How to make slow React Native apps faster

Retool Mobile, recently released in public beta, aims to facilitate the rapid development and deployment of internal mobile apps for iOS and Android by using a cross-platform app built with React Native. The team encountered performance challenges during alpha trials, particularly due to the app's slow rendering on Android devices, which they addressed through three key optimizations: replacing heavy third-party component libraries with custom lightweight alternatives, minimizing unnecessary component re-rendering using Immutable.js and Redux, and eliminating code-splitting that impeded the UI thread. These improvements resulted in a 67% performance boost, underscoring the essential balance between fast initial development and subsequent performance refinements. The team is also pursuing further enhancements through projects like the new Fabric architecture to elevate the product's performance even more.