What Is React Native?

Relax. We'll talk through this in plain words — no textbook voice.

What you'll walk away with

Understand what React Native is, no need to be intimidated
Write code yourself and run it on Expo Go
Apply this concept immediately in a real app project

Let's think about this for a moment

React Native is a framework created by Meta (Facebook) that reuses React's component/state/props concepts but builds native mobile apps (iOS, Android) instead of running in a web browser. Instead of HTML tags (div, span), it uses native components like View, Text, and Image, which get compiled into each platform's native UI elements (iOS UIView, Android View) — that's why it's called a 'native app', not a website running inside a WebView.

Let's connect this to a real scenario

Companies often choose React Native to ship both iOS and Android apps from a single codebase — Instagram, Discord, and Shopify all use React Native in production. For a React web developer, learning React Native has a pretty gentle learning curve since JSX syntax, component lifecycle, and hooks concepts are all the same — the difference is the UI component set and the mobile-specific APIs.

React Native = building native mobile apps with your JavaScript/React skills
Using native components like View/Text/Image instead of HTML tags
Building both iOS + Android from a single codebase

Code Example

text

Web (React)          Mobile (React Native)
-----------------    ------------------------
<div>                 <View>
<span>, <p>           <Text>
<img>                 <Image>
<button onClick>      <TouchableOpacity onPress>
CSS file/className     StyleSheet object

You should see

You'll be able to tell React web components apart from React Native components.

5-Minute Try-It

Write down 3-4 HTML tags you've used in React (web) and try guessing their React Native equivalents.

A Quick Heads-Up

This tutorial assumes you already have a basic grasp of React (component, props, state, hooks) — if you're not sure, go back and review the React tutorial first.

Easy traps

Thinking React Native is 'a website wrapped inside an app' (WebView) — it's actually native UI
Assuming you can use HTML tags (div, span) directly in React Native

Now Try It Yourself

Write down 3-4 HTML tags you've used in React (web) and try guessing their React Native equivalents.

You'll know it worked when: You'll be able to tell React web components apart from React Native components.