State Management in React Native Apps: A Comparative Guide
By Paige Brinks| Sr Software Engineer / Engineering Manager |
When starting on a React Native project, one of the pivotal decisions you’ll face is how to manage the app’s state. State management is a powerful and useful tool, but choosing the wrong library can make your code confusing and bloated. It’s like choosing a travel partner for a long journey; the right one can make the trip enjoyable and smooth, while the wrong choice could lead to unnecessary detours and headaches. While Redux has long been the go-to companion for many developers, the landscape of state management options has greatly diversified. This guide aims to navigate you through some of the most popular state management options and help you make an informed choice for your next React Native project.
Redux
Redux has been the de facto default state management tool in React Native apps and there are a few reasons why. React Native is a fairly easy transition into the mobile space for web developers and since Redux is also popular in the web world, it makes sense to stick with what you already know. In addition to Redux being well known, its large user base results in it being well documented with many third party libraries available for whatever specific use cases you may need. When Redux is used correctly, it offers predictable and centralized state management that works well for medium to large size applications. It does have its cons though: Redux is very verbose and requires lots of boilerplate code, this can result in a steep learning curve and can be confusing and hard to debug. Even though Redux is the most commonly used state management tool, it’s not the only option available. I will be talking about some of the other state libraries that are available and when they would be good options to use for state management.
Hooks and Context API
In some scenarios, introducing an external state management library at all may be overkill. React Native’s built-in Hooks and Context API could very well serve your needs, especially for smaller applications. They offer a more straightforward and less boilerplate-heavy approach to state management, allowing for state to be shared across components without the complexity of external libraries. It is important to note though, that if not designed carefully, Context API can result in unnecessary rerenders and therefore cause performance issues – especially for larger apps. It is best used in high read, low write situations, and when state management is needed mainly for individual components, instead of globally throughout the app.
Zustand and MobX
While Redux enjoys the limelight with its extensive community support and robust ecosystem, it’s not the only star in the sky. Libraries like Zustand and MobX are rapidly gaining popularity and offering developers compelling alternatives. Zustand has a simple, hooks based API. It is very lightweight, and avoids unnecessary rerendering, both of which help performance. MobX uses reactive programming, it is straightforward and allows optimal rendering by only running computations based on state when necessary. However, while MobX is easy to learn, it tends to hide what happens under the hood, which can cause some difficulties when it comes to debugging. Both MobX and Zustand require little boilerplate and are easy to learn, which are two complaints often made about Redux. However, since they are less well known, they have fewer tools and third party libraries available. In addition, their simplicity, while great for performance, may limit their usefulness when dealing with large, complex applications.
Persistence
Another thing to consider when choosing a state management solution is whether you want any data to persist between reloads of your app. Persistence across sessions is powerful for reducing loading times, but should only be used for properties that absolutely need it, or else you can end up showing users outdated data. This is how the different libraries allow persistence:
Redux: Does not come with persistence out of the box but the popular third party library Redux Persist allows users to easily select which properties are persisted and handle rehydration.
MobX: Does not have persistence built in and you must either handle it yourself or choose between a few third party options.
Zustand: Comes with the ability to easily choose what is persisted and handle rehydrating out of the box.
Libraries and Support
While no library can compare to Redux’s vast ecosystem of middleware and tools, the others are slowly beginning to catch up, and they all have libraries and toolsets that they can combine with to make them more powerful and convenient to use. While this is nowhere near an extensive list, here are a few examples:
Redux Toolkit: Recommended for any Redux project. This library contains common dependencies and methods that are needed when using Redux, and simplifies writing Redux applications while helping prevent common mistakes.
MobX-State-Tree (MST): MobX does not provide organizational structure on its own which can lead to some bad practices, but MST is very opinionated on how to structure and update data. It’s therefore helpful for avoiding some common pitfalls associated with pure MobX.
Immer: Useful for any situation where immutable data structures are needed and removes lots of boilerplate usually needed when making deep updates to immutable objects.
Weighing Considerations and Trade-offs
Choosing a state management solution is a balancing act, requiring you to weigh considerations such as performance, scalability, learning curve, and community support. A quick summary of some of the pros and cons of the libraries mentioned are:
- Redux offers community support and scalability but at the cost of a steep learning curve and verbose code.
- MobX shines with its easy learning curve and high performance, though it might stumble as the application complexity grows and can be difficult to debug.
- Zustand impresses with its simplicity and performance, making it a compelling choice for projects where ease of use and speed are priorities, but may be too simple for large, complex projects.
And these are not the only state management options, while this blog post focused mainly on Redux, MobX, and Zustand, there are other libraries worth mentioning as well, like Recoil and Jotai, and of course Context API is always an option for simpler projects. When making your final decision, remember that the best choice depends on your project’s specific needs, your team’s familiarity with the library, and the complexity of the state management required. In the end, the path you choose for state management in your React Native app should not only make your development journey smoother but also ensure that your application can scale and adapt as it grows.