React Native Camera

The comprehensive camera module for React Native. Including photographs, videos, and barcode scanning!

Contributing

• Pull Requests are welcome, if you open a pull request we will do our best to get to it in a timely manner
• Pull Request Reviews and even more welcome! we need help testing, reviewing, and updating open PRs
• If you are interested in contributing more actively, please contact me (same username on Twitter, Facebook, etc.) Thanks!
• We are now on Open Collective! Contributions are appreciated and will be used to fund core contributors. more details

Breaking Changes

android build tools has been bumped to 25.0.2, please update (can be done via android cli or AndroidStudio)

react-native header imports have changed in v0.40, and that means breaking changes for all! Reference PR & Discussion.

• if on react-native < 0.40: npm i [email protected]
• if on react-native >= 0.40 npm i [email protected]

Permissions

To use the camera on Android you must ask for camera permission:

  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />

To enable video recording feature you have to add the following code to the AndroidManifest.xml:

  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO"/>
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_VIDEO"/>
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

Getting started

Requirements

1. JDK >= 1.7 (if you run on 1.6 you will get an error on "_cameras = new HashMap<>();")
2. With iOS 10 and higher you need to add the "Privacy - Camera Usage Description" key to the info.plist of your project. This should be found in 'your_project/ios/your_project/Info.plist'. Add the following code:

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>Your message to user when the camera is accessed for the first time</string>

<!-- Include this only if you are planning to use the camera roll -->
<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>Your message to user when the photo library is accessed for the first time</string>

<!-- Include this only if you are planning to use the microphone for video recording -->
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>Your message to user when the microphone is accessed for the first time</string>

3. On Android, you require buildToolsVersion of 25.0.2+. This should easily and automatically be downloaded by Android Studio's SDK Manager.

4. On iOS 11 and later you need to add NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription key to the Info.plist. This key lets you describe the reason your app seeks write-only access to the user’s photo library. Info.plist can be found in 'your_project/ios/your_project/Info.plist'. Add the following code:

<!-- Include this only if you are planning to use the camera roll -->
<key>NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription</key>
<string>Your message to user when the photo library is accessed for the first time</string>

NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription

Mostly automatic install with react-native

1. npm install react-native-camera --save
2. react-native link react-native-camera

Mostly automatic install with CocoaPods

1. npm install react-native-camera --save
2. Add the plugin dependency to your Podfile, pointing at the path where NPM installed it:

pod 'react-native-camera', path: '../node_modules/react-native-camera'

3. Run pod install

Manual install

iOS

1. npm install react-native-camera --save
2. In XCode, in the project navigator, right click Libraries ➜ Add Files to [your project's name]
3. Go to node_modules ➜ react-native-camera and add RCTCamera.xcodeproj
4. In XCode, in the project navigator, select your project. Add libRCTCamera.a to your project's Build Phases ➜ Link Binary With Libraries
5. Click RCTCamera.xcodeproj in the project navigator and go the Build Settings tab. Make sure 'All' is toggled on (instead of 'Basic'). In the Search Paths section, look for Header Search Paths and make sure it contains both $(SRCROOT)/../../react-native/React and $(SRCROOT)/../../../React - mark both as recursive.
6. Run your project (Cmd+R)

Android

1. npm install react-native-camera --save
2. Open up `android/app/src/main/java/[...]/MainApplication.java

• Add import com.lwansbrough.RCTCamera.RCTCameraPackage; to the imports at the top of the file
• Add new RCTCameraPackage() to the list returned by the getPackages() method. Add a comma to the previous item if there's already something there.

3. Append the following lines to android/settings.gradle:

   include ':react-native-camera'
   project(':react-native-camera').projectDir = new File(rootProject.projectDir, 	'../node_modules/react-native-camera/android')

4. Insert the following lines inside the dependencies block in android/app/build.gradle:

   compile project(':react-native-camera')

5. Declare the permissions in your Android Manifest (required for video recording feature)

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

Usage

All you need is to require the react-native-camera module and then use the <Camera/> tag.

'use strict';
import React, { Component } from 'react';
import {
  AppRegistry,
  Dimensions,
  StyleSheet,
  Text,
  TouchableHighlight,
  View
} from 'react-native';
import Camera from 'react-native-camera';

class BadInstagramCloneApp extends Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <View style={styles.container}>
        <Camera
          ref={(cam) => {
            this.camera = cam;
          }}
	  onBarCodeRead={this.onBarCodeRead.bind(this)}
          style={styles.preview}
          aspect={Camera.constants.Aspect.fill}>
          <Text style={styles.capture} onPress={this.takePicture.bind(this)}>[CAPTURE]</Text>
        </Camera>
      </View>
    );
  }

  onBarCodeRead(e) {
    console.log(
        "Barcode Found!",
        "Type: " + e.type + "\nData: " + e.data
    );
  }

  takePicture() {
    const options = {};
    //options.location = ...
    this.camera.capture({metadata: options})
      .then((data) => console.log(data))
      .catch(err => console.error(err));
  }
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    flexDirection: 'row',
  },
  preview: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'flex-end',
    alignItems: 'center'
  },
  capture: {
    flex: 0,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    borderRadius: 5,
    color: '#000',
    padding: 10,
    margin: 40
  }
});

