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Expo MediaLibrary
A library that provides access to the device's media library.
expo-media-library provides access to the user's media library, allowing them to access their existing images and videos from your app, as well as save new ones. You can also subscribe to any updates made to the user's media library.
Android allows full access to the media library (which is the purpose of this package) only for applications needing broad access to photos. See Details on Google Play's Photo and Video Permissions policy.
Installation
If you are installing this in an existing React Native app, make sure to install expo in your project.
Configuration in app config
You can configure expo-media-library using its built-in config plugin if you use config plugins in your project (Continuous Native Generation (CNG)). The plugin allows you to configure various properties that cannot be set at runtime and require building a new app binary to take effect. If your app does not use CNG, then you'll need to manually configure the library.
Example app.json with config plugin
{ "expo": { "plugins": [ [ "expo-media-library", { "photosPermission": "Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to access your photos.", "savePhotosPermission": "Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to save photos.", "isAccessMediaLocationEnabled": true, "granularPermissions": ["audio", "photo"] } ] ] } }
Configurable properties
Are you using this library in an existing React Native app?
If you're not using Continuous Native Generation (CNG) or you're using native android and ios projects manually, then you need to add following permissions and configuration to your native projects:
Android
-
To access asset location (latitude and longitude EXIF tags), add
ACCESS_MEDIA_LOCATIONpermission to your project's android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_MEDIA_LOCATION" /> -
Scoped storage is available from Android 10. To make
expo-media-librarywork with scoped storage, you need to add the following configuration to your android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:<manifest ... > <application android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" ...> </manifest>
iOS
-
Add
NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription, andNSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescriptionkeys to your project's ios/[app]/Info.plist:<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key> <string>Give $(PRODUCT_NAME) permission to access your photos</string> <key>NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription</key> <string>Give $(PRODUCT_NAME) permission to save photos</string>
Usage
Known limitations
Empty albums
Due to system limitations on Android, it is impossible to create empty albums. It is necessary to either pass an existing asset to add to the album or a URI of a local resource, which will be used to create a new asset inside the album.
Moving assets between albums
Android 11 introduced permission changes that make the operation of moving assets between albums require confirmation from the user every time.
Therefore, when creating a new asset, instead of creating the asset and then moving it to the album, it is recommended to pass the album parameter to the createAssetAsync method, which will automatically add the asset to the album without the need for user confirmation.
Wrong orientation of images
On Android, when using getAssetsAsync without resolveWithFullInfo: true, image orientation may be incorrect because EXIF data (which includes orientation) is only read when that option is enabled.
API
import * as MediaLibrary from 'expo-media-library';
Component
Type: React.Element<AlbumsOptions>
Queries for user-created albums in media gallery.
Constants
Type: SortByObject
Supported keys that can be used to sort getAssetsAsync results.
Hooks
Check or request permissions to access the media library.
This uses both requestPermissionsAsync and getPermissionsAsync to interact with the permissions.
[PermissionResponse | null, RequestPermissionMethod<PermissionResponse>, GetPermissionMethod<PermissionResponse>]Example
const [permissionResponse, requestPermission] = MediaLibrary.usePermissions();
Methods
Adds array of assets to the album.
On Android, by default it copies assets from the current album to provided one, however it's also
possible to move them by passing false as copyAssets argument. In case they're copied you
should keep in mind that getAssetsAsync will return duplicated assets.
Promise<boolean>Returns promise which fulfils with true if the assets were successfully added to
the album.
Checks if the album should be migrated to a different location. In other words, it checks if the
application has the write permission to the album folder. If not, it returns true, otherwise false.
Note: For Android below R, web or iOS, this function always returns
false.
Promise<boolean>Returns a promise which fulfils with true if the album should be migrated.
Creates an album with given name and initial asset. The asset parameter is required on Android,
since it's not possible to create empty album on this platform. On Android, by default it copies
given asset from the current album to the new one, however it's also possible to move it by
passing false as copyAsset argument.
In case it's copied you should keep in mind that getAssetsAsync will return duplicated asset.
On Android, it's not possible to create an empty album. You must provide an existing asset to copy or move into the album or an uri of a local file, which will be used to create an initial asset for the album.
Newly created Album.
Creates an asset from existing file. The most common use case is to save a picture taken by Camera.
This method requires CAMERA_ROLL permission.
A promise which fulfils with an object representing an Asset.
