expo-splash-screen

expo-splash-screen allows you to customize your app's splash screen, which is the initial screen users see when the app is launched, before it has loaded. Splash screens (sometimes called launch screens) provide a user's first experience with your application.

• 📜 CHANGELOG
• 🚀 Features
• 📚 API
• 🗒 Examples
• 💻 Installation in managed Expo projects
• 🖥 Installation in bare React Native projects
  • 📱 Configure iOS
  • 🤖 Configure Android
• 👏 Contributing
• ❓ Known issues
• 🏅 Hall of fame

🚀 Features

Built-in splash screen image resize modes

expo-splash-screen contains a built-in feature for taking care of properly displaying your splash screen image. You can use the following resize modes to obtain behavior as if you were using the React Native <Image> component's resizeMode style.

CONTAIN resize mode

Scale the image uniformly (maintaining the image's aspect ratio) so that both dimensions the width and height of the image will be equal to or less than the corresponding dimension of the device's screen.

| Android | iOS | |-----------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------| | | |

COVER resize mode

Scale the image uniformly (maintaining the image's aspect ratio) so that both the width and height of the image will be equal to or larger than the corresponding dimension of the device's screen.

| Android | iOS | |-----------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------| | | |

NATIVE resize mode

Android only.

By using this resize mode your app will will leverage Android's ability to present a static bitmap while the application is starting up. Android (unlike iOS) does not support stretching of the provided image during launch, so the application will present the given image centered on the screen at its original dimensions.

| Android | |-----------------------------------------------------------| | |

Animation above presents one of our known issues

Selecting this resize mode requires some more work to be done in native configuration. Please take a look at the res/drawable/splashscreen.xml and res/drawable/splashscreen_background.png sections.

Per-appearance (a.k.a. dark-mode) splash screen

expo-splash-screen supports per-appearance splash screens that respond to system appearance changes on iOS 13+ and dark-mode changes on Android 10+.

StatusBar customization

expo-splash-screen allows customization of the StatusBar according to the ReactNative StatusBar API.

📚 API

import * as SplashScreen from 'expo-splash-screen';

The native splash screen that is controlled via this module autohides once the ReactNative-controlled view hierarchy is mounted. This means that when your app first renders view component, the native splash screen will hide. This default behavior can be prevented by calling SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync() and later on SplashScreen.hideAsync().

SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync()

This method makes the native splash screen stay visible until SplashScreen.hideAsync() is called. This must be called before any ReactNative-controlled view hierarchy is rendered (either in the global scope of your main component, or when the component renders null at the beginning - see Examples section).

Preventing default autohiding might come in handy if your application needs to prepare/download some resources and/or make some API calls before first rendering some actual view hierarchy.

Returns

A Promise that resolves to true when preventing autohiding succeeded and to false if the native splash screen is already prevented from autohiding (for instance, if you've already called this method). Promise rejection most likely means that native splash screen cannot be prevented from autohiding (it's already hidden when this method was executed).

SplashScreen.hideAsync()

Hides the native splash screen. Only works if the native splash screen has been previously prevented from autohiding by calling SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync() method.

Returns

A Promise that resolves to true once the splash screen becomes hidden and to false if the splash screen is already hidden.

🗒 Examples

SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync() in global scope

App.tsx

import React from 'react';
import { StyleSheet, Text, View } from 'react-native';
import * as SplashScreen from 'expo-splash-screen';

// Prevent native splash screen from autohiding before App component declaration
SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync()
  .then(result => console.log(`SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync() succeeded: ${result}`))
  .catch(console.warn); // it's good to explicitly catch and inspect any error

export default class App extends React.Component {
  componentDidMount() {
    // Hides native splash screen after 2s
    setTimeout(async () => {
      await SplashScreen.hideAsync();
    }, 2000);
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <View style={styles.container}>
        <Text style={styles.text}>SplashScreen Demo! 👋</Text>
      </View>
    )
  }
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
    backgroundColor: '#aabbcc',
  },
  text: {
    color: 'white',
    fontWeight: 'bold',
  },
});

SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync() in component that initially renders null

App.tsx

import React from 'react';
import { StyleSheet, Text, View } from 'react-native';
import * as SplashScreen from 'expo-splash-screen';

export default class App extends React.Component {
  state = {
    appIsReady: false,
  };

  async componentDidMount() {
    // Prevent native splash screen from autohiding
    try {
      await SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync();
    } catch (e) {
      console.warn(e);
    }
    this.prepareResources();
  }

  /**
   * Method that serves to load resources and make API calls
   */
  prepareResources = async () => {
    await performAPICalls(...);
    await downloadAssets(...);

    this.setState({ appIsReady: true }, async () => {
      await SplashScreen.hideAsync();
    });
  }

  render() {
    if (!this.state.appIsReady) {
      return null;
    }

    return (
      <View style={styles.container}>
        <Text style={styles.text}>SplashScreen Demo! 👋</Text>
      </View>
    )
  }
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
    backgroundColor: '#aabbcc',
  },
  text: {
    color: 'white',
    fontWeight: 'bold',
  },
});

💻 Installation in managed Expo projects

Managed Expo projects use the older SplashScreen module within the expo package (import { SplashScreen } from 'expo').

🖥 Installation in bare React Native projects

For bare React Native projects, you must ensure that you have installed and configured the react-native-unimodules package before continuing.

Add the package to your dependencies

expo install expo-splash-screen

📱 Configure iOS

Run npx pod-install after installing the package.

Automatic configuration

The easiest way to configure the splash screen in bare React Native projects is with the expo-splash-screen command. See the README for more information, or run yarn expo-splash-screen --help in your project.

Manual Configuration

To achieve native splash screen (in iOS ecosystem it's called LaunchScreen) behavior, you have to provide either a SplashScreen.storyboard file or a SplashScreen.xib file, and configure your Xcode project accordingly.

The guide below shows how to configure your Xcode project to use a single image file as a splash screen using a .storyboard file (configuration for .xib filetype is analogous).

1. Add an image to Images.xcassets
2. Create SplashScreen.storyboard
3. Select Content Mode for the ImageView in SplashScreen.storyboard
4. Mark SplashScreen.storyboard as the LaunchScreen
5. (optional) Enable dark mode
6. (optional) Customize StatusBar

🛠 Add an image to Images.xcassets

First you need to add the image file that would serve as a splash screen to your native project's resources.

1. In your Xcode project open the .xcassets (often named Images.xcassets or Assets.xcassets) file.
2. In the content panel add New image set and name it SplashScreen.
3. Provide the splash screen image you've prepared (you have to provide it in three different scales).

🛠 Create SplashScreen.storyboard

This is the actual splash screen definition and will be used by the system to render your splash screen.

1. Create a SplashScreen.storyboard file.
2. Add a View Controller to the newly created .storyboard file:
   • open Library (+ button on the top-right),
   • find View Controller element,
   • drag-and-drop it to the .storyboard file.

3. Add an Image View to the View Controller:
   • first remove other View element from View Controller,
   • open Library (+ button on the top-right),
   • find Image View element,
   • drag-and-drop it as a View Controller child in view hierarchy inspector.

4. Set Storyboard ID to SplashScreenViewController:
   • select View Controller in view hierarchy inspector,
   • navigate to Identity Inspector in the right panel,
   • and set Storyboard ID to SplashScreenViewController.

5. Tick Is Initial View Controller in SplashScreenViewController:
   • select View Controller in view hierarchy inspector,
   • navigate to Attributes Inspector in the right panel,
   • and tick Is Initial View Controller in View Controller section.

6. Configure Image View source:
   • select Image View in view hierarchy inspector,
   • navigate to Attributes Inspector in the right panel,
   • select SplashScreen in Image parameter).

