Learn React Native: Best Courses, Books, and Resources for Learning React Native

Mobile and software development is a potentially lucrative career choice with a positive job outlook. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, professionals in this field earn a median pay of $109,020 per year. BLS also predicts a 25 percent growth in jobs between 2021 to 2031, which is significantly higher than the average for all other occupations. 

If you are looking to break into mobile development, you may have come across a popular framework called React Native. It is an open-source framework that allows developers to build applications for both iOS and Android devices. In fact, some of your favorite applications like Facebook, Instagram, Skype, and Discord were built using React Native.

This article will show you how to learn React Native, offering extensive resources, tips, and guides that can assist you in your journey into mobile development. 

What Is React Native?

React Native is a JavaScript-based framework that was initially designed by Facebook (now Meta) for internal use in 2013 and was released for public use just two years later. A Statista study that surveyed over 30,000 developers worldwide found that React Native is the framework of choice for 38 percent of them.

React Native is not to be confused with its cousin, React.js, which is a library dedicated to building browser-based applications. However, both React Native and React.js are pretty similar in that they rely on your knowledge of JavaScript. As such, if you know how to work with one, there won’t be much of a learning curve to the other.

What Is React Native Used for?

React Native is used for creating mobile applications and is particularly useful for front end development. React Native uses JavaScript, one of the three major building blocks of web development. It is meant to make things simpler for mobile developers by allowing them to code using a technology that is relatively familiar. 

In addition, React Native can be used to create applications for multiple platforms such as Android, iOS, Windows, and more. This eliminates the need for a completely separate codebase. In turn, developers don’t have to go through a long development stage and can build user-centered applications more efficiently.

Using a versatile framework like React Native over native code that is platform-specific can also help web developers make the transition into the mobile development space with more ease. While its popularity has slightly declined in recent years, React Native is still worth learning for developers looking to expand their skill sets. 

How to Learn React Native: Step-by-Step

React Native is not hard to learn especially if you have experience in front end development or are already a user of React.js. You can find a lot of online discussions providing tips and tricks to learning React Native. To start, follow our step-by-step guide below where we discuss how you can learn React Native effectively.

1. Learn JavaScript, HTML, and CSS Fundamentals

Because React Native is JavaScript based, a strong understanding of the programming language is needed. Some of the basics that you should know include loops, conditionals, and functions. It also helps if you know how to create and manipulate objects, as well as use object methods. 

You don’t need to be an expert in HTML and CSS to move forward. However, considering these three components make up the foundation of any website, it can be useful to cover fundamental concepts. At the very minimum, learn how to create a basic HTML document and use inline styles in your HTML elements. 

2. Learn React Fundamentals

React is a JavaScript library that is used for building user interfaces or UI. A lot of experienced programmers recommend learning React fundamentals before diving into React Native because you will be applying the same principles when developing an application using Native React.

Some of the things that you should know include JSX, which stands for JavaScript XML. You should also cover JavaScript writing in JSX, the basic architecture of React, class components, functional components, best practices when using state, component lifecycle, event handlers and methods, package managers, and importing/exporting in React.

3. Learn React Native 

After familiarizing yourself with React, you can now start delving into React Native. First, you need to set up your environment. If you have no experience with mobile development, you can use Expo CLI to get started. Otherwise, you can use the React Native CLI. The former is quicker to set up but may require adjustments later down the road. 

Some of the key things to remember are the features that make it different from React. A React Native module allows you to use an object to define style properties and values. In addition, the Document Object Model (DOM) doesn’t exist in mobile development so composing components will be a little different. 

React Native uses a combination of UI, Android-specific, iOS-specific, and other components that replace DOM functionality and other logic. However, note that there are more similarities between React and React Native than differences. There is more to uncover with React Native but this list should help you get started as a new user. 

4. Start Building React Native Projects

Start with a basic “Hello World” application to see if you can get React Native and Expo CLI working together. From there, try to choose projects that are progressively more complex. Practicing these React Native concepts will help to solidify your knowledge of the framework while crafting a portfolio of things you are now able to do.

Here are some beginner project ideas that you can consider:

• Create a book or movie application that will talk to an API and return a list of popular movies or books. To stretch your ability, make the list searchable, link each individual entry to a detailed page giving more information about the item, and create a rating system that can be saved to a user profile.
• Make a recipe or note application that will allow users to create, read, update and delete their recipes or notes. Adding pictures to an entry is allowed.
• Write an expense tracker application that will allow users to keep track of their day-to-day expenses.

5. Advance to More Difficult Projects 

Move on to more difficult React Native projects after several iterations. You should, at this point, be able to advance to using the React Native CLI and Android Studio to create your applications. As an advanced beginner/early-intermediate developer, you should be able to troubleshoot any problems that might arise in your application and installation.

Here are some advanced project ideas that you can consider:

• Create an application that will grab the top news headlines of the day. When clicked,  it should list the headline, byline, date, and body of an article, either as a separate screen or as an accordion. 
• Create an application that will use geolocation to find something that’s around you whether it’s restaurants, hair salons, doctors, friends, or even libraries.
• Create an application inspired by a combination of TuneIn and Spotify or Pandora to use your library to listen to music or the radio. Make sure it has a player component that the user can control. 

After you have completed these projects, you should be ready to venture out and create the next mobile application that users would love and share. In the next section, we will take a look at some of the tutorials and guides to help you get to this point.

