Скачать или смотреть How to Maintain App State in React Native When Switching Applications

Learn how to keep your React Native app in the same screen when it comes to the foreground instead of reverting back to the home screen.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/66548327/ asked by the user 'kd12345' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/14582741/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/66674307/ provided by the user 'Mehran Khan' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/2685226/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Introduce the Problem

If you’re working on a React Native project, you might have faced a common usability issue: when your app goes to the background and then returns to the foreground, it sometimes navigates back to the home screen rather than remaining on the last viewed screen. This can be frustrating for users who expect to resume their activities seamlessly.

In this guide, we’ll tackle how to handle the app state effectively so users can maintain focus on their current screen — whether it’s a profile page, settings, or any other segment of the app.

Understanding the App State in React Native

React Native provides a built-in AppState API that helps track the current state of the application. The application can be in one of three states:

Active: The app is visible and responding to user input.

Inactive: The app is in the foreground but not receiving events (e.g., transitioning to another app).

Background: The app is not visible to the user and is not running.

The Original Approach

In your current implementation, you're already using the AppState API to detect when your app goes from inactive or background to active. However, when the app becomes active again, it defaults to the home screen instead of displaying the previous state the user was viewing.

Suggested Solution

The good news is that you can improve your app's usability by showing a splash screen or modal instead of switching screens. This way, when the app state changes, users won’t feel disoriented as they will see a familiar loading splash before returning to their previous screen.

Step 1: Implement a Modal for Splash Screen

Instead of showing the splash screen as a separate screen, you can implement it as a modal. Here's how to effectively implement this approach:

Code Implementation

Below is a sample code snippet demonstrating how to manage this state:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation of the Code

State Management: We create a state variable modalVisible which determines whether to show the splash screen.

App State Change Handling: In the _handleAppStateChange function, we check the current app state:

If going from inactive/background to active, we hide the modal.

Otherwise, we show the modal.

Rendering: We render the main application navigator within a context provider and include the modal to display the splash screen.

Step 2: Testing Your Changes

After implementing the above code, make sure to test:

Switch to another app and back to yours.

Confirm that the modal appears when the app is inactive and disappears when active.

Conclusion

By following this approach, you can enhance your React Native app's user experience significantly, making transitions between app states smoother and more intuitive. Users will appreciate the continuity in their interaction and access to the last viewed screen rather than starting from the home screen each time.

Feel free to experiment with this code to suit your app’s specific needs, and never compromise on user experience!