What is the difference between React Native and React?

React is a JavaScript library, supporting both front end web and being run on the server, for building user interfaces and web applications.

React Native is a mobile framework that compiles to native app components, allowing you to build native mobile applications (iOS, Android, and Windows) in JavaScript that allows you to use React to build your components, and implements React under the hood.

Practical Code Example

// React Native renders to native iOS/Android views (NOT HTML DOM elements):
import React from 'react';
import { View, Text, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';

export default function NativeApp() {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Text>Hello iOS & Android!</Text>
    </View>
  );
}
const styles = StyleSheet.create({ container: { flex: 1, padding: 20 } });