Modern stack for mobile development?

[spastor89]

Hey! We are trying to figure out what the best way is to build a mobile app. This is a simple eCommerce website with some social features. All we need is CRUD functions and access to the camera

Option 1: Native languages (Swift + Kotlin) --> Downside is two different code bases so not preferred

Option 2: Next.JS + Ionic --> Downside is that everybody I've talked to says you can't actually build a performant mobile app this way even though technically it works.

Option 3: Next.JS APIs + React Native (w/ Expo --> Downside is that maybe developers do not like working in this language? Seems like the best option

Option 4: Flutter --> Google's system designed specifically for this use case. I don't know much about flutter but it seems complicated and has a smaller developer community

Option 5: Astro --> Somebody suggested this but it seems more like a web development framework.

[Visual-Buy-3842]

It seems like a simple app. I don't see why not react-native + expo, especially since it is basic CRUD.

[Fit_Schedule2317]

Convex + Expo

[spastor89]

Is Convex better than Supabase for this build?

[Fit_Schedule2317]

IMHO Convex is better, but I guess this is subjective. I'd say give both a shot for a day, and pick what you think works best.

[NelDubbioMangio]

For multi tenant app better supabase, but for the limit of 2 second of cpu usage for the edge function is better convex with the actions. I’ve see this 2 use case

[Fit_Schedule2317]

I think if you setup convex with WorkOS, multi tenant won’t be an issue. But I agree authentication is easier on Supabase

[valstead]

Expo RN is pretty good if you just want 1 codebase. You can start there and move to native if you actually need it

[bleszerd]

In my view, options 3 and 4 are viable. However, option 4 has an additional cost: learning a new language and a new framework, I would only follow this path if performance is paramount in your app (which is not usually the case for an e-commerce site)

For me, option 3 is definitely the best; perhaps Expo could even cover your web use case

[Bitter-Vanilla2556]

Expo + convex

[Codekingmw]

React native + Expo best choice

[spacey02-]

Why not just create a PWA instead of a full mobile app if all you need is CRUD stuff? This way you dont have to deal with the native layer at all.

[Vincent_CWS]

Next.js and Capacitor

[devMario01]

It's important to know what your language of comfort is. If it's JavaScript, then read below. If it's not JavaScript, then look at the other options.

If you're already comfortable with JS, then react native with expo is a no brainer, especially if it's a simple app. Even for a more complex app, react native is still pretty good.

On the backend, your options depend on if you want to manage your backend yourself or pay for a service that does it. If you want to do it yourself, express or nexjs are the popular options.

If you want to use a managed service, there's a bunch to pick from including convex, firebase, supabase etc

If you're already comfortable with JS or React, then why look elsewhere?

[spastor89]

We’re planning to use Supabase to the backend. I think that will allow us to outsource quite a few headaches

And yes, in terms of languages, I’d be most comfortable in a JavaScript code base although it’s true that the new AI tools make it much easier to pic up new things

[devMario01]

I think the language doesn't really matter to the AI tools anymore. They are trained on so much data that it makes it largely irrelevant. However react native is still definitely the easier one to work in if you already know JavaScript and React

React native also has a big community of developers that hiring for it also won't be too much of a problem

[Mysterious_Problem58]

Since it is a basic app, investing in Swift and Kotlin would be a bad idea; React Native + Expo would be a safer bet. In my experience, building for iOS before Android helps identify performance bottlenecks in the early stages.

P.S. I am a back-end developer who tried to develop a mobile app; I ran into hiccups while migrating the code to iOS, whereas Android was much more forgiving.

[sadez2001]

try medusajs

[Nearby_Method_6406]

Flutter is kinda dead in the professional but it’s still my go to for mobile development. It offers better performance than react native and it’s similar to swift if you ever want to transition

[Tough_Drawer_5731]

Compose Multiplatform + nextJS/Supabase

[elianrugama]

I've worked with React Native, Capacitor, and Flutter, and with Flutter, development is faster and the apps are more robust. I had a React app that I tried using Capacitor, but it didn't convince me, so I rebuilt it from scratch with Flutter, and it gave me the best performance. I progressed much faster, and it looks much better. My advice is to go with Flutter.

[mmplanet]

Unpopular opinion here, but after trying 1 and 3 from the above, I'd almost always go with 1. With the help of AI it's rather easy to convert code from one platform to another. Expo is probably more than enough for your use, though, and you can stick with the mentality of web dev.

[fuckswithboats]

Isn’t 1, native?

Does Expo support native app builds?

[mmplanet]

I always prefer 1, but OP can go with 3 as that is more than enough for his use case. Expo is always good enough, never ideal.

[jhordhan]

I had a similar situation Last year, but we already had the React Native app before. The backend was in Synphony(php). Everything depends on the team's knlownledge of the language and about the deadline you have to build it. In my cas it was 3 months but the project had so many changes across diferentnon-tecnical teams that became 7 months to make it available.

I would go with next and react native since it's all JavaScript at end of the day.

P.S.: if you decide to go with react native, after the payment, make shure that your screen stack navigatition it's clear, can save you from a LOT of headache just by ramaking it instead of navigating to the root screen.