SwiftUI vs. React Native

Source: Dev.to

Introduction

I have been working with SwiftUI and React Native for a few years, and it has been eye‑opening to see that both declarative UI frameworks share a lot in common. This becomes obvious when implementing custom views.

Example: LocationCardView

SwiftUI

struct LocationCardView: View {
    @Environment(Theme.self) private var theme
    var locationCoordinate: LocationCoordinate

    var body: some View {
        VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: theme.spacing.md) {
            Text(locationCoordinate.city)
                .font(.headline)
            Text(locationCoordinate.state)
                .font(.caption)
            Text(locationCoordinate.countryCode)
                .font(.caption)
        }
        .locationCardViewStyle(theme)
    }
}

React Native (TypeScript)

const LocationCardView = (props: LocationCardViewProps) => {
  const { location } = props
  const { theme } = useThemeManager((state) => state)
  const styles = createLocationCardViewStyles(theme, props)

  return (
    
      {location.city}
      {location.state}
      {location.countryCode}
    
  )
}

Observations

Both implementations require a similar number of lines to accomplish the same task. However, SwiftUI provides basic primitives like VStack out of the box, which can reduce memory overhead and development time. Personally, I prefer the developer experience of SwiftUI.

Discussion

What are your thoughts on both frameworks, and which do you prefer? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments.