useChannelPreviewData

Returns channel preview state (lastMessage, muted, pinned, and unread) for rendering list rows.

Best Practices

Use this hook in custom ChannelPreview components rendered by ChannelList.
Treat lastMessage as optional and handle empty channels safely.
Avoid additional unread computations in render; use the hook output directly.
Respect muted channels and avoid showing unread badges when muted.
Keep expensive formatting outside the list item render path.

Usage

import { useChannelPreviewData } from "stream-chat-react-native";

type Props = {
  channel: Channel;
  client: StreamChat;
};

const CustomPreview = ({ channel, client }: Props) => {
  const { lastMessage, muted, unread } = useChannelPreviewData(channel, client);

  return (
    <>
      <Text>{lastMessage?.text ?? "No messages yet"}</Text>
      {!muted && unread > 0 ? <Text>{unread}</Text> : null}
    </>
  );
};

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
channel	`Channel`	Yes	Channel instance used to derive preview state and event bindings.
client	`StreamChat`	Yes	Active chat client used for read/unread event subscriptions.
forceUpdateOverride	`number`	No	Optional force-update counter override from channel-list context.

Returns

Name	Type	Description
lastMessage	`LocalMessage` \| `MessageResponse`	Latest message used by the preview row.
muted	`boolean`	Whether the channel is currently muted.
pinned	`boolean`	Whether the channel is pinned for the current user.
unread	`number`	Unread count for the current user.