Updated: Jan 3, 2023

As a mobile developer or entrepreneur, you already know that creating a stunning mobile app from scratch is extremely hard and expensive. It also takes a ton of time, in many cases months of development. The good news is that you can leverage React Native starter kits to launch mobile apps much faster, in hours or days instead of months.

React Native starter kits are codebases that allow you to jumpstart the mobile development process, by saving a few months of development and thousands of dollars. The main idea behind these source codes is that 80% of making a mobile app is just duplicate work. So usually you end up spending a ton of energy, time and money on reinventing the wheel.

Building native mobile apps is extremely complex, with a ton of complex stages: wireframing, prototyping, designing, coding, reviewing, product management, bug fixing, boosting performance, testing, iterating, user research, hiring & firing people. This is the reason why mobile development companies and mobile freelancers are asking for tens of thousands of dollars to make even the simplest mobile apps.

React Native is a game changer for those who are beginning their journey in the mobile development space. React Native allows developers to make native mobile apps more quickly, that run on both iOS and Android, from the same codebase. As you can imaging, React Native will save a lot of development time and energy, being a tremendous cost lowering mechanism. But you can achieve even greater results if you leverage one of these best React Native starter kits, to skip the line and start with the first 20,000 lines of code already written for you.

Free and Premium React Native starter kits are saving developers months of hard work. And frankly, 80% of making an app is duplicate code, which is quite boring to write for any developer. By using a React Native starter kit as a boilerplate project, you can focus on what makes your app truly unique, rather than doing housekeeping work.

In this post, we've collected the best React Native starter kits of 2023, that you can currently find on the web. As you will see, we have a high-quality bar for these boilerplate projects, and are looking at app completeness, design, app performance and code quality. Of course, other criteria include server integrations, documentation, author reputation and customer support.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the top React Native starter kits of 2023.

1. Shopertino - E-commerce React Native Starter Kit

Shopertino React Native Starter Kit is one of the most complete e-commerce mobile app starter kits out there. It has a modern slick design that looks great on both iOS and Android.

Using this e-commerce boilerplate app source code is the most effective way to release a fully fledged native mobile app for any e-commerce store. With complex automatic server integrations, such as WooCommerce or Shopify, shopping bag, checkout flow, Stripe payments, and push notifications, this React Native e-commerce app will save you at least 3 months of development, and it will amaze your customers.

• Main Features: Shopping Bag, Product Collections, Apple Pay, Android Pay, Checkout, Reorder functionality, Stripe, Order History, Push Notifications, etc.
• Server: Firebase, WooCommerce, and Shopify
• Payments Platform: Stripe
• Demo: Google Play Store
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• Design: Free Sketch E-commerce UI Kit
• Download link: Shopping App Template

2. Chat React Native Starter Kit

Building a chat app might sound simple at first, for anyone who never built one before. A few bubble views, a couple of server requests and you're done, correct? Well, until your users start asking for things such as translations, photo & video messages, typing indicators, audio messages, text-to-speech, tappable URLs, group chats, emojis, GIFs, camera integrations, dark mode, push notifications, audio calls, video calling, etc.

Implementing all these chat features properly will take you at least 5 months of app development. Just for a simple chat. Let alone the other time spent on building the core functionality of your app.

You can save all this time and energy by using this Chat React Native starter kit, which makes it possible to integrated a fully fledged chat functionality into any mobile app with a single line of code.

• Main Features: Text messaging, emojis, group chats, photo messaging, video messages, audio messages, push notifications, tappable URLs (webview), camera & library, localization & RTL, dark mode, etc.
• Server: Firebase
• Demo: Google Play Store
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• Download link: Chat App Template

This is by far the most complete chat app from all the React Native starter kits out there, so make sure you check it out.

3. Free React Native Starter

There are also a lot of free React native starter kits out there. While you probably won't get customer support or detailed documentation (and frankly, the code quality might be bad for most of them), sometimes you might get lucky.

This free React Native starter kit is an open-source project published by Instamobile, that can help you save a couple of days of development. With a modern design, the app template contains several features that are time saving and that can be difficult, especially for beginners: redux, navigation, app structure, expo.

This React Native starter kit is also a great way to learn React Native, for those who are looking to start developing apps for the first time. Learning React Native practically is by far the most effective way to study and assimilate a new programming language. Especially if the source code is high-quality.

• Key Features: Recipes, Categories, Search, Ingredients, Photo Library, Carousels, etc.
• Server: Static data
• Demo: Google Play Store
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• Download link: Recipes Starter Kit

4. Dating Starter Kit

Tinder has skyrocketed in popularity. And so did all the dating apps. Dating has been revolutionized by these mobile apps, and the app idea can be applied to so many other niches, communities or local areas. If you ever wanted to launch that Tinder-like swiping app idea, this React Native starter kit is the best place to get started.

You can launch a Tinder-like app in minutes, by using this fully functional source code / script. With the large number of complex features that it contains, paying for a developer license is basically a great bargain. It's crazy how cheap Instamobile is selling it, given that paying an experienced developer to do all these features for you, would cost at least $10,000.

We estimate that this React Native kit will save you at least 5 months of design and development, if you were to start from scratch, and have pretty decent programming skills. The source code consists of more than 25,000 lines of code, and the app has more than 50 fully implemented screens.

• Main Features: Match making, Geolocation, Tinder Cards, Live Chat,  Video Chat, Push Notifications, Localization & RTL, Account Management & Settings, User Profile, Dark Mode, etc.
• Server: Firebase
• Demo: Google Play Store
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• Design: Free Sketch Dating UI Kit
• Download link: Dating Starter Kit

5. Airbnb Starter Kit in React Native

Airbnb has taken the world by storm. It's everywhere nowadays - the most popular app that offers the most affordable accommodation for travelers. The great news is that the idea behind Airbnb can be applied to a ton of different markets, niches or businesses.

