For the longest time, I’ve wanted to learn how to develop iPhone apps. But I was intimated by Objective C and Xcode. Then Swift came out and I debated whether to go with Objective C or Swift. Then I heard about React Native and that seemed promising, too. And I kept reading and reading and weighing my options instead of just starting.
Well I finally started, and went with React Native. I couldn’t be happier. In two weeks, I was able to make and submit my first (admittedly very basic) iPhone app to the App Store. (And so can you!) My overall impression with React Native so far is:
How did I get started? Lots and lots of tutorials. There are now quite a few out there, and I tried to go through all of them. My favorites:
- Facebook’s official tutorial (an app that fetches and displays movies)
- Ray Wenderlich’s PropertyFinder tutorial (search UK properties for sale)
- AppCoda’s BookSearch tutorial (browse & search books and view their details)
After making these demo apps, I felt ready to start on my own. I picked an idea simple enough that it seemed achievable (an app that generates completely ridiculous wine tasting notes) but challenging enough that it would still push me beyond the topics and patterns gleaned from the demos (i.e., incorporating text to speech, social sharing, custom icons).
Last week, I officially submitted the app and it’s currently in the queue to be reviewed by Apple. I’ll follow up with another post about it once it’s live! In the meantime, I can’t wait to get started on my next React Native project :)