Reference version

Expo ImagePicker iconExpo ImagePicker

GitHub

npm

A library that provides access to the system's UI for selecting images and videos from the phone's library or taking a photo with the camera.

Android
iOS
Web

expo-image-picker provides access to the system's UI for selecting images and videos from the phone's library or taking a photo with the camera.

Installation

Terminal
npx expo install expo-image-picker

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

Known issues 
iOS

On iOS, when an image (usually of a higher resolution) is picked from the camera roll, the result of the cropped image gives the wrong value for the cropped rectangle in some cases. Unfortunately, this issue is with the underlying UIImagePickerController due to a bug in the closed-source tools built into iOS.

Configuration in app.json/app.config.js

You can configure expo-image-picker 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.

Are you using this library in a bare React Native app?

Learn how to configure the native projects in the installation instructions in the expo-image-picker repository.

Example app.json with config plugin

app.json
{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [
      [
        "expo-image-picker",
        {
          "photosPermission": "The app accesses your photos to let you share them with your friends."
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
}

Configurable properties

NameDefaultDescription
photosPermission"Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to access your photos"
Only for:
iOS

A string to set the NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription permission message.

cameraPermission"Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to access your camera"
Only for:
iOS

A string to set the NSCameraUsageDescription permission message.

microphonePermission"Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to access your microphone"
Only for:
iOS

A string to set the NSMicrophoneUsageDescription permission message.

Usage

Image Picker
import { useState } from 'react';
import { Button, Image, View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import * as ImagePicker from 'expo-image-picker';

export default function ImagePickerExample() {
  const [image, setImage] = useState<string | null>(null);

  const pickImage = async () => {
    // No permissions request is necessary for launching the image library
    let result = await ImagePicker.launchImageLibraryAsync({
      mediaTypes: ImagePicker.MediaTypeOptions.All,
      allowsEditing: true,
      aspect: [4, 3],
      quality: 1,
    });

    console.log(result);

    if (!result.canceled) {
      setImage(result.assets[0].uri);
    }
  };

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Button title="Pick an image from camera roll" onPress={pickImage} />
      {image && <Image source={{ uri: image }} style={styles.image} />}
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
  },
  image: {
    width: 200,
    height: 200,
  },
});

When you run this example and pick an image, you will see the image that you picked show up in your app, and a similar log will be shown in the console:

{
  "assets": [
    {
      "assetId": "C166F9F5-B5FE-4501-9531",
      "base64": null,
      "duration": null,
      "exif": null,
      "fileName": "IMG.HEIC",
      "fileSize": 6018901,
      "height": 3025,
      "type": "image",
      "uri": "file:///data/user/0/host.exp.exponent/cache/cropped1814158652.jpg"
      "width": 3024
    }
  ],
  "canceled": false
}

With AWS S3

AWS storage example

An example of how to use AWS storage can be found in with-aws-storage-upload.

See Amplify documentation guide to set up your project correctly.

With Firebase

Firebase storage example

An example of how to use Firebase storage can be found in with-firebase-storage-upload.

See Using Firebase guide to set up your project correctly.

API

import * as ImagePicker from 'expo-image-picker';

Hooks

useCameraPermissions(options)

NameType
options
(optional)
PermissionHookOptions<object>

Check or request permissions to access the camera. This uses both requestCameraPermissionsAsync and getCameraPermissionsAsync to interact with the permissions.

Returns:

[null | PermissionResponse, RequestPermissionMethod<PermissionResponse>, GetPermissionMethod<PermissionResponse>]

Example

const [status, requestPermission] = ImagePicker.useCameraPermissions();

useMediaLibraryPermissions(options)

NameType
options
(optional)
PermissionHookOptions<{ writeOnly: boolean }>

Check or request permissions to access the media library. This uses both requestMediaLibraryPermissionsAsync and getMediaLibraryPermissionsAsync to interact with the permissions.

Returns:

[null | MediaLibraryPermissionResponse, RequestPermissionMethod<MediaLibraryPermissionResponse>, GetPermissionMethod<MediaLibraryPermissionResponse>]

Example

const [status, requestPermission] = ImagePicker.useMediaLibraryPermissions();

Methods

ImagePicker.getCameraPermissionsAsync()

Checks user's permissions for accessing camera.

Returns:

Promise<CameraPermissionResponse>

A promise that fulfills with an object of type CameraPermissionResponse.

ImagePicker.getMediaLibraryPermissionsAsync(writeOnly)

NameTypeDescription
writeOnly
(optional)
boolean

Whether to request write or read and write permissions. Defaults to false

Default: false

Checks user's permissions for accessing photos.

