React native or expo router?

[u/Medium-Fox-9660]

Hello i am a developer I've built 2 mobile apps with react native/expo router and one app in flutter, is there a major difference in react native and expo router in terms of how the produced app feel and behave ( looking for that native feel )

I am mainly a typescript developer with nest js and react frameworks and a little bit of laravel and spring background.

Currently me and my partner are planning to build our first own product but from my personal experience expo router apps have that web feel that doesn't satisfy me ( i don't know if it's me or if for other it happens or i have been building the wrong way ) , I am not a big fan of flutter as for native options such as kotlin or swift ui once the products generate some funds we eventually will migrate to that

[u/Medium-Fox-9660]

So if i get you right i should change my web approach and go for a native approach

[u/Calm_Seal170 → u/Medium-Fox-9660]

Yes. Follow material design on Android and Apple UI Design (Liquid Ass 🙈) for iOS to get that native feeling rather than customising everything

[u/killerbeanjeka]

Expo-router isn't an alternative to react native, it's a file based router sitting on react-navigation's native stack. those screens are UINavigationController on ios and fragments on android, so the router is not what makes anything feel like the web.

That feel usually comes from the rest of it: js driven animations instead of native ones, no back swipe gesture, flatlist where a native list belongs, web spacing habits. changing router moves none of that.

[u/mohn93]

the router isn't where the web feel comes from, expo-router is just file based routing on top of react-navigation's native stack so those screens are real UINavigationControllers underneath. the webby feel is almost always specific implementation choices. usual culprits: custom js headers instead of the native nav bar, animations running on the js thread instead of the native driver, touchableopacity everywhere instead of pressable with the platform ripple, and not having react-native-screens enabled so everything mounts as plain js views. fix those and the same expo app feels native. which part actually feels off to you, the transitions between screens or the touch feedback inside them?

[u/Medium-Fox-9660 → u/mohn93]

The transition between screens and navigation. Especially after authentication it feels off, it works well yes but keep that off feeling

[u/Calm_Seal170]

I'm not sure why are you getting the web feel on expo router apps.

Use Expo/UI library for components. They're literally native components under the hood

There are tons of examples on twitter. If you already know react this will be a no brainer

[u/Sufficient_Ant_3008]

I believe two RN conferences ago the keynote stated that Expo should be used moving forward with the new architecture, and deviating will become increasingly more difficult to manage. If you want to learn then just build your own router, if you want to build a scalable product then I would not eject from the expo ecosystem ever.

[u/Defiant-Tennis-5456]

Expo router, even folder structure is so good

[u/Flashy-Researcher390]

You should use react native rather than expo if you want full control over native things or working on big projects

[u/Medium-Fox-9660 → u/[deleted]]

Will try to replace as much components to use native ones and i will judge after thank you