React Native is a popular JavaScript framework developed by Facebook for building natively rendering mobile apps on Android and iOS, with its latest stable release being 0.62.0 in March 2020. It offers advantages such as optimal performance, cross-platform development, and a strong developer community, making it preferable over frameworks like Ionic and Apache Cordova. The document outlines the similarities and differences between React Native development and native development, providing insights into the benefits and potential complexities of each approach.