Returns:

Promise<MediaLibraryPermissionResponse>

A promise that fulfills with an object of type MediaLibraryPermissionResponse.

ImagePicker.getPendingResultAsync()

Android system sometimes kills the MainActivity after the ImagePicker finishes. When this happens, we lost the data selected from the ImagePicker. However, you can retrieve the lost data by calling getPendingResultAsync. You can test this functionality by turning on Don't keep activities in the developer options.

Returns:

Promise<(ImagePickerResult | ImagePickerErrorResult)[]>

  • On Android: a promise that resolves to an array of objects of exactly same type as in ImagePicker.launchImageLibraryAsync or ImagePicker.launchCameraAsync if the ImagePicker finished successfully. Otherwise, to the array of ImagePickerErrorResult.
  • On other platforms: an empty array.

ImagePicker.launchCameraAsync(options)

NameTypeDescription
options
(optional)
ImagePickerOptions

An ImagePickerOptions object.

Default: {}

Display the system UI for taking a photo with the camera. Requires Permissions.CAMERA. On Android and iOS 10 Permissions.CAMERA_ROLL is also required. On mobile web, this must be called immediately in a user interaction like a button press, otherwise the browser will block the request without a warning.

Note: Make sure that you handle MainActivity destruction on Android. See ImagePicker.getPendingResultAsync. Notes for Web: The system UI can only be shown after user activation (e.g. a Button press). Therefore, calling launchCameraAsync in componentDidMount, for example, will not work as intended. The cancelled event will not be returned in the browser due to platform restrictions and inconsistencies across browsers.

Returns:

Promise<ImagePickerResult>

A promise that resolves to an object with canceled and assets fields. When the user canceled the action the assets is always null, otherwise it's an array of the selected media assets which have a form of ImagePickerAsset.

ImagePicker.launchImageLibraryAsync(options)

NameTypeDescription
options
(optional)
ImagePickerOptions

An object extended by ImagePickerOptions.


Display the system UI for choosing an image or a video from the phone's library. Requires Permissions.MEDIA_LIBRARY on iOS 10 only. On mobile web, this must be called immediately in a user interaction like a button press, otherwise the browser will block the request without a warning.

Animated GIFs support: On Android, if the selected image is an animated GIF, the result image will be an animated GIF too if and only if quality is explicitly set to 1.0 and allowsEditing is set to false. Otherwise compression and/or cropper will pick the first frame of the GIF and return it as the result (on Android the result will be a PNG). On iOS, both quality and cropping are supported.

Notes for Web: The system UI can only be shown after user activation (e.g. a Button press). Therefore, calling launchImageLibraryAsync in componentDidMount, for example, will not work as intended. The cancelled event will not be returned in the browser due to platform restrictions and inconsistencies across browsers.

Returns:

Promise<ImagePickerResult>

A promise that resolves to an object with canceled and assets fields. When the user canceled the action the assets is always null, otherwise it's an array of the selected media assets which have a form of ImagePickerAsset.

ImagePicker.requestCameraPermissionsAsync()

Asks the user to grant permissions for accessing camera. This does nothing on web because the browser camera is not used.

Returns:

Promise<CameraPermissionResponse>

A promise that fulfills with an object of type CameraPermissionResponse.

ImagePicker.requestMediaLibraryPermissionsAsync(writeOnly)

NameTypeDescription
writeOnly
(optional)
boolean

Whether to request write or read and write permissions. Defaults to false

Default: false

Asks the user to grant permissions for accessing user's photo. This method does nothing on web.

Returns:

Promise<MediaLibraryPermissionResponse>

A promise that fulfills with an object of type MediaLibraryPermissionResponse.

Interfaces

PermissionResponse

An object obtained by permissions get and request functions.

PermissionResponse Properties

NameTypeDescription
canAskAgainboolean

Indicates if user can be asked again for specific permission. If not, one should be directed to the Settings app in order to enable/disable the permission.

expiresPermissionExpiration

Determines time when the permission expires.

grantedboolean

A convenience boolean that indicates if the permission is granted.

statusPermissionStatus

Determines the status of the permission.


Types

CameraPermissionResponse

Type: PermissionResponse

Alias for PermissionResponse type exported by expo-modules-core.

ImagePickerAsset

Represents an asset (image or video) returned by the image picker or camera.

