diff --git a/React.podspec b/React.podspec
index 4891cb3b247..9ccd6d28936 100644
--- a/React.podspec
+++ b/React.podspec
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Pod::Spec.new do |s|
   s.name                = "React"
-  s.version             = "0.0.0-master"
+  s.version             = "0.21.0-rc"
   s.summary             = "Build high quality mobile apps using React."
   s.description         = <<-DESC
                             React Native apps are built using the React JS
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/gradle.properties b/ReactAndroid/gradle.properties
index e038115dd4e..ecff7d6d8e5 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/gradle.properties
+++ b/ReactAndroid/gradle.properties
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-VERSION_NAME=0.12.0-SNAPSHOT
+VERSION_NAME=0.21.0
 GROUP=com.facebook.react
 
 POM_NAME=ReactNative
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 742cc4b40ab..f2fad5b3399 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "react-native",
-  "version": "0.0.0-master",
+  "version": "0.21.0-rc",
   "description": "A framework for building native apps using React",
   "license": "BSD-3-Clause",
   "repository": {
diff --git a/scripts/release.sh b/scripts/release.sh
index 04776a5a3d1..a76e251a04d 100755
--- a/scripts/release.sh
+++ b/scripts/release.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ repo_root=$(pwd)
 git branch | grep -o ${RELEASE}-stable && error "Branch already exists"
 java -version 2>&1 | grep ${JAVA_VERSION} || error "Java version must be 1.7.x in order to generate Javadoc. Check: java -version"
 
-git pull || error "Couldn't pull from remote repository"
 git checkout -b ${RELEASE}-stable || error "Couldn't create branch"
 
 success "Created release branch: ${RELEASE}-stable"