AppRegistry.registerComponent('BadInstagramCloneApp', () => BadInstagramCloneApp);

Properties

aspect

Values: Camera.constants.Aspect.fit or "fit", Camera.constants.Aspect.fill or "fill" (default), Camera.constants.Aspect.stretch or "stretch"

The aspect property allows you to define how your viewfinder renders the camera's view. For instance, if you have a square viewfinder and you want to fill it entirely, you have two options: "fill", where the aspect ratio of the camera's view is preserved by cropping the view or "stretch", where the aspect ratio is skewed in order to fit the entire image inside the viewfinder. The other option is "fit", which ensures the camera's entire view fits inside your viewfinder without altering the aspect ratio.

iOS audio

Values: true (Boolean), false (default)

Applies to video capture mode only. Specifies whether or not audio should be captured with the video.

captureMode

Values: Camera.constants.CaptureMode.still (default), Camera.constants.CaptureMode.video

The type of capture that will be performed by the camera - either a still image or video.

captureTarget

Values: Camera.constants.CaptureTarget.cameraRoll (default), Camera.constants.CaptureTarget.disk, Camera.constants.CaptureTarget.temp, Camera.constants.CaptureTarget.memory (deprecated),

This property allows you to specify the target output of the captured image data. The disk output has been shown to improve capture response time, so that is the recommended value. When using the deprecated memory output, the image binary is sent back as a base64-encoded string.

captureQuality

Values: Camera.constants.CaptureQuality.high or "high" (default), Camera.constants.CaptureQuality.medium or "medium", Camera.constants.CaptureQuality.low or "low", Camera.constants.CaptureQuality.photo or "photo", Camera.constants.CaptureQuality["1080p"] or "1080p", Camera.constants.CaptureQuality["720p"] or "720p", Camera.constants.CaptureQuality["480p"] or "480p".

This property allows you to specify the quality output of the captured image or video. By default the quality is set to high.

When choosing more-specific quality settings (1080p, 720p, 480p), note that each platform and device supports different valid picture/video sizes, and actual resolution within each of these quality settings might differ. There should not be too much variance (if any) for iOS; 1080p should give 1920x1080, 720p should give 1280x720, and 480p should give 640x480 (note that iOS 480p therefore is NOT the typical 16:9 HD aspect ratio, and the typically-HD camera preview screen may differ greatly in aspect from what you actually record!!). For Android, expect more variance: on most Androids, 1080p should give 1920x1080 and 720p should give 1280x720; however, 480p will at "best" be 853x480 (16:9 HD aspect ratio), but falls back/down to 800x480, 720x480, or "worse", depending on what is closest-but-less-than 853x480 and available on the actual device. If your application requires knowledge of the precise resolution of the output image/video, you might consider manually determine the actual resolution itself after capture has completed (particularly for 480p on Android).

Android also supports Camera.constants.CaptureQuality.preview or "preview" which matches the output image to the same one used in the preview

type

Values: Camera.constants.Type.front or "front", Camera.constants.Type.back or "back" (default)

Use the type property to specify which camera to use.

orientation

Values: Camera.constants.Orientation.auto or "auto" (default), Camera.constants.Orientation.landscapeLeft or "landscapeLeft", Camera.constants.Orientation.landscapeRight or "landscapeRight", Camera.constants.Orientation.portrait or "portrait", Camera.constants.Orientation.portraitUpsideDown or "portraitUpsideDown"

The orientation property allows you to specify the current orientation of the phone to ensure the viewfinder is "the right way up."

Android playSoundOnCapture

Values: true (default) or false

This property allows you to specify whether a shutter sound is played on capture. It is currently android only, pending a reasonable mute implementation in iOS.

onBarCodeRead

Will call the specified method when a barcode is detected in the camera's view.

Event contains data (the data in the barcode) and bounds (the rectangle which outlines the barcode.)

The following barcode types can be recognised:

• aztec
• code128
• code39
• code39mod43
• code93
• ean13 (iOS converts upca barcodes to ean13 by adding a leading 0)
• ean8
• pdf417
• qr
• upce
• interleaved2of5 (when available)
• itf14 (when available)
• datamatrix (when available)

The barcode type is provided in the data object.

barCodeTypes

An array of barcode types to search for. Defaults to all types listed above. No effect if onBarCodeRead is undefined. Example: <Camera barCodeTypes={[Camera.constants.BarCodeType.qr]} />

flashMode

Values: Camera.constants.FlashMode.on, Camera.constants.FlashMode.off, Camera.constants.FlashMode.auto

Use the flashMode property to specify the camera flash mode.

torchMode

Values: Camera.constants.TorchMode.on, Camera.constants.TorchMode.off, Camera.constants.TorchMode.auto

Use the torchMode property to specify the camera torch mode.

iOS onFocusChanged: Event { nativeEvent: { touchPoint: { x, y } }

iOS: Called when a touch focus gesture has been made. By default, onFocusChanged is not defined and tap-to-focus is disabled.

Android: This callback is not yet implemented. However, Android will automatically do tap-to-focus if the device supports auto-focus; there is currently no way to manage this from javascript.

To get autofocus/tap to focus functionalities working correctly in android make sure that the proper permissions are set in your AndroidManifest.xml:

    <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" />
    <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus" />

iOS defaultOnFocusComponent

Values: true (default) false

If defaultOnFocusComponent set to false, default internal implementation of visual feedback for tap-to-focus gesture will be disabled.

iOS onZoomChanged: Event { nativeEvent: { velocity, zoomFactor } }

iOS: Called when focus has changed. By default, onZoomChanged is not defined and pinch-to-zoom is disabled.

Android: This callback is not yet implemented. However, Android will automatically handle pinch-to-zoom; there is currently no way to manage this from javascript.

iOS keepAwake

If set to true, the device will not sleep while the camera preview is visible. This mimics the behavior of the default camera app, which keeps the device awake while open.

mirrorImage

If set to true, the image returned will be mirrored.

fixOrientation (deprecated)

If set to true, the image returned will be rotated to the right way up. WARNING: It uses a significant amount of memory and my cause your application to crash if the device cannot provide enough RAM to perform the rotation.

(If you find that you need to use this option because your images are incorrectly oriented by default, could please submit a PR and include the make model of the device. We believe that it's not required functionality any more and would like to remove it.)

Component instance methods

You can access component methods by adding a ref (ie. ref="camera") prop to your <Camera> element, then you can use this.refs.camera.capture(cb), etc. inside your component.

capture([options]): Promise

Captures data from the camera. What is captured is based on the captureMode and captureTarget props. captureMode tells the camera whether you want a still image or video. captureTarget allows you to specify how you want the data to be captured and sent back to you. See captureTarget under Properties to see the available values.

Supported options:

• audio (See captureAudio under Properties)
• mode (See captureMode under Properties)
• target (See captureTarget under Properties)
• metadata This is metadata to be added to the captured image.
  • location This is the object returned from navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition() (React Native's geolocation polyfill). It will add GPS metadata to the image.
• rotation This will rotate the image by the number of degrees specified.
• jpegQuality (integer between 1 and 100) This property is used to compress the output jpeg file with 100% meaning no jpeg compression will be applied.
• totalSeconds This will limit video length by number of seconds specified. Only works in video capture mode.

The promise will be fulfilled with an object with some of the following properties:

• data: Returns a base64-encoded string with the capture data (only returned with the deprecated Camera.constants.CaptureTarget.memory)
• path: Returns the path of the captured image or video file on disk
• width: (currently iOS video only) returns the video file's frame width
• height: (currently iOS video only) returns the video file's frame height
• duration: (currently iOS video only) video file duration
• size: (currently iOS video only) video file size (in bytes)

iOS getFOV(): Promise

Returns the camera's current field of view.

hasFlash(): Promise

Returns whether or not the camera has flash capabilities.

stopCapture()

Ends the current capture session for video captures. Only applies when the current captureMode is video.

stopPreview()

Stops the camera preview from running, and natively will make the current capture session pause.

startPreview()

Starts the camera preview again if previously stopped.

Component static methods

iOS Camera.checkDeviceAuthorizationStatus(): Promise

Exposes the native API for checking if the device has authorized access to the camera (camera and microphone permissions). Can be used to call before loading the Camera component to ensure proper UX. The promise will be fulfilled with true or false depending on whether the device is authorized. Note, as of iOS 10, you will need to add NSCameraUsageDescription and NSMicrophoneUsageDescription to your XCode project's Info.plist file or you might experience a crash.

iOS Camera.checkVideoAuthorizationStatus(): Promise

The same as Camera.checkDeviceAuthorizationStatus() but only checks the camera permission. Note, as of iOS 10, you will need to add NSCameraUsageDescription to your XCode project's Info.plist file or you might experience a crash.

iOS Camera.checkAudioAuthorizationStatus(): Promise

The same as Camera.checkDeviceAuthorizationStatus() but only checks the microphone permission. Note, as of iOS 10, you will need to add NSMicrophoneUsageDescription to your XCode project's Info.plist file or you might experience a crash.

Subviews

This component supports subviews, so if you wish to use the camera view as a background or if you want to layout buttons/images/etc. inside the camera then you can do that.

Example

To see more of the react-native-camera in action, you can check out the source in Example folder.

Open Collective

We are just beginning a funding campaign for react-native-camera. Contributions are greatly appreciated. When we gain more than $250 we will begin distributing funds to core maintainers in a fully transparent manner. Feedback for this process is welcomed, we will continue to evolve the strategy as we grow and learn more.

Backers

Support us with a monthly donation and help us continue our activities. [Become a backer]

Sponsors

Become a sponsor and get your logo on our README on Github with a link to your site. [Become a sponsor]

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Thanks to Brent Vatne (@brentvatne) for the react-native-video module which provided me with a great example of how to set up this module.