7. Configure Background of the Image View:
   • select Image View in view hierarchy inspector,
   • navigate to Attributes Inspector in the right panel,
   • configure Background parameter:
     • To enter a #RRGGBB value you need to select Custom option and in the Colors Popup that appeared you need to navigate to the second tab and choose RGB Sliders from dropdown select.

🛠 Select Content Mode for the ImageView in SplashScreen.storyboard

This is how your image will be displayed on the screen.

1. Open SplashScreen.storyboard and select Image View from View Controller.
2. Navigate to Attributes Inspector in the right panel and locate Content Mode.
3. Select one of the following:
   • Aspect Fit to obtain CONTAIN resize mode,
   • Aspect Fill to obtain COVER resize mode.
4. You can always choose other options to achieve different image positioning and scaling.

🛠 Mark SplashScreen.storyboard as the LaunchScreen

The newly created SplashScreen.storyboard needs to be marked as the Launch Screen File in your Xcode project in order to be presented from the very beginning of your application launch.

1. Select your project in Project Navigator
2. Select your project name from TARGETS panel and navigate to General tab.
3. Locate App Icons and Launch Images section and Launch Screen File option.
4. Select or enter SplashScreen as the value for located option.

🛠 (optional) Enable dark mode

Provide different background colors

Depending on what iOS version your application is targeting, you have to adjust your native project differently to a obtain working per-appearance splash screen view.

I'm targeting iOS 11+

You can take advantage of named colors in your Xcode project.

1. Create a new Color Set and customize its values for different color modes:
   • in your .xcassets directory (either create a new .xcassets for colors, or reuse an existing one e.g. with images) create New Color Set and name it SplashScreenBackground,
   • navigate to Attributes Inspector in the right panel and change Appearance to Any, Dark,
   • select desired color in Attributes Inspector in the right panel for each mode.

2. Select created named color as the Background for the Image View in SplashScreen.storyboard:
   • open SplashScreen.storyboard and select Image View in view hierarchy inspector,
   • navigate to Attributes Inspector in the right panel,
   • configure Background parameter by selecting your created named color (that should be listed as SplashScreenBackground).

I'm targeting iOS version < 11

You cannot use named colors feature in your Xcode project. Instead you have to create an additional image set that contains small 1x1px images, each with the desired background color. Then, you'll use this additional image resource as a background in the splash screen view.

You can use this online generator to obtain 1x1px .png images with desired colors: http://www.1x1px.me.

1. Create SplashScreenBackground Image Set with desired background colors for each mode in your Images.xcassets directory:
   • open your .xcassets directory with images,
   • in the content panel add New image set and name it SplashScreenBackground,
   • convert this Image set to support Dark Appearance by navigating to Attributes Inspector in the right panel and changing Appearance to Any, Dark,
   • provide images with colors for every mode (you can generate color 1x1px images using http://www.1x1px.me).

2. Update SplashScreen.storyboard to consist of a single top-level View with two Image View subviews (solid-colored image in the background and actual splash screen image in the foreground):

   • open SplashScreen.storyboard and replace Image View with a plain View (search Library for it and drag&drop it in place of current Image View),
   • add two

3. Configure first Image View (background color):

   • configure attributes in Attributes Inspector:
     • set Image to SplashScreenBackground (prepared in previous step),
     • set Content Mode to Scale To Fill (color needs to take all available space),
   • make this subview take all available space in parent view:
     • open Add new constraints bottom menu,
     • make sure Constrain to margin is not checked,
     • for every input, open the dropdown and select View (parent view reference) and set 0 as the value,
     • once every side is covered (0 value and parent view reference selected in dropdown) hit Add 4 Constraints,
     • observe that in View Hierarchy Inspector constraints are added and Image View resized to take whole place of parent view.

4. Configure second Image View (actual splash screen image):
   • select second Image View and select correct Image in Attributes Inspector alongside with desired Content Mode,
   • make this subview take all available space in parent view (see previous step).