NameTypeDescription
assetId
(optional)
string | null
Only for:
iOS
Android

The unique ID that represents the picked image or video, if picked from the library. It can be used by expo-media-library to manage the picked asset.

This might be null when the ID is unavailable or the user gave limited permission to access the media library. On Android, the ID is unavailable when the user selects a photo by directly browsing file system.

base64
(optional)
string | null

When the base64 option is truthy, it is a Base64-encoded string of the selected image's JPEG data, otherwise null. If you prepend this with 'data:image/jpeg;base64,' to create a data URI, you can use it as the source of an Image element; for example:

<Image
  source={{ uri: 'data:image/jpeg;base64,' + asset.base64 }}
  style={{ width: 200, height: 200 }}
/>
duration
(optional)
number | null

Length of the video in milliseconds or null if the asset is not a video.

exif
(optional)
Record<string, any> | null

The exif field is included if the exif option is truthy, and is an object containing the image's EXIF data. The names of this object's properties are EXIF tags and the values are the respective EXIF values for those tags.

fileName
(optional)
string | null

Preferred filename to use when saving this item. This might be null when the name is unavailable or user gave limited permission to access the media library.

fileSize
(optional)
number

File size of the picked image or video, in bytes.

heightnumber

Height of the image or video.

mimeType
(optional)
string

The MIME type of the selected asset or null if could not be determined.

type
(optional)
'image' | 'video'

The type of the asset.

uristring

URI to the local image or video file (usable as the source of an Image element, in the case of an image) and width and height specify the dimensions of the media.

widthnumber

Width of the image or video.

ImagePickerCanceledResult

Type representing canceled pick result.

NameTypeDescription
assetsnull

null signifying that the request was canceled.

canceledtrue

Boolean flag set to true showing that the request was canceled.

ImagePickerErrorResult

NameTypeDescription
codestring

The error code.

exception
(optional)
string

The exception which caused the error.

messagestring

The error message.

ImagePickerOptions

NameTypeDescription
allowsEditing
(optional)
boolean
Only for:
iOS
Android

Whether to show a UI to edit the image after it is picked. On Android the user can crop and rotate the image and on iOS simply crop it.

  • Cropping multiple images is not supported - this option is mutually exclusive with allowsMultipleSelection.
  • On iOS, this option is ignored if allowsMultipleSelection is enabled.
  • On iOS cropping a .bmp image will convert it to .png.
Default: false
allowsMultipleSelection
(optional)
boolean
Only for:
iOS 14+
Android
Web

Whether or not to allow selecting multiple media files at once.

Cropping multiple images is not supported - this option is mutually exclusive with allowsEditing. If this option is enabled, then allowsEditing is ignored.

Default: false
aspect
(optional)
[number, number]

An array with two entries [x, y] specifying the aspect ratio to maintain if the user is allowed to edit the image (by passing allowsEditing: true). This is only applicable on Android, since on iOS the crop rectangle is always a square.

base64
(optional)
boolean

Whether to also include the image data in Base64 format.

cameraType
(optional)
CameraType
Only for:
iOS
Android

Selects the camera-facing type. The CameraType enum provides two options: front for the front-facing camera and back for the back-facing camera.

  • On Android, the behavior of this option may vary based on the camera app installed on the device.
Default: CameraType.back
exif
(optional)
boolean

Whether to also include the EXIF data for the image. On iOS the EXIF data does not include GPS tags in the camera case.

legacy
(optional)
boolean
Only for:
Android

Uses the legacy image picker on Android. This will allow media to be selected from outside the users photo library.

Default: false
mediaTypes
(optional)
MediaTypeOptions

Choose what type of media to pick.

Default: ImagePicker.MediaTypeOptions.Images
orderedSelection
(optional)
boolean
Only for:
iOS 15+

Whether to display number badges when assets are selected. The badges are numbered in selection order. Assets are then returned in the exact same order they were selected.

Assets should be returned in the selection order regardless of this option, but there is no guarantee that it is always true when this option is disabled.

Default: false
preferredAssetRepresentationMode
(optional)
UIImagePickerPreferredAssetRepresentationMode
Only for:
iOS 14+

Choose preferred asset representation mode to use when loading assets.

Default: ImagePicker.UIImagePickerPreferredAssetRepresentationMode.Automatic
presentationStyle
(optional)
UIImagePickerPresentationStyle
Only for:
iOS

Choose presentation style to customize view during taking photo/video.

Default: ImagePicker.UIImagePickerPresentationStyle.Automatic
quality
(optional)
number
Only for:
iOS
Android

Specify the quality of compression, from 0 to 1. 0 means compress for small size, 1 means compress for maximum quality.

