[bamazizi]

Github open source projects are not at all an indicator of "popularity". There are vast amount RN apps on the appstores and closed source.

As someone who has tried most of the options for streaming realtime mobile app, I landed on RN/EXPO for the sole reason of community size and ease of use. Basically everything is possible!

Typical recommendation has been to build MVPs in RN and then switch to native after your raise funds, but strongly advise against it unless the nature of your app demands native implementation. You can stick with RN all the way to FB/Instagram scale!