Best UI Libraries for React Native | UI Libraries Recommendation

UI Libraries for React Native

Here are some of the Best UI Libraries for React Native to help you. React Native helps you to create real and existing mobile apps with the help of JavaScript only, which is supportable for both Android and iOS platforms. React Native uses the fundamental UI building blocks as regular iOS and Android apps. We just need to put those building blocks together using JavaScript and React.

You won’t find as many styling solutions for React Native as you will for React JS. This is because React Native is a much smaller target for component libraries than traditional CSS frameworks. In other words, Bootstrap CSS can be used with any web framework, whereas component libraries for React Native only work with React Native.

Here are some of the toolkits that are available and actively maintained by the community itself. These toolkits will not only save up your tons of development time but also help you to provide consistent design over different devices. But before have a look at the installation of libraries.

How to install a Library

You can install any library in React Native by running the simple command on the terminal after going into your project directory.

npm install <Library to Install> --save

The exact name of the library can be found from the website of the GitHub page of that library.

--save is optional to add but you should use that while installing anything as it updates your package.json file and add the library in dependencies.

Every time you install any library npm copies all the files related to that library in node_module in your project. You can see the folder in your project with the name node_module which has the number of default libraries added.

The role of package.json is that it keeps the entries of the installed libraries which are required by the project. So whenever you want to share your code you just have to share the js files and package.json with others and the other person has to run npm install and all the dependencies will be installed automatically using package.json.

You can skip --save but it will be problematic for you if you delete node_module somehow and trying to run your project. You will need to recall all the installed libraries or you have to tell it to other people if you share the code with others. So it’s good to use --save while installing any library.

React Native UI Libraries

Here is the list of the useful libraries:

React Native Elements

• Cross-Platform React Native UI Toolkit.
• Easily style any of our components just the way you want.
• Open source.

Install using

npm install react-native-elements --save

NativeBase

• Essential cross-platform UI components for React Native & Vue Native.
• Open source.

Install using

npm install native-base --save

React Native Material Kit

• A set of UI components, for the purpose of introducing Material Design to apps built with React Native, quickly and painlessly.

Install using

npm install react-native-material-kit --save

React Native UI Kitten

• React Native UI Kitten is a framework that contains a set of commonly used UI components styled in a similar way.
• You focus on business logic and it takes care of visual appearance.

Install using

npm install react-native-ui-kitten --save

Nachos UI

• Over 30 UI components
• Customizable UI compone

Install using

npm install nachos-ui --save

React Native Gifted Chat

• Custom components, InputToolbar avoiding keyboard, Multiline TextInput
• Load earlier messages, Avatar as initials

Install using

npm install react-native-gifted-chat --save

Please note that customizing React Native styling isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Many apps demand custom styling, which makes component kits not too useful but still we can’t ignore the usefulness of the UI libraries in the development.

Hope you liked it. 🙂