Mobile application trends have grown exponentially in recent days. Most services are online, from medicine, education, and food ordering. The company uses specific applications to complete its purpose. Mobile applications have many options, and there is rarely an application with a single screen. Most of the apps transition between different pages and components for different purposes.

The developer uses the navigation concept to transition smoothly between these pages and application components. If you want to add navigation to your app, you must know about React Navigation. React Navigation helps the developer make apps with a straightforward navigation solution, with the ability to present common stack navigation and tabbed navigation patterns on Android and iOS.

Many mobile app testing concepts can be used to meet this requirement. In this article, you will see the different ways that can be used to implement navigation and routing in the React native app. Before going to this, let us briefly examine what navigation and routing are in the React native app.

Some of the Best Ways to Implement Navigation and Routing in React Native Apps

Below are some of the best and most popular ways to implement navigation and routing in React native applications. Let us discuss them one by one.

●      React Navigation

React navigation is a very popular and important way that can be used to implement navigation and routing in React Native apps. React navigation is a library that app developers use to meet this purpose. React navigation library is a very declarative and easy-to-use API that allows developers to develop many types of navigators. The different types of navigators created using the React navigation are stack, tab, drawers, modal, etc.

Some useful and easy-to-integrate features are supported by react-navigation. These features are gestures, animations, deep linking, and adding custom headings. All these features of React navigation help the developer create interactive and user-friendly React native apps.

To use React navigation for your React native applications, you first need to install the core package. Then, you need to install the core packages. Finally, you must install those specific packages for each navigator type. When using React navigation for your React native applications, you need to wrap all the components of your application with a NavigationContainer component. This component helps the developer manage all the navigation states of the React native library.

●      Native Navigation

Native navigation is another way application developers can implement navigation and routing for React Native apps. Naive navigation is a library that aims to provide an easy way for native navigation and routing to be implemented on the React Native apps. Native navigation library focuses on native navigation components and APIs of each platform, such as UINavigationController for iOS and Fragment for Android.

Native navigation library supports cross-platform features that greatly help native application developers. They can use these cross-platform features to make their applications fast and increase their cross-platform compatibility. The name of these cross-platform features is shared element transition, navigation bars, and modals.

Native Navigation is a good way to add navigation in React Native, depending on your specific project requirements and preferences.

To install native navigation so that you can use it to implement it into React Native apps, you first need to install the basic libraries. Then, you need to link the native navigation library to the native modules. Finally, you need to register your screens as native components, and you can use the Navigation object to navigate between them.

●      React Router Native

React Router Native is another efficient way to implement navigation and routing for React Native apps. React Router Native is based on one of the famous and useful React Router libraries. The developers generally use this library for web development. The various components and concepts used in the React Router Native are BrowserRouter, Switch, Route, and Link.

Some useful and easy-to-integrate features react-router native supports. These features are gestures native features, such as back button handling and navigation events. All these features of React navigation help the developer create interactive and user-friendly React native apps. They can use these features to make their applications fast and increase cross-platform compatibility.

To install React Router Native so that you can use it to implement it into React Native apps, you first need to install the basic libraries. Then, you need to link the react-router native to the native modules. Then, you must install the library and import the components from react-router-native. And finally, you need to register your screens as native components, and you can use the Navigation object to navigate between them. Finally, the developer needs to wrap your app component with a NativeRouter component that helps to create a history object. This way, you can use the React router native to implement navigation and routing for the React Native apps.

●      Wix React Native Navigation

Wix React native navigation is another helpful way to implement navigation and routing for React Native apps. Wix React native navigation is a library that helps mobile app developers make applications seamless and user-friendly for the users. Wix React native navigation uses native navigation components and APIs for the React native applications. Using this library, the developer can make a mobile application that is cross-platform compatible and provides a consistent user experience.

There are various useful features supported by the Wix React native navigation. These features are bottom tabs, side menus, modals, stack navigations, etc. The developer can use these features to make their mobile applications fast and increase cross-platform compatibility.

