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This documentation is available as Markdown for AI agents and LLMs. See the full Markdown index or append .md to any documentation URL.

Expo GlassEffect

React components that render a liquid glass effect using iOS's native UIVisualEffectView.

iOS
tvOS
Included in Expo Go

GitHub

npm

Changelog

Recommended version:
~55.0.11
GlassView is only available on iOS 26 and above. It will fallback to regular View on unsupported platforms.

React components that render native iOS liquid glass effect using UIVisualEffectView. Supports customizable glass styles and tint color.

Known issues

Installation

Terminal
- npx expo install expo-glass-effect
- yarn expo install expo-glass-effect
- pnpm expo install expo-glass-effect
- bun expo install expo-glass-effect

If you are installing this in an existing React Native app, make sure to install expo in your project.

Usage

GlassView

The GlassView component renders the native iOS glass effect. It supports different glass effect styles and can be customized with tint colors for various aesthetic needs.

Basic GlassView usage
import { StyleSheet, View, Image } from 'react-native';
import { GlassView } from 'expo-glass-effect';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Image
        style={styles.backgroundImage}
        source={{
          uri: 'https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1506905925346-21bda4d32df4?w=400&h=400&fit=crop',
        }}
      />

      {/* Basic Glass View */}
      <GlassView style={styles.glassView} />

      {/* Glass View with clear style */}
      <GlassView style={styles.tintedGlassView} glassEffectStyle="clear" />
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  backgroundImage: {
    ...StyleSheet.absoluteFill,
    width: '100%',
    height: '100%',
  },
  glassView: {
    position: 'absolute',
    top: 100,
    left: 50,
    width: 200,
    height: 100,
    borderRadius: 12,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
    padding: 20,
  },
  tintedGlassView: {
    position: 'absolute',
    top: 250,
    left: 50,
    width: 200,
    height: 100,
    borderRadius: 12,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
    padding: 20,
  },
  text: {
    fontSize: 16,
    fontWeight: '600',
    color: '#000',
    textAlign: 'center',
  },
});

GlassContainer

The GlassContainer component allows you to combine multiple glass views into a combined effect.

GlassContainer example
import { StyleSheet, View, Image } from 'react-native';
import { GlassView, GlassContainer } from 'expo-glass-effect';

export default function GlassContainerDemo() {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Image
        style={styles.backgroundImage}
        source={{
          uri: 'https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1547036967-23d11aacaee0?w=400&h=600&fit=crop',
        }}
      />
      <GlassContainer spacing={10} style={styles.containerStyle}>
        <GlassView style={styles.glass1} isInteractive />
        <GlassView style={styles.glass2} />
        <GlassView style={styles.glass3} />
      </GlassContainer>
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  backgroundImage: {
    ...StyleSheet.absoluteFillObject,
    width: '100%',
    height: '100%',
  },
  containerStyle: {
    position: 'absolute',
    top: 200,
    left: 50,
    width: 250,
    height: 100,
    flexDirection: 'row',
    alignItems: 'center',
    gap: 5,
  },
  glass1: {
    width: 60,
    height: 60,
    borderRadius: 30,
  },
  glass2: {
    width: 50,
    height: 50,
    borderRadius: 25,
  },
  glass3: {
    width: 40,
    height: 40,
    borderRadius: 20,
  },
});

Animated glass effect style

The glassEffectStyle prop accepts a config object with animate and animationDuration properties to natively animate transitions between glass styles. This is the recommended way to fade in/out the glass effect without modifying opacity.

Animated glass effect style
import { useState } from 'react';
import { StyleSheet, Text, View, Image, Pressable } from 'react-native';
import { GlassView } from 'expo-glass-effect';

export default function AnimatedGlassStyleExample() {
  const [visible, setVisible] = useState(true);

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <View style={styles.backgroundImage}>
        <Image
          style={{
            width: 300,
            height: 200,
          }}
          source={{
            uri: 'https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1506905925346-21bda4d32df4?w=400&h=400&fit=crop',
          }}
        />
        <GlassView
          style={styles.glassView}
          glassEffectStyle={{
            style: visible ? 'clear' : 'none',
            animate: true,
            animationDuration: 0.5,
          }}
        />
      </View>
      <Pressable style={styles.toggleButton} onPress={() => setVisible(prev => !prev)}>
        <Text style={styles.toggleButtonText}>{visible ? 'Hide' : 'Show'} Glass Effect</Text>
      </Pressable>
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    height: 300,
    width: 300,
  },
  backgroundImage: {
    position: 'absolute',
  },
  glassView: {
    position: 'absolute',
    width: 200,
    height: 120,
    borderRadius: 12,
  },
  toggleButton: {
    position: 'absolute',
    bottom: 100,
    alignSelf: 'center',
    backgroundColor: '#007AFF',
    paddingVertical: 14,
    paddingHorizontal: 24,
    borderRadius: 12,
  },
  toggleButtonText: {
    color: '#fff',
    fontSize: 16,
    fontWeight: '600',
  },
});

Opacity animation workaround

Since setting opacity to 0 on GlassView or its parent views causes the glass effect to not render at all, you can use Reanimated to animate a wrapper view's opacity while toggling the glassEffectStyle between the desired style and 'none'.

Glass effect opacity animation workaround
import { GlassView } from 'expo-glass-effect';
import { StyleSheet, Text, View, Image, Pressable } from 'react-native';
import Animated, {
  useAnimatedProps,
  useAnimatedStyle,
  useSharedValue,
  withTiming,
} from 'react-native-reanimated';

const AnimatedGlassView = Animated.createAnimatedComponent(GlassView);

export default function GlassOpacityAnimationExample() {
  const fadeOpacity = useSharedValue(0);

  const glassViewProps = useAnimatedProps(() => {
    const glassEffectStyle = fadeOpacity.value > 0.01 ? 'regular' : 'none';
    return {
      glassEffectStyle,
      style: {
        width: 150,
        height: 100,
        borderRadius: 12,
        position: 'absolute',
      },
    };
  });

  const fadeOpacityStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => ({
    position: 'absolute',
    opacity: fadeOpacity.value,
    width: 150,
    height: 100,
    borderRadius: 12,
  }));

  return (
    <>
      <Text style={styles.title}>Opacity Animation Workaround (iOS 26.1+)</Text>
      <View style={styles.backgroundContainer}>
        <Image
          style={styles.backgroundImage}
          source={{
            uri: 'https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1506905925346-21bda4d32df4?w=400&h=400&fit=crop',
          }}
        />
        <Animated.View style={fadeOpacityStyle}>
          <AnimatedGlassView animatedProps={glassViewProps} />
        </Animated.View>
      </View>

      <Pressable
        style={styles.toggleButton}
        onPress={() => {
          fadeOpacity.value = withTiming(fadeOpacity.value > 0.5 ? 0 : 1, { duration: 500 });
        }}>
        <Text style={styles.toggleButtonText}>Toggle Glass Visibility</Text>
      </Pressable>
    </>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  title: {
    fontSize: 20,
    fontWeight: 'bold',
  },
  backgroundContainer: {
    height: 300,
    borderRadius: 12,
    overflow: 'hidden',
    position: 'relative',
  },
  backgroundImage: {
    width: '100%',
    height: '100%',
  },
  toggleButton: {
    backgroundColor: '#007AFF',
    paddingVertical: 14,
    paddingHorizontal: 24,
    borderRadius: 12,
    alignItems: 'center',
  },
  toggleButtonText: {
    color: '#fff',
    fontSize: 16,
    fontWeight: '600',
  },
});

isLiquidGlassAvailable

The isLiquidGlassAvailable function let's you check, if the Liquid Glass effect is available in the compiled application. It validates the system and compiler versions, as well as the Info.plist settings.

import { isLiquidGlassAvailable } from 'expo-glass-effect';

export default function CheckLiquidGlass() {
  return (
    <Text>
      {isLiquidGlassAvailable()
        ? 'Liquid Glass effect is available'
        : 'Liquid Glass effect is not available'}
    </Text>
  );
}

isGlassEffectAPIAvailable

The isGlassEffectAPIAvailable function checks whether the Liquid Glass API is available at runtime on the device.

This API was added because some iOS 26 beta versions do not have the Liquid Glass API available, which can lead to crashes. You should check this before using GlassView in your app to ensure compatibility. See GitHub issue #40911 for more information.
import { isGlassEffectAPIAvailable } from 'expo-glass-effect';

export default function CheckGlassEffectAPI() {
  return (
    <Text>
      {isGlassEffectAPIAvailable()
        ? 'Glass Effect API is available'
        : 'Glass Effect API is not available'}
    </Text>
  );
}

API

import {
  GlassView,
  GlassContainer,
  isLiquidGlassAvailable,
  isGlassEffectAPIAvailable,
} from 'expo-glass-effect';

Components

GlassContainer

iOS
tvOS

Type: React.Element<GlassContainerProps>

GlassContainerProps

ref

iOS
tvOS
Optional • Type: Ref<View>

spacing

iOS
tvOS
Optional • Type: number • Default: undefined

The distance at which glass elements start affecting each other. Controls when glass elements begin to merge together.

Inherited props

GlassView

iOS
tvOS

Type: React.Element<GlassViewProps>

GlassViewProps

colorScheme

iOS
tvOS
Optional • Type: GlassColorScheme • Default: 'auto'

The color scheme for the glass effect appearance. Use this to override the system appearance when your app has its own theme toggle.

glassEffectStyle

iOS
tvOS
Optional • Literal type: union • Default: 'regular'

Glass effect style to apply to the view. Can be a simple string ('clear', 'regular', 'none') or a config object for controlling animation behavior.

Acceptable values are: GlassStyle | GlassEffectStyleConfig

isInteractive

iOS
tvOS
Optional • Type: boolean • Default: false

Whether the glass effect should be interactive.

ref

iOS
tvOS
Optional • Type: Ref<View>

tintColor

iOS
tvOS
Optional • Type: string

Tint color to apply to the glass effect.

Inherited props

Methods

isGlassEffectAPIAvailable()

iOS

Checks whether the Liquid Glass API is available at runtime on the device.

This method was added because some iOS 26 beta versions do not have this API available, which can lead to crashes. You should check this before using GlassView and GlassContainer in your app to ensure compatibility.

Returns:
boolean

See: https://github.com/expo/expo/issues/40911

isLiquidGlassAvailable()

iOS
tvOS

Indicates whether the app is using the Liquid Glass design. The value will be true when the Liquid Glass components are available in the app.

This only checks for component availability. The value may also be true if the user has enabled accessibility settings that limit the Liquid Glass effect. To check if the user has disabled the Liquid Glass effect via accessibility settings, use AccessibilityInfo.isReduceTransparencyEnabled().

Returns:
boolean

Types

GlassColorScheme

iOS
tvOS

Literal type: string

Acceptable values are: 'auto' | 'light' | 'dark'

GlassEffectStyleConfig

iOS
tvOS
PropertyTypeDescription
animate(optional)boolean

Whether to animate the style change.

Default:false
animationDuration(optional)number

Duration of the animation in seconds. Uses system default if not specified.

styleGlassStyle

The glass effect style to apply.

GlassStyle

iOS
tvOS

Literal type: string

Acceptable values are: 'clear' | 'regular' | 'none'