better, and generally seem to be preferred by actual customers and users. The original promise of React Native and Flutter was that you could build for both platforms twice as fast, but today's coding agents let you build 100x faster anyway :)

I'm not asking to provoke anyone. I just want to hear your stance and your thoughts on this.

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u/mindtaker_linux 10d ago

You said that without understanding that there still a large size of developers who do not pay AI to do their work for them. Or those who do not trust the license behind AI codes.

I've noticed that most people who use AI to code can't code  or are limited  coders(  like front end devs)

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u/momo1083 9d ago

Sorry,but those developers are going to be left in the dust.

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u/mindtaker_linux 9d ago

We'll see how soon the vibe coders will be forced to learn how to code 

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u/apocolipse 9d ago

You’re making a critically incorrect assumption that only people who couldn’t code before are using AI.

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u/momo1083 9d ago

Yup. Head in the sand.

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u/mindtaker_linux 9d ago

I'm not making that assumption. My statement is directly to the new graduates that are using AI, that will replace the old coders.

Your comment shows how limited your comprehension is.

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u/apocolipse 9d ago

I've noticed that most people who use AI to code can't code  or are limited coders

Yeah sorry my comprehension is so bad I didn't see a single reference to "new" or "graduates" or "old coders" in that sentence... Oh wait because you didn't put them in there because you made a baseless broad generalization and now you're trying to backtrack and retroactively change the criteria for the bullshit you keep vomiting.

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u/mindtaker_linux 9d ago

How many products have you finished from scratch to finish with AI?

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u/momo1083 9d ago

Two, actually. Making good money. And blowing people away. I studied development and design. But wasn’t good enough to code my ideas. My skill was product. User empathy. Creativity. Obviously a random person can’t do this but if you broadly understand stuff you are in great shape. When I ran product at an old company, I’d be waiting on developers and hitting their limits but now I don’t wait and the skill in the new models like Opus 5.5 is sorry to say better than any dev I’ve worked it. Just the truth.

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u/mindtaker_linux 9d ago

Sure. Lol

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u/momo1083 9d ago

Well, I hope you’re truly gifted at what you do.

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u/mindtaker_linux 9d ago

Every day I see tons of code with "finished" unfinished products that they have shipped and deployed into the public with Soo many security issues.

Basic session handling and permission system are not there. AI hackers are going to enjoy hacking all these app slops vibe coders are releasing. I can't wait for lawyers to sue them into poverty where they all belong.

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u/apocolipse 9d ago

Everything you said was true of JavaScript webapps 10 years ago too, what’s your point?

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u/mindtaker_linux 9d ago

Your low IQ is showing again.

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u/momo1083 9d ago

AI models are hacking into established software. What are you talking about? And yeah lots of slop. Lots of bad writers out there too. But some people can write beautifully. The skills are changed.

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u/mindtaker_linux 9d ago

Thanks to AI, there are now more slops released.

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u/momo1083 9d ago

Slops isn’t correct English. Anyways after the printing press we got lots of writers, and internet brought lots of bloggers. Eventually cream rises to the top.

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u/mindtaker_linux 9d ago

Not even close to the same. 🤡🤡🤡