Provide different splash screen image

You might want to add a separate image for dark mode. If the system is switched to dark mode, it would pick this different image instead of the normal one and present it in the splash screen view.

1. In your Xcode project open SplashScreen (created in previous section).
2. Convert this asset to support Dark Appearance:

• navigate to Attributes Inspector in the right panel,
• locate Appearances section and select Any, Dark,
• provide image for dark mode by dropping it to the correct box.

Background color when you want to support iOS < 11

If you're targeting a version of iOS < 11 then you cannot use named color feature and instead you need to generate images with desired background colors that are going to be used as the background for splash screen view. There is this awesome 1x1px png online generator: http://www.1x1px.me (use it to generate two 1x1px images with desired background colors for different color modes).

🛠 (optional) Customize StatusBar

You might want to customize the StatusBar appearance during the time the SplashScreen is being shown.

1. Customize StatusBar hiding flag:

• open main project view, select your project name from TARGETS panel and navigate to Info tab,
• add or modify Status bar initially hidden attribute with desired value.

2. Customize StatusBar style option:

• open main project view, select your project name from TARGETS panel and navigate to Info tab,
• add or modify Status bar style attribute with desired value.

🤖 Configure Android

To achieve fully-native splash screen behavior, expo-splash-screen needs to be hooked into the native view hierarchy and consume some resources that have to be placed under /android/app/src/res directory.

Automatic configuration

The easiest way to configure the splash screen in bare React Native projects is with the expo-splash-screen command. See the README for more information, or run yarn expo-splash-screen --help in your project.

Manual Configuration

1. SplashScreen.show() method
2. Update MainActivity
3. Configure res/drawable/splashscreen_image.png
4. Configure res/values/colors.xml
5. Configure res/drawable/spalashscreen.xml
6. Configure res/values/styles.xml
7. Configure AndroidManifest.xml
8. (optional) Enable dark mode
9. (optional) Customize StatusBar

🛠 SplashScreen.show(Activity activity, SplashScreenImageResizeMode mode, Boolean statusBarTranslucent)

This native method is used to hook SplashScreen into the native view hierarchy that is attached to the provided activity.

You can use this method to customize how the splash screen view will be presented. Pass one of SplashScreenImageResizeMode.{CONTAIN, COVER, NATIVE} as second argument to do so.

🛠 Update MainActivity.{java,kt}

Modify MainActivity.{java,kt} or any other activity that is marked in the application main AndroidManifest.xml as a main activity of your application (main activity is marked with the android.intent.action.MAIN intent filter. You can take a look at this example from official Android docs).

Ensure SplashScreen.show(...) method is called after super.onCreate(...)

+ import expo.modules.splashscreen.SplashScreen;
+ import expo.modules.splashscreen.SplashScreenImageResizeMode;

public class MainActivity extends ReactActivity {

  // other methods

  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
+   // SplashScreen.show(...) has to be called after super.onCreate(...)
+   SplashScreen.show(this, SplashScreenImageResizeMode.CONTAIN, ReactRootView.class);
    ...
  }

  // other methods
}

If the onCreate method is not yet overridden in your MainActivity, override it and include SplashScreen.show(...)

+ import android.os.Bundle;
+ import expo.modules.splashscreen.SplashScreen;
+ import expo.modules.splashscreen.SplashScreenImageResizeMode;

public class MainActivity extends ReactActivity {

+  @Override
+  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
+    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
+   // SplashScreen.show(...) has to be called after super.onCreate(...)
+   SplashScreen.show(this, SplashScreenImageResizeMode.CONTAIN, ReactRootView.class);
    ...
  }

  // other methods
}

🛠 Configure res/drawable/splashscreen_image.png

You have to provide your splash screen image and place it under the res/drawable directory. This image will be loaded as soon as Android mounts your application's native view hierarchy.

NATIVE mode adjustments

If you've selected SplashScreenImageResizeMode.NATIVE mode in SplashScreen.show, you need to do a few additional steps.

