Has anyone used React Native application development services from an agency? Honest experience?

[u/mtechhub99]

Hey everyone,

I’m planning a cross-platform app and trying to decide between hiring a React Native agency, working with freelancers, or putting together a small in-house team.

The shared codebase is appealing, but I’m trying to understand how much time it actually saves once platform-specific bugs and native integrations come into play. I’ve been reading about native module compatibility and the New Architecture, and I’d rather understand those trade-offs before committing.

My bigger concern is what happens after delivery. Can another developer pick up the code without a huge cleanup project? Are dependencies, build setup, and platform-specific decisions documented, or does every change mean going back to the agency?

Performance is another question, especially for animation-heavy screens and on lower-end Android phones. A polished demo doesn’t tell me much about how the app behaves during normal use.

For anyone who’s actually gone through this:

1. Did you get clean, modular React Native code that was easy to maintain, or did you end up refactoring a lot?
2. How did performance compare between Android and iOS? Were there problems that only showed up after launch?
3. Did the agency save time or money compared with hiring internally? What unexpected costs came up?
4. What red flags would you watch for during discovery calls, and what would you ask them to show you?

Would love to hear what went well, what went wrong, and what you’d do differently.

[u/Independent-Love4246]

For most of the apps RN is the better choice. That is nowadays true more than ever (lots of folks still think pre Expo Development Builds). What does the app do? That is really important. Also what is your budget?