---
modificationDate: March 09, 2026
title: Add gestures
description: In this tutorial, learn how to implement gestures from React Native Gesture Handler and Reanimated libraries.
---

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# Add gestures

In this tutorial, learn how to implement gestures from React Native Gesture Handler and Reanimated libraries.

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). Use this file to discover all available pages.

Gestures are a great way to provide an intuitive user experience in an app. The [React Native Gesture Handler](https://docs.swmansion.com/react-native-gesture-handler/docs/) library provides built-in native components that can handle gestures. It recognizes pan, tap, rotation, and other gestures using the platform's native touch handling system. In this chapter, we'll add two different gestures using this library:

-   Double tap to scale the size of the emoji sticker and reduce the scale when double tapped again.
-   Pan to move the emoji sticker around the screen so that the user can place the sticker anywhere on the image.

We'll also use the [Reanimated](https://docs.swmansion.com/react-native-reanimated/docs/fundamentals/handling-gestures/) library to animate between gesture states.

[Watch: Adding gestures to your universal Expo app](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q48LLvTGDU) — Add double tap and pan gestures to the emoji sticker using React Native Gesture Handler and Reanimated.

## Add GestureHandlerRootView

To get gesture interactions to work in the app, we'll render `<GestureHandlerRootView>` from `react-native-gesture-handler` at the top of `Index` component. Replace the root level `<View>` component in the **app/(tabs)/index.tsx** with `<GestureHandlerRootView>`.

```tsx
// ... rest of the import statements remain same
import { GestureHandlerRootView } from 'react-native-gesture-handler';

export default function Index() {
  return (
    <GestureHandlerRootView style={styles.container}>
      {/* ...rest of the code remains */}
    </GestureHandlerRootView>
  )
}
```

## Use animated components

An `Animated` component looks at the `style` prop of the component and determines which values to animate and apply updates to create an animation. Reanimated exports animated components such as `<Animated.View>`, `<Animated.Text>`, or `<Animated.ScrollView>`. We will apply animations to the `<Animated.Image>` component to make a double tap gesture work.

1.  Open the **EmojiSticker.tsx** file in the **components** directory. Inside it, import `Animated` from the `react-native-reanimated` library to use animated components.
2.  Replace the `Image` component with `<Animated.Image>`.

```tsx
import { ImageSourcePropType, View } from 'react-native';
import Animated from 'react-native-reanimated';

type Props = {
  imageSize: number;
  stickerSource: ImageSourcePropType;
};

export default function EmojiSticker({ imageSize, stickerSource }: Props) {
  return (
    <View style={{ top: -350 }}>
      <Animated.Image
        source={stickerSource}
        resizeMode="contain"
        style={{ width: imageSize, height: imageSize }}
      />
    </View>
  );
}
```

> For a complete reference of the animated component API, see [React Native Reanimated](https://docs.swmansion.com/react-native-reanimated/docs/core/createAnimatedComponent) documentation.

## Add a tap gesture

React Native Gesture Handler allows us to add behavior when it detects touch input, like a double tap event.

In the **EmojiSticker.tsx** file:

1.  Import `Gesture` and `GestureDetector` from `react-native-gesture-handler`.
2.  To recognize the tap on the sticker, import `useAnimatedStyle`, `useSharedValue`, and `withSpring` from `react-native-reanimated` to animate the style of the `<Animated.Image>`.
3.  Inside the `EmojiSticker` component, create a reference called `scaleImage` using the `useSharedValue()` hook. It will take the value of `imageSize` as its initial value.

```tsx
// ...rest of the import statements remain same
import { Gesture, GestureDetector } from 'react-native-gesture-handler';
import Animated, { useAnimatedStyle, useSharedValue, withSpring } from 'react-native-reanimated';

export default function EmojiSticker({ imageSize, stickerSource }: Props) {
  const scaleImage = useSharedValue(imageSize);

  return (
    // ...rest of the code remains same
  )
}
```

Creating a shared value using the `useSharedValue()` hook has many advantages. It helps to mutate data and runs animations based on the current value. We can access and modify the shared value using the `.value` property. We'll create a `doubleTap` object to scale the initial value and use `Gesture.Tap()` to animate the transition while scaling the sticker image. To determine the number of taps required, we'll add `numberOfTaps()`.

Create the following object in the `EmojiSticker` component:

```tsx
const doubleTap = Gesture.Tap()
  .numberOfTaps(2)
  .onStart(() => {
    if (scaleImage.value !== imageSize * 2) {
      scaleImage.value = scaleImage.value * 2;
    } else {
      scaleImage.value = Math.round(scaleImage.value / 2);
    }
  });
```

To animate the transition, let's use a spring-based animation. This will make it feel alive because it's based on the real-world physics of a spring. We will use the `withSpring()` function provided by `react-native-reanimated`.

On the sticker image, we'll use the `useAnimatedStyle()` hook to create a style object. This will help us to update styles using shared values when the animation happens. We'll also scale the size of the image by manipulating the `width` and `height` properties. The initial values of these properties are set to `imageSize`.