In your application's res directory you might want to have a number of drawable-X sub-directories (where X is the different DPI for different devices). They store different versions of images that are picked based on the device's DPI (for more information please see this official Android docs).

To achieve proper scaling of your splash screen image on every device you should have following directories:

• res/drawable-mdpi - scale 1x - resources for medium-density (mdpi) screens (~160dpi). (This is the baseline density.)
• res/drawable-hdpi - scale 1.5x - resources for high-density (hdpi) screens (~240dpi).
• res/drawable-xhdpi - scale 2x - resources for extra-high-density (xhdpi) screens (~320dpi).
• res/drawable-xxhdpi - scale 3x - resources for extra-extra-high-density (xxhdpi) screens (~480dpi).
• res/drawable-xxxhdpi - scale 4x - resources for extra-extra-extra-high-density (xxxhdpi) uses (~640dpi).

Each of directories mentioned above should contain the same splashscreen_image.png file, but with a different resolution (pay attention to scale factors).

🛠 Configure res/values/colors.xml

This file contains colors that are reused across your application at the native level. Update the file with the following content or create one if missing:

<resources>
+ <color name="splashscreen_background">#AABBCC</color> <!-- #AARRGGBB or #RRGGBB format -->
  <!-- Other colors defined for your application -->
</resources>

🛠 Configure res/drawable/splashscreen.xml

This file contains the description of how the splash screen view should be drawn by the Android system. Create the file with the following content:

+ <layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
+   <item android:drawable="@color/splashscreen_background"/>
+ </layer-list>

NATIVE mode adjustments

If you've selected SplashScreenImageResizeMode.NATIVE mode in SplashScreen.show, you should add:

<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <item android:drawable="@color/splashscreen_background"/>
+ <item>
+   <bitmap android:gravity="center" android:src="@drawable/splashscreen_image"/>
+ </item>
</layer-list>

🛠 Configure res/values/styles.xml

Locate your main activity theme in /android/app/src/res/values/styles.xml or create one if missing.

  <!-- Main activity theme. -->
  <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
+   <item name="android:windowBackground">@drawable/splashscreen</item> <!-- this line instructs the system to use 'splashscreen.xml' as a background of the whole application -->
    <!-- Other style properties -->
  </style>

🛠 Configure AndroidManifest.xml

Adjust your application's main AndroidManifest.xml to contain an android:theme property pointing to the style that contains your splash screen configuration:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.myapp">

  ...

  <application ...>

+   <!-- Ensure that 'android:theme' property is pointing to the style containing native splash screen reference - see 'styles.xml' -->
    <activity
      android:name=".MainActivity"
+     android:theme="@style/AppTheme"
      ...
    >
      ...
    </activity>
  </application>

</manifest>

🛠 (optional) Enable dark mode

Provide different background colors - res/values-night/colors.png

If you want to have different background colors in your splash screen depending on the system color mode, you need to create a similar file to colors.xml, but in the directory res/values-night. Values in this file are going to picked by the system when it is switched to dark mode.

<resources>
+ <color name="splashscreen_background">#AABBCC</color> <!-- #AARRGGBB or #RRGGBB format -->
</resources>

Provide different splash screen image - res/drawable-night/splashscreen_image.png

You might want to provide a separate splash screen image for dark mode usage, and place it under the res/drawable-night directory with exactly the same name as the normal one. This step is optional, because you might want to have the same image in both light and dark modes (e.g. you have just a light-themed logo and you want to have different background colors in different modes).

🛠 (optional) Customize StatusBar

You might want to customize the StatusBar appearance during the time the SplashScreen is being shown.