Note: If the selected image has been compressed before, the size of the output file may be bigger than the size of the original image.

Note: On iOS, if a .bmp or .png image is selected from the library, this option is ignored.

Default: 0.2
selectionLimit
(optional)
number
Only for:
iOS 14+
Android

The maximum number of items that user can select. Applicable when allowsMultipleSelection is enabled. Setting the value to 0 sets the selection limit to the maximum that the system supports.

Default: 0
videoExportPreset
(optional)
VideoExportPreset

Deprecated See videoExportPreset in Apple documentation.

Only for:
iOS 11+

Specify preset which will be used to compress selected video.

Default: ImagePicker.VideoExportPreset.Passthrough
videoMaxDuration
(optional)
number

Maximum duration, in seconds, for video recording. Setting this to 0 disables the limit. Defaults to 0 (no limit).

  • On iOS, when allowsEditing is set to true, maximum duration is limited to 10 minutes. This limit is applied automatically, if 0 or no value is specified.
  • On Android, effect of this option depends on support of installed camera app.
  • On Web this option has no effect - the limit is browser-dependant.
videoQuality
(optional)
UIImagePickerControllerQualityType
Only for:
iOS

Specify the quality of recorded videos. Defaults to the highest quality available for the device.

Default: ImagePicker.UIImagePickerControllerQualityType.High

ImagePickerResult

Literal Type: multiple types

Type representing successful and canceled pick result.

Acceptable values are: ImagePickerSuccessResult | ImagePickerCanceledResult

ImagePickerSuccessResult

Type representing successful pick result.

NameTypeDescription
assetsImagePickerAsset[]

An array of picked assets.

canceledfalse

Boolean flag set to false showing that the request was successful.

MediaLibraryPermissionResponse

Extends PermissionResponse type exported by expo-modules-core, containing additional iOS-specific field.

Type: PermissionResponse extended by:


NameTypeDescription
accessPrivileges
(optional)
'all' | 'limited' | 'none'

Indicates if your app has access to the whole or only part of the photo library. Possible values are:

  • 'all' if the user granted your app access to the whole photo library
  • 'limited' if the user granted your app access only to selected photos (only available on Android API 34+ and iOS 14.0+)
  • 'none' if user denied or hasn't yet granted the permission

OpenFileBrowserOptions

NameTypeDescription
allowsMultipleSelectionboolean
Only for:
Web

Whether or not to allow selecting multiple media files at once.

base64boolean

Whether to also include the image data in Base64 format.

capture
(optional)
boolean-
mediaTypes
(optional)
MediaTypeOptions

Choose what type of media to pick.

Default: ImagePicker.MediaTypeOptions.Images

PermissionExpiration

Literal Type: multiple types

Permission expiration time. Currently, all permissions are granted permanently.

Acceptable values are: 'never' | number

PermissionHookOptions

Literal Type: multiple types

Acceptable values are: PermissionHookBehavior | Options

Enums

CameraType

CameraType Values

back

CameraType.back = "back"

Back/rear camera.

front

CameraType.front = "front"

Front camera

MediaTypeOptions

MediaTypeOptions Values

All

MediaTypeOptions.All = "All"

Images and videos.

Images

MediaTypeOptions.Images = "Images"

Only images.

Videos

MediaTypeOptions.Videos = "Videos"

Only videos.

PermissionStatus

PermissionStatus Values

DENIED

PermissionStatus.DENIED = "denied"

User has denied the permission.

GRANTED

PermissionStatus.GRANTED = "granted"

User has granted the permission.

UNDETERMINED

PermissionStatus.UNDETERMINED = "undetermined"

User hasn't granted or denied the permission yet.

UIImagePickerControllerQualityType

UIImagePickerControllerQualityType Values

High

UIImagePickerControllerQualityType.High = 0

Highest available resolution.

Medium

UIImagePickerControllerQualityType.Medium = 1

Depends on the device.

Low

UIImagePickerControllerQualityType.Low = 2

Depends on the device.

VGA640x480

UIImagePickerControllerQualityType.VGA640x480 = 3

640 × 480

IFrame1280x720

UIImagePickerControllerQualityType.IFrame1280x720 = 4

1280 × 720

IFrame960x540

UIImagePickerControllerQualityType.IFrame960x540 = 5

960 × 540

Only for:
iOS

UIImagePickerPreferredAssetRepresentationMode

Picker preferred asset representation mode. Its values are directly mapped to the PHPickerConfigurationAssetRepresentationMode.

