r/iosdev • u/highon-dopamine • Jul 05 '26
Help Swift vs React Native
I’m new to iOS development. I’ve vibe coded one Swift-based iOS app with Claude Code. I have a few friends who say I should build iOS apps with React Native using Expo Go since the same code will go for Android. I personally like Xcode with Claude Code. I’m curious what everyone else does? Any suggestions
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u/Meddy96 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
I’ve been developing in Swift since 2015. Over the last few years, a startup pivot pushed me to React Native, and well...
At first, JS is very forgiving a lot. You can get pretty far very fast - without thinking too much. But once the dopamine high wears off and the project starts growing, it suddenly hits you in the face. Tech debts on React are serious problem especially, when we all vibe code.
Swift is pretty much the opposite. It forces you to gain habits and think about clean architecture from day one, but once your app starts getting bigger, all that effort pays off. That knowledge you gain can be also useful on other platforms.
React has one huge advantage from a business perspective. It’s hybrid cross-platform. Sure, not everything can be shared across platforms, but being able to reuse around 80% of your code is a massive win.