1. Customize StatusBar hiding flag

To have the StatusBar completely hidden you need to update your res/values/styles.xml file with the following entry (to prevent StatusBar from hiding either remove this entry or enter false as the value):

  <!-- Main/SplashScreen activity theme. -->
  <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
    <item name="android:windowBackground">@drawable/splashscreen</item>
+   <item name="android:windowFullscreen">true</item>
    <!-- Other style properties -->
  </style>

If you have multiple styles.xml files located in different directories containing exactly the same style entry (e.g. in res/values-night, res/values-night-v23, etc.), be sure to update these files accordingly.

Read more about android:windowFullscreen flag in official Android documentation.

2. Customize StatusBar style option

This option is only available for Android devices running Android 6.0 or greater. To enforce light or dark StatusBar style for given system color mode, you have to prepare or update your res/values-v23/styles.xml file with the following entry (as of this option being supported since API 23, you have to configure specifically named directory containing separate configuration files):

  <!-- Main/SplashScreen activity theme. -->
  <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
    <item name="android:windowBackground">@drawable/splashscreen</item>
+   <item name="android:windowLightStatusBar">true|false</item>
    <!-- Other style properties -->
  </style>

Available values:

• true for having dark-colored icons,
• false for having light-colored icons.

If you have multiple styles.xml files located in different directories containing exactly the same style entry (e.g. in res/values-night-v23 (for dark color mode), etc.), be sure to update these files accordingly.

Read more about android:windowLightStatusBar flag in official Android documentation.

To read more about Android multi-API-level support see this official documentation.

3. Customize StatusBar color option (a.k.a. background color of the StatusBar component)

To achieve custom background color you need to create a new color resource and provide it to the SplashScreen style description.

Create new color resource in your res/values/colors.xml (if your application supports dark mode, consider adding different color in res/values-night/colors.xml file):

  <resources>
    <!-- Below line is handled by '@expo/configure-splash-screen' command and it's discouraged to modify it manually -->
    <color name="splashscreen_background">#D0D0C0</color>
+   <color name="splashscreen_statusbar_color">#(AA)RRGGBB</color> <!-- #AARRGGBB or #RRGGBB format -->
  </resources>

Update your res/values/styles.xml file with the following entry:

  <!-- Main/SplashScreen activity theme. -->
  <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
    <item name="android:windowBackground">@drawable/splashscreen</item>
+   <item name="android:statusBarColor">@color/splashscreen_statusbar_color</item>
    <!-- Other style properties -->
  </style>

If you have multiple styles.xml files located in different directories containing exactly the same style entry (e.g. in res/values-night, res/values-night-v23, etc.), be sure to update these files accordingly.

Read more about android:statusBarColor option in official Android documentation.

4. Customize StatusBar translucent flag

When the StatusBar is translucent, the app will be able to draw under the StatusBar component area.

To make the StatusBar translucent update your MainActivity file with the following content:

public class MainActivity extends ReactActivity {

   @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    // SplashScreen.show(...) has to be called after super.onCreate(...)
    // Below line is handled by '@expo/configure-splash-screen' command and it's discouraged to modify it manually
-   SplashScreen.show(this, SplashScreenImageResizeMode.{CONTAIN, COVER, NATIVE}, false);
+   SplashScreen.show(this, SplashScreenImageResizeMode.{CONTAIN, COVER, NATIVE}, true);
  }

  ...
}

👏 Contributing

Contributions are very welcome! Please refer to guidelines described in the contributing guide.

❓ Known issues

iOS caching

Splash Screens on iOS apps can sometimes encounter a caching issue where the previous image will flash before showing the new, intended image. When this occurs, we recommend you try power cycling your device and uninstalling and re-installing the application. However, the caching sometimes can persist for a day or two so be patient if the aforementioned steps were unable to resolve the issue.

NATIVE mode pushes splash image up a little bit

See NATIVE mode preview above.

We are aware of this issue and unfortunately haven't been able to provide a solution as of yet. This is on our immediate roadmap...

🏅 Hall Of Fame

This module is based on a solid work from (many thanks for that 👏):

• react-native-splash-screen
• react-native-bootsplash
• react-native-make