Learn React Native — Codecademy

Codecademy's React Native course teaches mobile development through Expo, and it does the thing Codecademy has always done well: you write code in a browser pane and it checks your work line by line, so you can't quietly skip a step. Around six projects are woven through the material rather than bolted on at the end.

The syllabus moves through React Native fundamentals, styling components, building interactive UIs, navigation across screens, working with data, platform-specific considerations, and deployment to the app stores. Codecademy states an average completion time of roughly 13 hours and lists Learn JavaScript and Learn React as prerequisites.

What it covers

• Core components and the styling model, including how it differs from CSS on the web
• Handling user input and building interactive screens
• Multi-screen navigation
• Fetching and managing data
• Platform differences between iOS and Android
• Getting a build out to the stores

The catch with "free"

The lessons, quizzes and projects are free to work through. Everything that proves you did it isn't. The certificate of completion, the assessments and the guided projects all sit behind a Plus or Pro subscription. If your reason for taking the course is a credential to put on a CV, the free tier will not give you one — plan accordingly rather than discovering it on the last module.

What it assumes you know

Codecademy labels this course Intermediate, and the prerequisites are honest about it: you need JavaScript and you need React first. Coming in cold, the early lessons will feel manageable and then the state and navigation material will not. That's a mismatch worth flagging, since plenty of directories — ours included — have listed this as a beginner course.

Who it's for

Good for web React developers who want structured, checked practice rather than watching someone else type. The in-browser environment removes the Xcode-and-Gradle misery entirely, which is either the best or worst thing about it depending on your goals. Skip it if you want to ship a real app soon: a course that never makes you configure a local build leaves a gap you'll have to close yourself.

Our take

Solid, well-paced, and honest about its prerequisites — but the free tier is thinner than the listing suggests, and the sandboxed environment means you finish knowing React Native syntax without ever having fought a native build. Use it to learn the API, then rebuild something small locally with the Expo CLI before you believe you know the framework.