Optimizing React Native Performance: Lessons from Zuru

Building Zuru taught us valuable lessons about React Native performance optimization. Here's what we learned.

The Performance Challenge

Zuru needed to run smoothly on devices with as little as 1GB of RAM while displaying rich media content and interactive maps.

Key Optimizations

• List virtualization: Using FlatList with proper optimization props
• Image optimization: Progressive loading and caching strategies
• Memory management: Aggressive cleanup of unused resources
• Native modules: Moving heavy computations to native code

Results

These optimizations reduced our app size by 40% and improved startup time by 60% on low-end devices.