[tomduncalf]

> Native will always give the richest user experience, and deliver the most up-to-date tech.

Oh yeah, not arguing with that at all. But I think the commercial reality is a lot of companies will think the trade off of using a cross platform framework like Electron is worthwhile, the UX is “good enough” for most users and the development process is much more efficient.

Of course, users might vote with their feet and go to other apps which are native, but I suspect this trend is here to stay and so it’s good to consider what the “least bad” hybrid option is.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

It’s not a new trend at all.

Cross-platform app frameworks have been around for decades.

One of the nice things about writing native on Apple, is plugging into the latest tech. Not always a big deal, but there are some apps that use that as their biggest selling point.

Also, if we are doing low-level stuff (like Bluetooth connectivity), the app framework can be a very stubborn gorilla.

[tomduncalf]

All great points.

One thing I’d say in regard to low-level stuff is React Native allows you to fairly easily call into native code with its native modules functionality.

I work on a iOS/Android music learning app with a C++ audio engine and React Native UI (and Unity for the interactive parts) and it works quite well, for example we call into native code for connecting to Bluetooth hardware.

But you are right, given enough developers and time, native is probably always going to deliver an end result which feels more “right” on the platform.