Expo Camera (Next)

A React component that renders a preview for the device's front or back camera.

This page documents an upcoming version of the Camera library. To try it, switch to expo-camera/next imports in your code.

What are Next (/next) libraries

Next libraries are pre-release versions of SDK libraries. We provide them to get feedback from the community and test new features before their stable release. If you encounter any issue, we encourage reporting on the Expo GitHub repository.

expo-camera provides a React component that renders a preview of the device's front or back camera. The camera's parameters such as zoom, torch, and flash mode are adjustable. Using CameraView, you can take photos and record videos that are saved to the app's cache. The component is also capable of detecting bar codes appearing in the preview. Run the example on your device to see all these features working together.

Platform Compatibility

Installation

If you are installing this in an existing React Native app, start by installing expo in your project. Then, follow the additional instructions as mentioned by the library's README under "Installation in bare React Native projects" section.

Configuration in app.json/app.config.js

You can configure expo-camera using its built-in config plugin if you use config plugins in your project (EAS Build or npx expo run:[android|ios]). The plugin allows you to configure various properties that cannot be set at runtime and require building a new app binary to take effect.

Example app.json with config plugin

{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [
      [
        "expo-camera",
        {
          "cameraPermission": "Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to access your camera",
          "microphonePermission": "Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to access your microphone",
          "recordAudioAndroid": true
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
}

Configurable properties

Usage

Only one Camera preview can be active at any given time. If you have multiple screens in your app, you should unmount Camera components whenever a screen is unfocused.

import { CameraView, useCameraPermissions } from 'expo-camera/next';
import { useState } from 'react';
import { Button, StyleSheet, Text, TouchableOpacity, View } from 'react-native';

export default function App() {
  const [facing, setFacing] = useState('back');
  const [permission, requestPermission] = useCameraPermissions();

  if (!permission) {
    // Camera permissions are still loading
    return <View />;
  }

  if (!permission.granted) {
    // Camera permissions are not granted yet
    return (
      <View style={styles.container}>
        <Text style={{ textAlign: 'center' }}>We need your permission to show the camera</Text>
        <Button onPress={requestPermission} title="grant permission" />
      </View>
    );
  }

  function toggleCameraFacing() {
    setFacing(current => (current === 'back' ? 'front' : 'back'));
  }

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <CameraView style={styles.camera} facing={facing}>
        <View style={styles.buttonContainer}>
          <TouchableOpacity style={styles.button} onPress={toggleCameraFacing}>
            <Text style={styles.text}>Flip Camera</Text>
          </TouchableOpacity>
        </View>
      </CameraView>
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'center',
  },
  camera: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  buttonContainer: {
    flex: 1,
    flexDirection: 'row',
    backgroundColor: 'transparent',
    margin: 64,
  },
  button: {
    flex: 1,
    alignSelf: 'flex-end',
    alignItems: 'center',
  },
  text: {
    fontSize: 24,
    fontWeight: 'bold',
    color: 'white',
  },
});

Web support

Most browsers support a version of web camera functionality, you can check out the web camera browser support here. Image URIs are always returned as base64 strings because local file system paths are unavailable in the browser.

Chrome iframe usage

When using Chrome versions 64+, if you try to use a web camera in a cross-origin iframe nothing will render. To add support for cameras in your iframe simply add the attribute allow="microphone; camera;" to the iframe element:

<iframe src="..." allow="microphone; camera;">
  <!-- <CameraView /> -->
</iframe>

API

import { CameraView } from 'expo-camera/next';

Component

<CameraView
  barcodeScannerSettings={{
    barcodeTypes: ["qr"],
  }}
/>

Static Methods

Component Methods

Hooks

const [status, requestPermission] = useCameraPermissions();

const [status, requestPermission] = Camera.useMicrophonePermissions();

Interfaces

Types

Enums

Permissions

Android

This package automatically adds the CAMERA permission to your app. If you want to record videos with audio, you have to include the RECORD_AUDIO in your app.json inside the expo.android.permissions array.

iOS

The following usage description keys are used by this library: