---
modificationDate: April 10, 2025
title: SystemUI
description: A library that allows interacting with system UI elements.
sourceCodeUrl: 'https://github.com/expo/expo/tree/sdk-53/packages/expo-system-ui'
packageName: 'expo-system-ui'
platforms: ['android', 'ios', 'web']
---

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# Expo SystemUI

A library that allows interacting with system UI elements.
Android, iOS, Web

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

`expo-system-ui` enables you to interact with UI elements that fall outside of the React tree. Specifically the root view background color, and locking the user interface style globally on Android.

## Installation

```sh
npx expo install expo-system-ui
```

If you are installing this in an [existing React Native app](/bare/overview), make sure to [install `expo`](/bare/installing-expo-modules) in your project.

## API

```js
import * as SystemUI from 'expo-system-ui';
```

## Methods

### `SystemUI.getBackgroundColorAsync()`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, Web.

Gets the root view background color.

Returns: `Promise<colorvalue>`

Current root view background color in hex format. Returns `null` if the background color is not set.

Example

```ts
const color = await SystemUI.getBackgroundColorAsync();
```

### `SystemUI.setBackgroundColorAsync(color)`

Supported platforms: Android, iOS, Web.

| Parameter | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `color` | null | [ColorValue](https://reactnative.dev/docs/colors) | Any valid [CSS 3 (SVG) color](http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-color/#svg-color). |

  

Changes the root view background color. Call this function in the root file outside of your component.

Returns: `Promise<void>`

Example

```ts
SystemUI.setBackgroundColorAsync("black");
```