React Native vs Ionic 2

Question

I have been using Ionic for about 1 year now, I already completed few projects (both in android & iphone) with Ionic framework. I have to update our existing apps frequently with new features. I am planning to update project with latest framework. Should i go for Ionic 2 or React Native. Which will be time consuming? as i have to change all my existing apps with new framework. I am unable to decide. What are the pros and cons?

Solution

I work for the Ionic team, so I'm a little biased but hear me out:

Ionic 2 is great for several reasons.

1. Ionic 2 is even easier to use/learn than Ionic 1
2. It's a one-stop shop to building truly cross-platform apps (web, hybrid mobile, hybrid traditional desktop)
3. Typescript and the tooling recommended by the Angular team leads to large productivity increases. Typescript is really great in my opinion.
4. It's very high performance and has a "batteries included" approach to building apps
5. The documentation is fantastic
6. The Ionic community is huge and awesome!

There are many more reasons, but please give Ionic 2 a shot and let us know how it goes. I think you'll really like it.

Comments

[thepio]

I would just like to say that you guys are doing a great job and Ionic is awesome! The best tool available for creating hybrid mobile applications in my opinion. I agree with the points you made above.

[Navneeth]

my main concern regarding ionic 2 is that its in beta version now. My senior doesn't want to implement beta version for our production apps.

[Dan Bucholtz]

@navneeth, I can't comment on when the beta period will be over for Angular and Ionic but I can tell you that there are lots of production apps already using Ionic2/Angular2. Ionic 2 is pretty solid right now IMO.

[Will.Harris]

As an outsider I will add that the support in the Ionic community is amazing! I think this is because of the large number of developers that use it and the fact that the Ionic Team are pretty awesome too when it comes to resolving and fixing issues quickly!

[Dan Bucholtz]

We really appreciate that @Will.Harris! @Navneeth, Angular 2 is now in release candidate phase so I think you can assume Ionic 2 will follow very closely. The framework will never be done, so now is a fine time in jump in in my opinion.

[Will.Harris]

Youre welcome :) I'm a big fan of the framework. I should have mentioned your ability in listening to feature requests and adding them too. Performance in Ionic 2 is really good in comparison to Ionic 1. Just the small things like smooth transitions (for me with the tab layout) help give that native feel. After using Ionic for over a year now I don't get an urge to try other frameworks out!

[IlyaEremin]

We need answer from reactnative team member :)

[JGCW]

I have used both ionic2,ionic3 and react native. I find ionic2 easy to learn as I come with a angular2 background. But the performance is not great when compared with react native. The app boot time is extremely slow, and other components like charts (ng-charts) seem to be buggy on ionic. Hence I think react native wins in terms of performance and smoothness.

[Kozlov]

Can't i create web views running css html and javascript using react native? If yes then isn't react native giving more flexibility tab ionic i.e. react native is web views+ native where as ionic is only webviews