Yes, you can use React Native for web development via React Native Web, with setup and SEO needs that differ from standard React.
Short answer: you can ship a website with React Native primitives by pairing your app with React Native Web and a web build toolchain. The stack keeps your View, Text, and Image components, maps them to HTML, and lets you share a large slice of UI and logic across mobile and desktop browsers. The real skill lies in where you share code, where you split, and which web concerns you handle with care.
Using React Native On The Web: Fit, Limits, Tips
React Native Web renders React Native components to DOM nodes and translates React Native styles to CSS. That means one set of primitives across iOS, Android, and the browser. Teams lean on this to avoid duplicate UI layers, keep design tokens consistent, and move faster with cross-platform features. The pay-off grows when your product has similar flows across mobile and web. The trade-offs show up in routing, SEO, and long-tail browser quirks.
When A Cross-Platform Stack Makes Sense
Pick this route when your app looks and behaves alike across devices: feeds, forms, search, profile screens, checkouts, dashboards, content views. If your web app needs pixel-perfect desktop grids, heavy tables, or advanced editor features, you can still share state and business logic while writing some web-only UI where it helps.
Quick Landscape: Approaches Compared
The table below places React (web-only), React Native + Web, and mobile-only side by side. It’s not a verdict; it’s a fast way to spot the fit for your roadmap.
| Approach | Where It Shines | Typical Trade-Offs |
|---|---|---|
| React (Web-Only) | SEO, server rendering, mature web libraries, desktop UX patterns | Separate mobile codebases; duplicate UI logic across platforms |
| React Native + Web | Large shared UI, design tokens, unified components, faster feature parity | Routing/SSR setup, CSS interop choices, bundle care, some platform gaps |
| Mobile-Only (RN Or Native) | Device features, gestures, offline UX | Needs a distinct web app or marketing site; extra team surface area |
How The Pieces Fit Together
Core Building Blocks
Primitives: You still write View, Text, Image, Pressable, and friends. React Native Web maps them to semantic DOM where possible and applies styles via its runtime style engine.
Styling: Style objects feel like React Native. Many teams add a className bridge for utility CSS or Tailwind-style tokens. Keep a single source of truth for spacing, color, radius, and type scales to keep parity across screens.
Navigation: On the web, you’ll want URL-based routing. Many setups pair React Native Web with a React framework that handles routing and server rendering.
Popular Setups
Expo + Web: Expo projects can target browsers with a small config layer. This path suits teams that already use Expo for mobile and want a single dev workflow.
Next.js + Expo: Next.js brings file-based routing and server rendering, while Expo helps translate React Native components for the web build. This pairing gives you pre-rendered pages, better link previews, and flexible data-fetching patterns.
Strengths You Can Bank On
Shared UI And Logic
Lists, cards, buttons, inputs, and whole screens can ship to the browser with little change. Business rules, validation, query hooks, and app services often share one code path. That saves time and reduces bugs that come from maintaining two separate stacks.
Single Design System
Tokens, typography, radius scales, motion values, and spacing rules can live in one package. Designers and engineers work from the same kit, and changes cascade across platforms without drift.
Faster Feature Parity
When mobile and web move together, a new checkout field or a filter chip lands everywhere in one sprint. That keeps product timelines tidy and reduces back-and-forth on edge cases.
Where Care And Craft Are Needed
Routing And Server Rendering
Web apps benefit from clean URLs and pre-rendered markup. That helps speed, link previews, and shareability. If you pair your stack with a server-rendered framework, you can still keep your React Native components while gaining page routing and HTML output.
SEO And Markup
For marketing pages, blog posts, and catalog views, search engines expect meaningful HTML, metadata, and fast paint. Keep SSR or static generation in mind for those routes. Product areas that sit behind auth can stay client-rendered if needed.
Styling Choices
Pure style objects work fine for many screens. For web-heavy layouts, a className bridge helps with advanced selectors and global resets. Be deliberate about which routes use which styling path so teammates stay aligned.
Accessibility On The Web
Screen readers, focus rings, and keyboard paths need love. Map interactive elements to semantic tags, provide labels, and test with tab order. The same care you give on mobile applies here, with extra checks for browser behavior.
Performance And Bundle Size
Every dependency adds bytes. Keep mobile-only packages out of the web bundle, and tree-shake what you can. Shipping a server-rendered shell lowers time to first paint, while code-splitting keeps big routes snappy. Measure with your browser devtools and tweak imports that pull in the world.
Testing And QA
Reuse unit tests for shared hooks and services. For UI, test on at least one iOS device, one Android device, and two browsers with different engines. Automate smoke tests for top routes. A11y checks, keyboard flows, and screen reader sweeps catch the issues that visual diffs miss.