Create an `imageStyle` variable and add it to the `EmojiSticker` component:

```tsx
const imageStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => {
  return {
    width: withSpring(scaleImage.value),
    height: withSpring(scaleImage.value),
  };
});
```

Next, wrap the `<Animated.Image>` component with the `<GestureDetector>` and modify the `style` prop on the `<Animated.Image>` to pass the `imageStyle`.

```tsx
import { ImageSourcePropType, View } from 'react-native';
import { Gesture, GestureDetector } from 'react-native-gesture-handler';
import Animated, { useAnimatedStyle, useSharedValue, withSpring } from 'react-native-reanimated';

type Props = {
  imageSize: number;
  stickerSource: ImageSourcePropType;
};

export default function EmojiSticker({ imageSize, stickerSource }: Props) {
  const scaleImage = useSharedValue(imageSize);

  const doubleTap = Gesture.Tap()
    .numberOfTaps(2)
    .onStart(() => {
      if (scaleImage.value !== imageSize * 2) {
        scaleImage.value = scaleImage.value * 2;
      } else {
        scaleImage.value = Math.round(scaleImage.value / 2);
      }
    });

  const imageStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => {
    return {
      width: withSpring(scaleImage.value),
      height: withSpring(scaleImage.value),
    };
  });

  return (
    <View style={{ top: -350 }}>
      <GestureDetector gesture={doubleTap}>
        <Animated.Image
          source={stickerSource}
          resizeMode="contain"
          style={[imageStyle, { width: imageSize, height: imageSize }]}
        />
      </GestureDetector>
    </View>
  );
}
```

In the above snippet, the `gesture` prop takes the value of the `doubleTap` to trigger a gesture when a user double-taps the sticker image.

Let's take a look at our app on Android, iOS and the web:

> For a complete reference of the tap gesture API, see the [React Native Gesture Handler](https://docs.swmansion.com/react-native-gesture-handler/docs/2.x/gestures/tap-gesture) documentation.

## Add a pan gesture

To recognize a dragging gesture on the sticker and to track its movement, we'll use a pan gesture. In the **components/EmojiSticker.tsx**:

1.  Create two new shared values: `translateX` and `translateY`.
2.  Replace the `<View>` with the `<Animated.View>` component.

```tsx
export default function EmojiSticker({ imageSize, stickerSource }: Props) {
  const scaleImage = useSharedValue(imageSize);
  const translateX = useSharedValue(0);
  const translateY = useSharedValue(0);
  // ...rest of the code remains same

  return (
    <Animated.View style={{ top: -350 }}>
      <GestureDetector gesture={doubleTap}>
        {/* ...rest of the code remains same */}
      </GestureDetector>
    </Animated.View>
  );
}
```

Let's learn what the above code does:

-   The translation values defined will move the sticker around the screen. Since the sticker moves along both axes, we need to track the X and Y values.
-   In the `useSharedValue()` hooks, we have set both translation variables to have an initial position of `0`. This is the sticker's initial position and a starting point. This value sets the sticker's initial position when the gesture starts.

In the previous step, we triggered the `onStart()` callback for the tap gesture chained to the `Gesture.Tap()` method. For the pan gesture, specify an `onChange()` callback, which runs when the gesture is active and moving.

1.  Create a `drag` object to handle the pan gesture. The `onChange()` callback accepts `event` as a parameter. `changeX` and `changeY` properties hold the change in position since the last event and update the values stored in `translateX` and `translateY`.
2.  Define the `containerStyle` object using the `useAnimatedStyle()` hook. It will return an array of transforms. For the `<Animated.View>` component, we need to set the `transform` property to the `translateX` and `translateY` values. This will change the sticker's position when the gesture is active.

```tsx
const drag = Gesture.Pan().onChange(event => {
  translateX.value += event.changeX;
  translateY.value += event.changeY;
});

const containerStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => {
  return {
    transform: [
      {
        translateX: translateX.value,
      },
      {
        translateY: translateY.value,
      },
    ],
  };
});
```

Next, inside the JSX code:

1.  Update the `<EmojiSticker>` component so that the `<GestureDetector>` component becomes the top-level component.
2.  Add the `containerStyle` on the `<Animated.View>` component to apply the transform styles.

```tsx
import { Gesture, GestureDetector } from 'react-native-gesture-handler';
import Animated, { useAnimatedStyle, useSharedValue, withSpring } from 'react-native-reanimated';
import { ImageSourcePropType } from 'react-native';

type Props = {
  imageSize: number;
  stickerSource: ImageSourcePropType;
};

export default function EmojiSticker({ imageSize, stickerSource }: Props) {
  const scaleImage = useSharedValue(imageSize);
  const translateX = useSharedValue(0);
  const translateY = useSharedValue(0);

  const doubleTap = Gesture.Tap()
    .numberOfTaps(2)
    .onStart(() => {
      if (scaleImage.value !== imageSize * 2) {
        scaleImage.value = scaleImage.value * 2;
      } else {
        scaleImage.value = Math.round(scaleImage.value / 2);
      }
    });

  const imageStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => {
    return {
      width: withSpring(scaleImage.value),
      height: withSpring(scaleImage.value),
    };
  });

  const drag = Gesture.Pan().onChange(event => {
    translateX.value += event.changeX;
    translateY.value += event.changeY;
  });

  const containerStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => {
    return {
      transform: [
        {
          translateX: translateX.value,
        },
        {
          translateY: translateY.value,
        },
      ],
    };
  });

  return (
    <GestureDetector gesture={drag}>
      <Animated.View style={[containerStyle, { top: -350 }]}>
        <GestureDetector gesture={doubleTap}>
          <Animated.Image
            source={stickerSource}
            resizeMode="contain"
            style={[imageStyle, { width: imageSize, height: imageSize }]}
          />
        </GestureDetector>
      </Animated.View>
    </GestureDetector>
  );
}
```

Let's take a look at our app on Android, iOS and the web:

## Summary

Chapter 6: Add gestures

We've successfully implemented pan and tap gestures.

In the next chapter, we'll learn how to take a screenshot of the image and the sticker, and save it on the device's library.

[Next: Take a screenshot](/tutorial/screenshot)