The Best React Native Courses and Trainings

The best React Native courses and tutorials should explore the fundamentals of React and React Native. Since it is a JavaScript framework, you can also expect to further refine your programming skills. Compiled here are some of the best React Native courses, tutorials, and training programs that are suitable for learners of all levels.

Online React Native Courses

A lot of online React Native courses are geared toward intermediate or advanced developers, particularly those who can already code in JavaScript. These courses generally show you how to utilize your existing skillset and prepare you to make the transition into mobile development. Here are some of the best React Native online courses available.

React Native Fundamentals

• Cost: $29/month 
• Audience: Intermediate

Reggie Dawson’s course on React Native is a comprehensive look at how to get applications up and running in a mobile environment. You only need a basic understanding of JavaScript to get started. Drawing on his own industry experience, Reggie teaches all of the fundamentals you need to get started in this 158-minute course.

React Native, v2

• Cost: From $32.50 /month
• Audience: Intermediate

This course is taught by Kadi Kraman, a front end expert and engineer at Formidable Labs. Over the span of four hours, you will go over everything you need to know to become a React Native developer which includes basic components, navigation, hooks, and network requests. You can expect to deploy a native application by the end of the course.

The Complete React Native + Hooks Course

• Cost: $40
• Audience: Intermediate

In this Udemy course, you will build upon what you already know about JavaScript and translate it to React Native to build cross-platform mobile applications, from the initial setup to deploying a product to the appropriate app store. This course is led by experienced developer Stephen Grinder who has taught over one million online learners.

Free React Native Courses

There are also a lot of resources that you can use to learn React Native for free. These courses typically go over the fundamentals of the framework, making it suitable for beginners who are new to React or JavaScript.

React Native Tutorial for Beginners – Build a React Native App

• Cost: Free
• Audience: Beginners 

This is a free crash course in React Native from Programming with Mosh, a tech YouTuber with over two million subscribers. In just a little over two hours, you will cover the basics you need to know to build a mobile application using React Native. You can also download supplementary learning materials and exercises that can help you learn quicker. 

React Native Tutorial for Beginners

• Cost: Free
• Audience: Beginners 

This tutorial covers the absolute minimum needed to be able to get a small application of the ground in React Native. This is a decent tutorial that’s part of a bigger course available on the instructor’s website. It currently has over one million views with hundreds of positive comments. 

Full React Native Project Tutorial for Beginners | The Complete React Native Course (2022)

• Cost: Free
• Audience: Beginners 

This is one of the most comprehensive online React Native tutorials on YouTube, featuring over 11 hours worth of lessons. First, you will learn how to set up a React Native environment on Mac and Android Studio. Next, you will dive into concepts like hooks, props, switch, and other crucial React Native elements as you work to build your own application.

React Native Books

It is always helpful to supplement your online learning with other resources such as books. There are a variety of React Native books that can help fill in the gaps in your skills or offer insightful tips that will help you progress as a mobile developer. Below are some of our top picks.

React Native in Action

This book serves more as a guide to developing a React Native application. You’ll dive right into creating a basic application before getting into more advanced topics like working with APIs, animations, and styling. You can choose to purchase the electronic version for $39.99 or a print copy for $49.99.

Learning React Native, 2nd Edition

This book is more suitable for web developers and front end engineers who are already familiar with React. You will get a step-by-step guide to translating what you already know into mobile application development using the React Native framework.

Hands-On Design Patterns with React Native

This book takes a look at some of the best practices for using JavaScript and React design patterns to prepare you for working with larger teams. Several reviewers find that this book is more suitable for those with JavaScript or React experience, adding that it’s a “must buy for seasoned developers” and that it helped them “learned a lot after the first chapter”.

Online React Native Resources

As you become more proficient in React Native, you may require additional resources like guides, articles, and even tutorials to make further progress. These are some of the best resources to learn React Native online.

React Native Documentation: The Basics

The best place to get started when learning a new technology, quite often, is the documentation. The documentation for React Native lays out all of the constituent parts that will help you succeed. React Native’s The Basics module will assist you in understanding the unique characteristics of React’s mobile platform compared to React itself.

React Native Tutorial for Beginners

This tutorial by Johannes Stein of Toptal shows you how to develop on React Native by starting with a simple React application. He takes a React application and translates it into React Native while walking you through all the steps. This is a React Native tutorial that can benefit both beginners and experienced developers alike.

Unit Testing in React-Native Applications

Testing in general is an important part of the software development cycle. Many places implement what’s called Test-Driven-Development (TDD) and will ask about your ability to create unit tests in interview situations. This article will introduce you to unit testing in React Native and cover some of the basic things you need to do to start testing your code.

How to Use Expo With React Native

This article by Robin Wieruch takes a look at how to use the Expo CLI in conjunction with React Native. Robin, a Berlin-based software engineer and trainer, writes in a clear and concise manner about how to set up Expo so you can speed up your development process and build user-focused applications more efficiently.

Should You Study React Native?

You should learn React Native if you plan to become a mobile developer or are interested in working for a company that uses React Native as a part of its solution stack. Here are some companies that use React Native for their mobile applications:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Shopify
• Discord
• Uber Eats
• Walmart

The decision to learn React Native or not is 100 percent up to you. Determine if this skill is particularly important in your field of choice and whether or not it would boost your career progression. If you are already experienced in JavaScript or React, you can also just expand your skillset by venturing into mobile development using React Native.

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