Team Workflow That Scales
Project Structure
Monorepos keep web and mobile packages near each other while letting you publish shared UI kits. Set lint rules that flag web-only APIs inside mobile code and vice versa. Keep platform splits small and obvious.
Design Handoff
Design tokens drive cross-platform parity. Keep a single token source and generate platform files from it. The tokens sit under your components, so changing a color or size is a one-file task.
Release Cadence
Match cycles where possible. Ship core UI changes behind flags and roll through platforms in a tight window. That rhythm keeps docs fresh and avoids mismatched screenshots in your help center.
Real-World Use Cases That Fit Well
- Consumer apps with shared browse, search, and profile screens
- B2B dashboards with mobile companions for field work
- E-commerce flows with carts, wishlists, and account pages
- Content apps with reader views and offline mobile modes
Setup Snapshot: From Zero To Browser
The outline below shows a common path many teams follow when adding web to a mobile-first app. Your exact steps depend on your toolchain.
- Create or open your React Native app.
- Add React Native Web and web runtime dependencies.
- Pick a router and, if needed, a server-rendered framework.
- Map platform files where behavior differs (
.web.tsx,.native.tsx). - Build a small design system with tokens and primitives.
- Ship one route to production and measure.
Decision Cheatsheet For Product Leads
Use this to pick your starting point and call out risks early.
| Scenario | Recommended Stack | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shared UI across mobile + web | React Native Web with Expo | Highest reuse for screens and tokens; quick DX |
| SEO-heavy marketing pages | Next.js with React Native Web | Server rendering, file routes, better link previews |
| Desktop-style grids and editors | Hybrid: RN Web + web-only components | Share state; hand-craft dense desktop UI |
| Large legacy React site | Keep React; add RN Web only where reuse helps | Introduce shared primitives gradually |
| Device-first features (BLE, sensors) | Mobile RN; slim web shell or docs | Share services; keep heavy device UI native |
Common Pitfalls And Practical Fixes
Mixing Styling Paradigms
Pick a default: style objects or a className bridge. Document when to reach for the other. Drifting styles slow teams and cause flicker between platforms.
Forgetting URL Semantics
Web users share links and hit back/forward. Set up real routes, map titles and meta tags, and keep your canonical tags clean. Marketing pages need structured data and crisp OG tags.
Ignoring Keyboard Paths
Test focus order, tab stops, and escape flows. Map interactive views to proper elements and provide ARIA where needed.
Pulling In Heavy Native-Only Packages
Audit imports. If a library ships native code for sensors or storage, exclude it from web builds or add web fallbacks. Keep an eye on bundle reports.
Starter Architecture You Can Reuse
Folders And Platform Files
apps/
mobile/
web/
packages/
ui/ # design tokens + primitives (RN + RN Web)
features/ # shared hooks, services, state
config/ # eslint, tsconfig, metro/webpack
Shared packages hold tokens, primitives, and features. Platform apps wire routing and data fetching. Keep a tiny surface of platform splits with .web and .native suffixes where behavior diverges.
Styling Strategy
- Style objects for cross-platform primitives
- A className bridge for complex web layouts
- Design tokens in a shared package
Accessibility Checks Before You Ship
- Headings in order; landmarks mapped
- Readable labels on buttons and inputs
- Focus visible on keyboard nav
- Meaningful alt text
- Screen reader names that match visible text
SEO And Content Hygiene
Landing pages need pre-rendered HTML, lightweight bundles, and sensible metadata. Dynamic app areas can hydrate on the client. Balance both with a router that supports static generation or server rendering. Keep your image sizes in check, write descriptive alt text, and test social cards.
Security And Privacy Basics
Use HTTPS everywhere, handle tokens with care, and scope third-party scripts. Ship CSP headers, and keep cookies scoped. On the client, never put secrets in the bundle.
Maintenance Playbook
Watch dependency updates and breakage between mobile and web. When React Native bumps, check React Native Web release notes and your className bridge if you use one. Run your smoke tests on the browser and both mobile platforms before each release.
Practical Links For Deeper Setup
You can add web to an Expo project and configure routing and SSR with a framework that supports it. Read the Expo docs on building for the browser and, if you need server rendering, follow their guide on pairing with Next.js. Those two pages show exact commands, packages, and config shapes.
Final Take: Can You Build A Website With These Primitives?
Yes. Teams do it daily, and the stack lands real wins when mobile and web share screens and flows. Start small, keep routing and a11y in mind, measure bundle size, and pick a styling path that your whole team can follow. Ship one route, learn from it, then roll the pattern across your app.
See Expo’s web workflow guide and
Next.js with Expo for web
for step-by-step commands and config ideas.