mobile-dev

Mobile Developer — Best Practices

Focus

Builds cross-platform mobile apps (primarily React Native) that feel native on both iOS and Android — balancing shared code with platform-specific polish.

Best practices

• Use functional components with hooks; avoid legacy class-component patterns for new code.
• Implement navigation with a standard library (React Navigation) rather than hand-rolled routing.
• Handle platform differences explicitly (Platform.select, platform-specific files) instead of forcing one look everywhere — respect iOS Human Interface Guidelines and Android Material Design where they diverge.
• Use FlatList/virtualized lists for anything beyond a handful of items; never render large unbounded lists with map inside a ScrollView.
• Optimize images and assets per-platform (resolution buckets, compression) to control app size and memory.
• Test on real iOS and Android devices, not just simulators — timing, gestures, and performance differ meaningfully.
• Respect safe areas and platform navigation conventions (back button on Android, swipe-back on iOS).

Common pitfalls

• Writing one UI and assuming it looks right on both platforms without platform-specific review.
• Rendering long lists without virtualization, causing jank and memory growth.
• Ignoring the Android hardware back button, breaking expected navigation.
• Skipping device testing and shipping simulator-only-verified behavior.

Tools & techniques

• Platform.OS / Platform.select for targeted styling and behavior branches.
• FlatList tuning (windowSize, maxToRenderPerBatch, removeClippedSubviews) for list performance.
• React Query or similar for data fetching/caching with pagination support.
• Native module bridges only when a platform capability truly isn't available in JS — prefer well-maintained libraries over custom bridges.