The decision to migrate from Flutter to React Native wasn't taken lightly. It involved careful analysis of our technical debt, developer experience, and long-term maintainability goals.

The Problem

Our mobile development was fragmented across multiple technologies:
- Flutter for the main mobile app
- React Native for specific features
- Native iOS/Android for legacy components

This fragmentation led to:
- Duplicated effort across teams
- Inconsistent user experiences
- Higher maintenance overhead
- Slower feature delivery

The Solution

We decided to unify around React Native for several key reasons:

Developer Experience

- Shared codebase with our web React applications - Faster development cycles with hot reload - Better debugging tools and ecosystem

Technical Benefits

- Easier integration with existing backend services - Better performance for our specific use cases - More flexible architecture for future needs

Implementation Challenges

Offline Video Access

One of the biggest challenges was maintaining offline video functionality while ensuring content protection.

Solution: We implemented a hybrid approach using encrypted local storage with time-based access tokens.

DRM Integration

Content protection required careful consideration of both iOS and Android DRM systems.

Solution: Created a unified DRM wrapper that abstracts platform-specific implementations.

Results

After 6 months of migration:
- 40% faster feature delivery
- Reduced codebase complexity by 60%
- Improved developer satisfaction scores
- Better user experience consistency

Lessons Learned

1. Start with a proof of concept - Validate assumptions early
2. Involve all stakeholders - Get buy-in from business units
3. Plan for gradual migration - Don't try to change everything at once
4. Invest in tooling - Good developer tools pay dividends

The migration was ultimately successful because we focused on solving real problems rather than chasing technology trends.