Reference version

Text

A Jetpack Compose Text component for displaying styled text.

Android
Bundled version:
~55.0.9

Expo UI Text matches the official Jetpack Compose Text styling API and displays text with Material 3 typography styles, custom fonts, and text formatting options.

Installation

Terminal
- npx expo install @expo/ui

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

Usage

Basic text

BasicTextExample.tsx
import { Host, Text } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose'; export default function BasicTextExample() { return ( <Host matchContents> <Text>Hello, world!</Text> </Host> ); }

Typography styles

Use the style prop with typography to apply Material 3 typography presets.

TypographyExample.tsx
import { Host, Text, Column } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose'; import { paddingAll } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose/modifiers'; export default function TypographyExample() { return ( <Host matchContents> <Column modifiers={[paddingAll(16)]}> <Text style={{ typography: 'displayLarge' }}>Display Large</Text> <Text style={{ typography: 'headlineMedium' }}>Headline Medium</Text> <Text style={{ typography: 'bodySmall' }}>Body Small</Text> <Text style={{ typography: 'labelLarge' }}>Label Large</Text> </Column> </Host> ); }

Text with maxLines and overflow

Control text truncation with maxLines and overflow.

TextOverflowExample.tsx
import { Host, Text } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose'; import { width } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose/modifiers'; export default function TextOverflowExample() { return ( <Host matchContents> <Text maxLines={2} overflow="ellipsis" modifiers={[width(200)]}> This is a long paragraph of text that will be truncated after two lines with an ellipsis at the end to indicate there is more content. </Text> </Host> ); }

Styled text

Apply custom text styles including font weight, style, size, and decoration.

StyledTextExample.tsx
import { Host, Text, Column } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose'; import { paddingAll } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose/modifiers'; export default function StyledTextExample() { return ( <Host matchContents> <Column modifiers={[paddingAll(16)]}> <Text style={{ fontWeight: 'bold', fontSize: 20 }}>Bold text</Text> <Text style={{ fontStyle: 'italic' }}>Italic text</Text> <Text style={{ textDecoration: 'underline' }}>Underlined text</Text> <Text style={{ letterSpacing: 4 }}>Spaced out text</Text> <Text color="#E91E63" style={{ fontSize: 18, textAlign: 'center' }}> Colored and centered </Text> </Column> </Host> ); }

Nested text

Nest <Text> components to apply inline styles to parts of a sentence. Child spans inherit styles from their parent. For example, a bold parent with an italic child renders the child as bold and italic.

NestedTextExample.tsx
import { Host, Text, Column } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose'; import { paddingAll } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose/modifiers'; export default function NestedTextExample() { return ( <Host matchContents> <Column modifiers={[paddingAll(16)]}> {/* Bold parent, italic child inherits bold */} <Text style={{ fontWeight: 'bold' }}> Hello <Text style={{ fontStyle: 'italic' }}>world</Text>! </Text> {/* Mixed inline styles */} <Text style={{ fontSize: 16 }}> Normal, <Text style={{ fontStyle: 'italic' }}>italic</Text>,{' '} <Text style={{ fontWeight: 'bold' }}>bold</Text>, and{' '} <Text style={{ textDecoration: 'underline' }}>underlined</Text> </Text> {/* Color and background overrides per span */} <Text style={{ fontSize: 18 }}> Click{' '} <Text color="#007AFF" style={{ fontWeight: 'bold' }}> here </Text>{' '} or <Text style={{ background: '#FFEB3B' }}>highlighted</Text> </Text> {/* Deep nesting — styles accumulate */} <Text style={{ fontWeight: 'bold' }}> Bold{' '} <Text style={{ fontStyle: 'italic' }}> bold+italic <Text style={{ textDecoration: 'underline' }}>bold+italic+underline</Text> </Text> </Text> </Column> </Host> ); }

Custom fonts

Use fonts loaded via expo-font by passing the font family name to style.fontFamily.

CustomFontExample.tsx
import { Host, Text, Column } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose'; import { paddingAll } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose/modifiers'; export default function CustomFontExample() { return ( <Host matchContents> <Column modifiers={[paddingAll(16)]}> <Text style={{ fontFamily: 'serif', fontSize: 16 }}>System serif font</Text> <Text style={{ fontFamily: 'monospace', fontSize: 16 }}>System monospace font</Text> <Text style={{ fontFamily: 'Inter-Bold', fontSize: 16 }}>Custom Inter Bold font</Text> </Column> </Host> ); }

API

import { Text } from '@expo/ui/jetpack-compose';

Component

Text

Android

Type: React.Element<TextProps>

Renders a Text component using Jetpack Compose.

