How to Set Up a React Native Development Environment?

Did you know?

According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2023, React Native stands as the 2^nd most popular cross-platform app, holding a 38% market share.  

Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? 

Well, that’s the power of React Native! 

If you want to dive into the app development realm, React Native is a popular framework for building mobile apps using JavaScript & React. 

Before you dig into setting up a React Native Development Environment, let’s dive into its meaning & prerequisites!

Overview of React Native

Launched by Facebook in 2015, React Native is a popular and growing JavaScript framework that helps developers build appealing and feature-rich apps across Android & iOS. This cross-platform app development framework has undergone a significant transition and now employs a design similar to React that enables developers to construct sophisticated mobile user interfaces through declarative components. 

Unlike building a mobile web app, an HTML5 app, or a hybrid app, React Native facilitates the creation of genuine mobile applications that closely resemble those developed using Objective-C or Java. It efficiently leverages the basic UI building blocks to craft Android & iOS apps to foster peerless performance and seamless integration. 

Since its inception, React Native has garnered widespread adoption among developers and organizations due to its extensive exceptional user interfaces. The graph below illustrates the exponential rise of React Native, surpassing traditional Android and iOS development within just 1.5 years of its launch.

But before diving into the setting up of React Native’s environment, ensure you adhere to hardware & software prerequisites.

Let’s dive in!

Software Requirements:

• Operating System: React Native is compatible with both Windows and macOS X. For Windows users, it is recommended to use Windows 11, while for macOS users, Mojave or newer versions could be a better choice.
• Node.js and NPM: These prerequisites are essential for React Native. Make sure you have the latest stable versions installed.
• Java Development Kit (JDK):  If you want Android app development compatible with React Native, JDK 8 or a newer version is indispensable.
• Android Studio: The presence of Android Studio is inevitable, as it furnishes the requisite tools and emulators.
• Xcode: For those aiming at iOS development, it’s important to install Xcode on macOS X.

Hardware Requirements:

Here is the complete list of hardware requirements one should consider;

• Processor: A modern multi-core processor, preferably i5 or higher, is recommended.
• Memory: For optimal performance, a minimum of 8GB RAM is required, though 16GB is recommended.
• Storage: Allocate at least 10GB of free disk space to accommodate both the installation and project files.

Are you ready to set up the React Native Development Environment? Let’s set our sights on it!

Quick Steps to Set Up the React Native Development Environment

Here is the list of the steps to consider setting up your React Native Development Environment.

Step 1: Install the React Native CLI

To begin, ensure you have the React Native Command Line Interface (CLI) installed globally on your machine. Perform the following command:

This command will install the most recent version of the React Native CLI, which is essential for creating and managing your React Native projects.

Step 2: Install Xcode and Android Studio

React Native empowers you to craft native mobile applications for both iOS and Android platforms. To get started, always install the requisite development tools and SDKs for each platform.

For iOS:

Don’t forget to install Xcode from the Mac App Store, as it encompasses all the essential tools and SDKs required for building iOS applications.

For Android:

Install Android Studio, which includes essential tools and SDKs for crafting Android applications. After installation, set up the Android SDK. Here is the list of the steps to do it.

• Open Android Studio and navigate to Preferences (Mac) or Settings (Windows/Linux).
• In the left panel, select Appearance & Behavior > System Settings > Android SDK.
• Check the boxes corresponding to the required SDK platforms (e.g., Android 10.0).
• Start the installation process as soon as possible.

Furthermore, it’s necessary to configure the ANDROID_HOME environment variable to indicate the location of the Android SDK. You can locate the SDK location in the Android SDK settings window within Android Studio. To set up the environment variable, add the following lines to your .bashrc, .zshrc, or .bash_profile file:

export ANDROID_HOME=YOUR_SDK_LOCATION

export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/emulator

export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools

export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin

export PATH=$PATH:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools

Enter the real Android SDK location in place of YOUR_SDK_LOCATION. Run source ~/.bashrc, source ~/.zshrc, or source ~/.bash_profile after saving the changes to make them take effect.

Step 3: Start Creating a New Project

Once the required tools are installed, use the following command to start a new React Native project:

react-native init MyReactNativeApp

This command creates a new project in the same folder named “MyReactNativeApp” for React Native. To access the project directory, do these steps:

cd MyReactNativeApp

Step 4: Running the Application

Using an emulator or a real device, you can now launch your React Native application.

For iOS:

To open the iOS Simulator and start the application, enter the following command:

react-native run-ios

For Android:

Turn on an Android Virtual Device (AVD) or attach a real Android gadget. Once the program is built and running, execute the following command:

react-native run-android

If you made it this far, congratulations. Hopefully, you properly followed each step to configure the React Native development environment successfully.

Build amazing mobile apps using React Native today!!

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it! That’s a wrap to the detailed instructions for configuring a React Native environment are available here!

The first step in developing reliable, cross-platform applications is setting up a well-configured environment.

Looking for a professional React Native app development Company? If so, your search ends here! 

EitBiz is a team of seasoned React Native developers who can efficiently set up your React Native Development Environment in your system & incorporate your newly developed React Native code into an existing application. Hire our dedicated React Native programmers & let us handle your project! To know more, contact us at +1.812.530.6300 or send your queries to info@eitbiz.com today!