To use Wix React native navigation to implement navigation and routing in your native apps, you first need to install the library files, and then you should link the native modules to them. Then, you need to register your screens as components. You can use the Navigation object component to navigate between them.

●      Comparison and Conclusion

We have discussed the various libraries that can be used to implement navigation and routing in your native applications. But there is no definite solution when deciding on the best library. Which is the best library? It can vary according to the person to person and their case.

Various factors can be considered when choosing one library to implement navigation and routing in your native apps. These factors are the desired application performance, how flexible you want your app to be, compatibility, and scalability.

Native navigation libraries are supposed to have better performance, and they also provide smoother transitions. But they require more native code and configuration. Talking JavaScript-based libraries offer more flexibility and customization options. But they require more dependencies and boilerplate code. JavaScript-based libraries also tend to have more compatibility with third-party libraries and tools but require more updates and maintenance. It all depends on the app developer and their prime concern and need for the React native application.

While implementing navigation and routing in React Native apps, it is equally important to test them. And this is where mobile testing labs come into the picture. One such platform that offers a mobile app testing lab is LambdaTest.

LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform to run manual and automated tests at scale. The platform allows you to perform real-time and automation testing across 3000+ environments and real mobile devices.

LambdaTest can effectively test React Native apps, providing a cloud-based testing environment for both manual and automated testing. Here’s how you can utilize LambdaTest for testing React Native applications:

• Cross-Browser and Cross-Device Testing: LambdaTest supports cross-browser testing, allowing you to test your React Native app on various web browsers to ensure compatibility. Additionally, you can leverage LambdaTest’s support for real mobile devices to test your app on different devices, operating systems, and screen sizes.
• Real-Time Testing: For manual testing purposes, LambdaTest provides a real-time testing environment. This feature enables testers and developers to interact with the React Native app in real-time through the LambdaTest platform, helping to identify issues and verify the user interface’s behavior.
• Automated Testing: LambdaTest supports automated testing, making it suitable for running automated test scripts for React Native apps. You can integrate your automated testing framework such as Appium or Detox with LambdaTest to execute tests on their cloud infrastructure, allowing for parallel testing on different devices and browsers.
• Parallel Testing: LambdaTest’s parallel testing capabilities enable you to run tests concurrently on multiple devices and browsers. This accelerates the testing process, reducing the time it takes to validate your React Native app across various environments.
• Integration with Testing Frameworks: LambdaTest seamlessly integrates with popular testing frameworks used for React Native, such as Appium and Detox. This facilitates the incorporation of LambdaTest into your existing testing workflows, making it easier to adopt cloud-based testing for your React Native projects.
• Debugging: LambdaTest provides features for debugging, including detailed logs, screenshots, and video recordings of test sessions. This can be valuable for identifying and resolving issues in your React Native app during the testing process.
• Collaboration and Communication: The platform supports collaboration among team members. You can share test sessions, collaborate on debugging efforts, and communicate effectively within the LambdaTest environment. This enhances teamwork and accelerates the resolution of issues.
• Continuous Integration (CI) Integration: LambdaTest integrates with popular CI/CD tools, allowing you to seamlessly incorporate cloud-based testing into your continuous integration pipelines. This ensures that your React Native app is tested consistently with each code change.
• Detailed Reporting: LambdaTest generates detailed reports and insights, providing visibility into test results and performance metrics. This information is essential for assessing the quality of your React Native app, identifying potential issues, and making informed decisions.

Conclusion

Mobile applications have many options, and an application rarely has a single screen. Most apps transition between different pages and components for different purposes. The developers use navigation and routing to make this possible. Various ways and libraries can be used to implement navigation and routing in React native apps. React navigation, Native navigation, React Router Native, and Wix React native navigation.

React Router Native is based on React Router libraries, and developers generally use it for web development. Wix React native navigation uses native navigation components and APIs for the React native applications and helps the application become cross-platform compatible. These are some ways that can be considered to implement navigation and routing in the React native applications.