Example
const { uri } = await Camera.takePictureAsync(); const asset = await MediaLibrary.createAssetAsync(uri);
Deletes given albums from the library. On Android by default it deletes assets belonging to given
albums from the library. On iOS it doesn't delete these assets, however it's possible to do by
passing true as deleteAssets.
Promise<boolean>Returns a promise which fulfils with true if the albums were successfully deleted from
the library.
Deletes assets from the library. On iOS it deletes assets from all albums they belong to, while on Android it keeps all copies of them (album is strictly connected to the asset). Also, there is additional dialog on iOS that requires user to confirm this action.
Promise<boolean>Returns promise which fulfils with true if the assets were successfully deleted.
Checks user's permissions for accessing media library.
Promise<PermissionResponse>A promise that fulfils with PermissionResponse object.
Returns whether the Media Library API is enabled on the current device.
Promise<boolean>A promise which fulfils with a boolean, indicating whether the Media Library API is
available on the current device.
Moves album content to the special media directories on Android R or above if needed.
Those new locations are in line with the Android scoped storage - so your application won't
lose write permission to those directories in the future.
This method does nothing if:
- app is running on iOS, web or Android below R
- app has write permission to the album folder
The migration is possible when the album contains only compatible files types.
For instance, movies and pictures are compatible with each other, but music and pictures are not.
If automatic migration isn't possible, the function rejects.
In that case, you can use methods from the expo-file-system to migrate all your files manually.
Why do you need to migrate files?
Android R introduced a lot of changes in the storage system. Now applications can't save
anything to the root directory. The only available locations are from the MediaStore API.
Unfortunately, the media library stored albums in folders for which, because of those changes,
the application doesn't have permissions anymore. However, it doesn't mean you need to migrate
all your albums. If your application doesn't add assets to albums, you don't have to migrate.
Everything will work as it used to. You can read more about scoped storage in the Android documentation.
Promise<void>A promise which fulfils to void.
Allows the user to update the assets that your app has access to.
The system modal is only displayed if the user originally allowed only limited access to their
media library, otherwise this method is a no-op.
Promise<void>A promise that either rejects if the method is unavailable, or resolves to void.
Note: This method doesn't inform you if the user changes which assets your app has access to. That information is only exposed by iOS, and to obtain it, you need to subscribe for updates to the user's media library using
addListener(). IfhasIncrementalChangesisfalse, the user changed their permissions.
Removes given assets from album.
On Android, album will be automatically deleted if there are no more assets inside.
Promise<boolean>Returns promise which fulfils with true if the assets were successfully removed from
the album.
Deprecated: use subscription.remove() instead.
voidAsks the user to grant permissions for accessing media in user's media library.
Promise<PermissionResponse>A promise that fulfils with PermissionResponse object.
Saves the file at given localUri to the user's media library. Unlike createAssetAsync(),
This method doesn't return created asset.
On iOS 11+, it's possible to use this method without asking for CAMERA_ROLL permission,
however then yours Info.plist should have NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription key.
Promise<void>Event subscriptions
Subscribes for updates in user's media library.
EventSubscriptionAn Subscription object that you can call remove() on when you would
like to unsubscribe the listener.
Interfaces
A subscription object that allows to conveniently remove an event listener from the emitter.
Types
Literal type: string
Determines the type of media that the app will ask the OS to get access to.
Acceptable values are: 'audio' | 'photo' | 'video'
Literal type: string
Constants identifying specific variations of asset media, such as panorama or screenshot photos,
and time-lapse or high-frame-rate video. Maps to PHAssetMediaSubtype.
Acceptable values are: 'depthEffect' | 'hdr' | 'highFrameRate' | 'livePhoto' | 'panorama' | 'screenshot' | 'stream' | 'timelapse' | 'spatialMedia' | 'videoCinematic'
Literal type: string
Represents the possible types of media that the app will ask the OS to get access to when calling presentPermissionsPickerAsync().
Acceptable values are: 'photo' | 'video'
Literal type: string
Acceptable values are: 'audio' | 'photo' | 'video' | 'unknown' | 'pairedVideo'
Literal type: union
Permission expiration time. Currently, all permissions are granted permanently.
Acceptable values are: 'never' | number
Literal type: union
Acceptable values are: PermissionHookBehavior | Options
Literal type: string
Acceptable values are: 'default' | 'mediaType' | 'width' | 'height' | 'creationTime' | 'modificationTime' | 'duration'
Enums
Permissions
Android
The following permissions are added automatically through this library's AndroidManifest.xml:
iOS
The following usage description keys are used by this library: