React Native has been truly remarkable in the world of mobile app development as it allows for the development of cross-platform applications through JavaScript and React.
The framework has evolved a lot and along with every kind of framework evolution, we are also going to see some architectural limitations come up to the surface when it comes to the aspect of performance and scalability.
We are specifically talking about the traditional React Native bridge which is basically a connection or a bridge that can facilitate communication between the JavaScript thread (where React code runs) and the native thread (where platform-specific code runs).
This bridge basically allows for the serializing and deserializing of messages between these two threads (native and JavaScript).
This is a good solution but unfortunately,it has some limitations, that is where we come to Bridgeless Mode.
Let us understand what Bridgeless Mode is all about
What is Bridgeless Mode?
In order to understand Bridgeless Mode, we need to understand how the traditional method works because the tradition and method of React Native architecture rely on a bridge for communication between the JavaScript thread and the native thread.
However, there are a lot of issues with this kind of setup.
Performance
The biggest issue of a traditional setup is that it can introduce performance issues and latency because of the data having to be always serialized and deserialized. This naturally brings latency into the system and can actually become a bottleneck for the whole application. This can be noticed mostly with heavy animations or even UI updates.
Asynchronous Communication
The next issue is asynchronous communication simply because the bridge is asynchronous and can lead to delays in UI updates as well as result in dropped messages. This is just bad for the user experience.
Complexity
A bridge like this is quite complex to maintain and just brings additional complexity to the framework which makes it much more difficult for the developers to optimise the application and even maintain it as frequently as needed.
To bypass all these issues let us introduce you to Bridgeless Mode because it is this new architecture that completely eliminates the entire need of a traditional bridge that has to be a connection between the JavaScript and native code.
Instead with Bridgeless Mode, you can expect much more direct communication between the JavaScript and the native code thereby reducing the performance overhead and improving the performance overall.
Importance of Bridgeless Mode
Performance
When you remove the bridge, you can expect is significant improvement in performance because the entire latency factor of it is eliminated when it comes to inter-thread communication. This means faster everything from faster rendering to smooth animations as well as a much better user experience.
It is estimated that bridgeless mode through Hermes can result in approximately reducing a product’s Time-To-Interactive (TTI) metric by 50%.
Developer Experience
Since you can expect the architecture to be much simpler the developers are also going to have a better time in building features without having to deal with all the complexities that come with a traditional bridge.
Think of it like a machine because if your machine has a lot of parts then it is naturally going to be much more complicated to repair and add functionality to but if it is simple with fewer moving partsthen the job becomes much easier.
Future-Proof
If you look at the React Native roadmap then you are going to see that Bridgeless Mode is here to stay and it is going to get developed even more so as to improve its capabilities and this brings an element of stability to a feature that makes it preferred by developers to be used even more.
This is a feature that is not just going to vanish like a lot of features do when they are not popular and that is why you can expect a good level of future guarantee with Bridgeless Mode.
How to Adapt to Bridgeless Mode
Upgrade React Native
In order to use it the very first thing you need to do is to update React Native to the latest version and this is simply because Bridgeless Mode is an experimental feature which means you need to have the latest version that supports it.
You can update React Native with a command like this:
npm install react-native@latest
Use TurboModules
If you want to use Bridgeless Mode then you need to switch toTurboModules from the old bridge-based native module. This can then leverage JSI for direct access to native functionalities.
Migrate from the Old Fabric Renderer
After you do that, you need to migrate from the old fabric Renderer to the new one which is the new rendering system in React Native that is a good option with Bridgeless Mode when it comes to improving UI responsiveness and enablingsynchronous UI updates.
If you want to migrate you should ensure that the components supportProps Forwarding and that you have modified native views so that it can support the new Fabric APIs.
Replace Legacy Event Emitters with JSI Event Handling
RCTEventEmitter was primarily utilised by React Native when it came to sending events between native code and JavaScript but with Bridgeless Mode you need to make sure that the events get handled throughJSI-based event listeners.
Ensure Compatibility with Third-Party Libraries
If everything went alright you need to now ensure compatibility with third-party libraries and just check if the library has been updated for Bridgeless Mode.
If it has not been updated then you can try using it with aTurboModule-compatible alternative which will also get the job done and even modify the library code so that you can remove the olderbridge dependencies.
Enable Bridgeless Mode in Your React Native Project
It is now time to test the bridgeless mode in your project and to do that for Android you can try this out in yourandroid/app/build.gradle:
project.ext.react = [
enableBridgelessArchitecture: true
]
If it is iOS then you can use this flag in your Podfile:
use_react_native!(
:enableBridgelessArchitecture => true
)
And after you do that, you can rebuild your project with the help of:
cd ios&& pod install && cd ..
npx react-native run-android
npx react-native run-ios
Challenges and Considerations
Third-Party Libraries
You might face an issue with third-party libraries because not all of them still support Bridgeless Mode as of now and in fact, only 60% of all popular libraries have adapted to this development.
Learning Curve
Since we are talking about something so new, developers might take some time to familiarise themselves with Bridgeless Mode especially because of how different it is from the traditional bridge technique.
Experimental Nature
And of course, you should never forget its experimental nature which means it might still not be the best option for commercial projects but you can try it out and bits and pieces.
Bridgeless Mode is the future and if you want to have an early stake in the future and utilise Bridgeless Mode in your projects then we are here for you.
We are Think To Share IT solutions and we are among the very first companies to adopt and utilise Bridgeless Mode commercially. We can help you with enablingBridgeless Mode in your reactivity project.
We welcome you to contact us.