If you ever wondered how hard would it be to build an app like Airbnb, well, it's actually pretty simple. You can leverage this Airbnb React Native starter kit to have your own version of the Airbnb app, up and running in minutes.

This starter kit is a fully working ready to use React Native app, inspired by Airbnb design and features. Additionally, the app is fully integrated with Firebase backend, so everything is working end to end. Start a real estate app, universal listings or geolocation store locator app in minutes. What are you waiting for?

• Main Features: Maps, Location, Adding listings, Dynamic filters, Chatting, Notifications, Search, Account Management and Settings, Admin panel, etc.
• Server: Firebase
• Demo: Google Play Store
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• Download link: Airbnb Clone Script

If you're looking for a more complete solution, that comes with an admin panel as well as a website variant, check out this Airbnb clone.

6. React Native Social Network Starter

If there's an app idea that can be applied in all sectors, fields, communities and businesses, it's social networking. There is an infinite number of great and successful app ideas that can take the shape of a social network: company communication tools, church community, local city network, employee management, family apps, etc.

Fortunately, there's a perfect React Native starter kit for building a fully fledged social network app for both iOS and Android in only a few minutes. And you get a TON of amazing modern features.

Disappearing stories, feed, like reactions, friendship management - these are only a few of the cool features this social network starter contains.

• Key Features:Disappearing Stories, Posts, Feed, Reactions, Comments, Chatting, Notifications, Localization & RTL, Dark Mode, etc.
• Server: Firebase
• Demo: Google Play Store
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• Download link: Social Network Starter Kit

7. Argon React Native

If you're seeking for a cool UI fully implemented in React Native, Argon is the perfect starter kit. This free React Native starter is built with Galio and Expo, to help developers create stunning applications. You can saving a couple of days of work and a few hundred bucks by using this free React Native starter kit. The source code contains a great number of fully implemented UI components, that you can easily access and use. Also, it has a beautiful color scheme.

• Key Features: Various UI Components
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• Download link: Github

8. Fitness Starter Template in React Native

The fitness category is one of the most popular app categories this year. Gym apps are popping up everywhere, since developers have found out that users are willing to pay a great deal of money to stay active and healthy. Given that fitness workout apps need to convey a lot of information, such as numbers, stats, dashboards, health kit data, daily activities, VIP upgrades, they have been traditionally hard to design and develop. Not anymore.

You can purchase this gorgeous React Native Fitness starter kit in order bootstrap the app development of your workout app. While the app is only a UI template only, you can still save a few weeks of design and development, while also getting to a beautiful design system.

• Main Features: Calorie tracker, Water drinking tracker, walking tracker, charts, social news feed, notifications, settings, etc.
• Backend: Firebase
• Demo: Google Play Store
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• Download link: Fitness App Template

9. Finance React Native Starter Kit

The financial industry has seen a lot of innovation due to the boom in mobile. Banks, investment institutions and personal finance businesses have seen a ton of growth by taking advantage of mobile & Internet. So there's a ton of opportunity in the finance space, especially since the development costs of building a finance app have been coming down tremendously over the past few years.

You can build a gorgeous finance app in only a few minutes, by leveraging this fully coded React Native finance starter kit. With a ton of features and a crazy number of screens, paying for a developer license is a no brainer, given the amount of energy and time it'll save you.

This finance starter kit is a read to use UI providing you with access to a set of financial screens, incorporating charts, stats, net worth tracking, stock trading, crypto trading, push notifications, budget planning, and many more. You can build an investment app, a personal finance app, a budget tracker app, bank app, a payments app, etc. Anything you want. This boilerplate project represents the fastest and cheapest way to start any mobile finance project.

• Main Features: Budget tracking, Investment Portfolio, Net worth, Charts, Stocks and Crypto trading, expense tracking, bank accounts, notifications, profile, etc.
• Backend: UI only
• Demo: Google Play Store
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• Download link: Finance Starter Kit

10. React Native Booking App

Everything has become an app in the last year. Especially small businesses what manage appointments. Most of the business goes through software, including appointment booking.

Whether they are a gym, a hair salon, a dentist, a doctor or a teacher, you need an app for booking appointments. This is exactly what this gorgeous React Native Booking App is offering: the perfect starter kit to get your small business app set up. You can save a few months of development and a few tens of thousands of dollars by using this booking app template, instead of creating everything from scratch.

• Main Features: Booking appointments, appointment management, chat, video chat, calendar, interactive booking picker, multi-vendors, notifications, profile, etc.
• Backend: Firebase
• Platforms: iOS and Android
• Download link: React Native Booking App for Appointments

Bottom Line

By focusing on what makes your product unique, you gain competitive leverage in the mobile app market. Building a mobile app from scratch is 80% repetitive duplicate work, so it's a huge waste of time and money. By skipping the line with a React Native starter kit you can launch your app much faster, in many cases only in a matter of hours.

Your costs will go down and productivity will skyrocket, so it's a no brainer to pay a few bucks in order to help your business tremendously. These are the best React Native starter kits of 2023. Find the one that fits your requirements, and save more than 80% of the energy and work, by starting with a boilerplate app project, rather than reinventing the wheel.

If you want to check out even more app templates, check out some of the best mobile app templates here.

If you found other great React Native starter kits that you think should have made this list, please let me know. I'll be trying to keep this list of starter kits as up to date as possible. Cheers!