UIImagePickerPreferredAssetRepresentationMode Values

Automatic

UIImagePickerPreferredAssetRepresentationMode.Automatic = "automatic"

A mode that indicates that the system chooses the appropriate asset representation.

Compatible

UIImagePickerPreferredAssetRepresentationMode.Compatible = "compatible"

A mode that uses the most compatible asset representation.

Current

UIImagePickerPreferredAssetRepresentationMode.Current = "current"

A mode that uses the current representation to avoid transcoding, if possible.

Only for:
iOS

UIImagePickerPresentationStyle

Picker presentation style. Its values are directly mapped to the UIModalPresentationStyle.

UIImagePickerPresentationStyle Values

Only for:
iOS

AUTOMATIC

UIImagePickerPresentationStyle.AUTOMATIC = "automatic"

The default presentation style chosen by the system. On older iOS versions, falls back to WebBrowserPresentationStyle.FullScreen.

CURRENT_CONTEXT

UIImagePickerPresentationStyle.CURRENT_CONTEXT = "currentContext"

A presentation style where the picker is displayed over the app's content.

FORM_SHEET

UIImagePickerPresentationStyle.FORM_SHEET = "formSheet"

A presentation style that displays the picker centered in the screen.

FULL_SCREEN

UIImagePickerPresentationStyle.FULL_SCREEN = "fullScreen"

A presentation style in which the presented picker covers the screen.

OVER_CURRENT_CONTEXT

UIImagePickerPresentationStyle.OVER_CURRENT_CONTEXT = "overCurrentContext"

A presentation style where the picker is displayed over the app's content.

OVER_FULL_SCREEN

UIImagePickerPresentationStyle.OVER_FULL_SCREEN = "overFullScreen"

A presentation style in which the picker view covers the screen.

PAGE_SHEET

UIImagePickerPresentationStyle.PAGE_SHEET = "pageSheet"

A presentation style that partially covers the underlying content.

POPOVER

UIImagePickerPresentationStyle.POPOVER = "popover"

A presentation style where the picker is displayed in a popover view.

VideoExportPreset

VideoExportPreset Values

Passthrough

VideoExportPreset.Passthrough = 0

Resolution: Unchanged • Video compression: None • Audio compression: None

LowQuality

VideoExportPreset.LowQuality = 1

Resolution: Depends on the device • Video compression: H.264 • Audio compression: AAC

MediumQuality

VideoExportPreset.MediumQuality = 2

Resolution: Depends on the device • Video compression: H.264 • Audio compression: AAC

HighestQuality

VideoExportPreset.HighestQuality = 3

Resolution: Depends on the device • Video compression: H.264 • Audio compression: AAC

H264_640x480

VideoExportPreset.H264_640x480 = 4

Resolution: 640 × 480 • Video compression: H.264 • Audio compression: AAC

H264_960x540

VideoExportPreset.H264_960x540 = 5

Resolution: 960 × 540 • Video compression: H.264 • Audio compression: AAC

H264_1280x720

VideoExportPreset.H264_1280x720 = 6

Resolution: 1280 × 720 • Video compression: H.264 • Audio compression: AAC

H264_1920x1080

VideoExportPreset.H264_1920x1080 = 7

Resolution: 1920 × 1080 • Video compression: H.264 • Audio compression: AAC

H264_3840x2160

VideoExportPreset.H264_3840x2160 = 8

Resolution: 3840 × 2160 • Video compression: H.264 • Audio compression: AAC

HEVC_1920x1080

VideoExportPreset.HEVC_1920x1080 = 9

Resolution: 1920 × 1080 • Video compression: HEVC • Audio compression: AAC

HEVC_3840x2160

VideoExportPreset.HEVC_3840x2160 = 10

Resolution: 3840 × 2160 • Video compression: HEVC • Audio compression: AAC

Permissions

Android

The following permissions are added automatically through the library AndroidManifest.xml.

Android PermissionDescription

CAMERA

Required to be able to access the camera device.

READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

Allows an application to read from external storage.

WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

Allows an application to write to external storage.

iOS

The following usage description keys are used by the APIs in this library.

Info.plist KeyDescription

NSMicrophoneUsageDescription

A message that tells the user why the app is requesting access to the device’s microphone.

NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription

A message that tells the user why the app is requesting access to the user’s photo library.

NSCameraUsageDescription

A message that tells the user why the app is requesting access to the device’s camera.