TextProps

children

Android
Optional • Type: React.ReactNode

The text content to display. Can be a string, number, or nested Text components for inline styled spans.

color

Android
Optional • Type: string

The color of the text.

maxLines

Android
Optional • Type: number

An optional maximum number of lines for the text to span, wrapping if necessary. If the text exceeds the given number of lines, it will be truncated according to overflow.

minLines

Android
Optional • Type: number

The minimum height in terms of minimum number of visible lines.

modifiers

Android
Optional • Type: ModifierConfig[]

Modifiers for the component.

overflow

Android
Optional • Type: TextOverflow

How visual overflow should be handled.

softWrap

Android
Optional • Type: boolean

Whether the text should break at soft line breaks. If false, the glyphs in the text will be positioned as if there was unlimited horizontal space.

style

Android
Optional • Type: TextStyle

Style configuration for the text. Corresponds to Jetpack Compose's TextStyle parameter.

Types

TextAlign

Android

Literal Type: string

Text alignment options.

Acceptable values are: 'left' | 'right' | 'center' | 'justify' | 'start' | 'end'

TextDecoration

Android

Literal Type: string

Text decoration options.

Acceptable values are: 'none' | 'underline' | 'lineThrough'

TextFontFamily

Android

Literal Type: string

Font family for text styling. Built-in system families: 'default', 'sansSerif', 'serif', 'monospace', 'cursive'. Custom font families loaded via expo-font can be referenced by name (for example, 'Inter-Bold').

Acceptable values are: 'default' | 'sansSerif' | 'serif' | 'monospace' | 'cursive'

TextFontStyle

Android

Literal Type: string

Font style options for text styling.

Acceptable values are: 'normal' | 'italic'

TextFontWeight

Android

Literal Type: string

Font weight options for text styling.

Acceptable values are: 'normal' | 'bold' | '100' | '200' | '300' | '400' | '500' | '600' | '700' | '800' | '900'

TextLineBreak

Android

Literal Type: string

Line break strategy options.

  • 'simple': Basic line breaking.
  • 'heading': Optimized for short text like headings.
  • 'paragraph': Produces more balanced line lengths for body text.

Acceptable values are: 'simple' | 'heading' | 'paragraph'

TextOverflow

Android

Literal Type: string

Text overflow behavior options.

  • 'clip': Clips the overflowing text to fit its container
  • 'ellipsis': Uses an ellipsis to indicate that the text has overflowed
  • 'visible': Renders overflow text outside its container

Acceptable values are: 'clip' | 'ellipsis' | 'visible'

TextShadow

Android

Text shadow configuration. Corresponds to Jetpack Compose's Shadow class.

PropertyTypeDescription
blurRadius(optional)number

The blur radius of the shadow in dp.

color(optional)string

The color of the shadow.

offsetX(optional)number

The horizontal offset of the shadow in dp.

offsetY(optional)number

The vertical offset of the shadow in dp.

TextSpanStyleBase

Android

Shared span-level style properties used by both TextStyle and TextSpanRecord. Adding a property here ensures it's available on both parent text and nested spans.

PropertyTypeDescription
background(optional)string

The background color behind the text.

fontFamily(optional)TextFontFamily

The font family.

fontSize(optional)number

The font size in sp (scale-independent pixels).

fontStyle(optional)TextFontStyle

The font style of the text.

fontWeight(optional)TextFontWeight

The font weight of the text.

letterSpacing(optional)number

The letter spacing in sp.

shadow(optional)TextShadow

The shadow applied to the text.

textDecoration(optional)TextDecoration

The text decoration.

TextStyle

Android

Text style properties that can be applied to text. Corresponds to Jetpack Compose's TextStyle.

Type: TextSpanStyleBase extended by:

PropertyTypeDescription
lineBreak(optional)TextLineBreak

The line break strategy.

lineHeight(optional)number

The line height in sp.

textAlign(optional)TextAlign

The text alignment.

typography(optional)TypographyStyle

Material 3 Typography style to use as the base style. When specified, applies the predefined Material 3 typography style. Other properties in this style object will override specific values from the typography.

TypographyStyle

Android

Literal Type: string

Material 3 Typography scale styles. Corresponds to MaterialTheme.typography in Jetpack Compose.

Acceptable values are: 'displayLarge' | 'displayMedium' | 'displaySmall' | 'headlineLarge' | 'headlineMedium' | 'headlineSmall' | 'titleLarge' | 'titleMedium' | 'titleSmall' | 'bodyLarge' | 'bodyMedium' | 'bodySmall' | 'labelLarge' | 'labelMedium' | 'labelSmall'