Front-end built once, deployed on both mobile and web. Is it possible?
I'm the founder of a small company that puts out tech products.
Although not technical myself, one of the many roles that my small company needs me to fill in is the CTO role. I don't code, rather come from a design background.
We currently have multiple products, but the relevant ones for my question are:
A mobile app made in React Native, published on iOS and Android
A custom-built eCommerce built with CorePHP and Bootstrap for front-end
A custom-built app made with Django and React for front-end
However, the mobile app will now need elements from the other two apps. I suppose that the FE (front-end) dev of the Mobile App will have to replicate:
the FE work the Bootstrap developer has built so far
the FE work the React developer has built so far
But then it's a cat-mouse game, where every single change I make on the React app will have to be replicated on the mobile app. And vice versa.
Is there any tech stack I can choose where we can either work once and use the built things twice? Or at least get to something that's as close as possible to this?
Surely the bigger tech companies must've done something about it — although when I look at the Amazon App, I can sense that it's clearly differently built from their web browser app.
If this isn't possible, then... do small-to-medium-tech companies just re-do the FE for web and for mobile...?
P.S: Since we're here, may I also ask: any fantastic disadvantages from being 'fragmented' across different tech stacks with different apps? FWIW all these apps will be served from the saved DB and back-end