React Native Chat App Tutorial

Make sure that

• you have a recent version of Node (10+) installed. If you are not sure, just type this in your terminal node --version
• you have setup the environment for react-native as mentioned here - https://reactnative.dev/docs/environment-setup

To make it easier for you to follow tutorial, we have setup a repository with all the setup necessary to get you started. So lets start by cloning the repository:

git clone https://github.com/GetStream/react-native-chat-tutorial.git
cd react-native-chat-tutorial
yarn
npx pod-install

To get all the chat functionality in this tutorial, you will need to get a free 4 weeks trial of Chat. No credit card is required.

Stream Chat comes with fully functional UI components and makes it very simple to add chat to your mobile app. Let’s start by adding a simple conversation chat screen.

Open App.js in your text editor of choice and make the following changes:

import React, {useEffect, useState} from 'react';
import {StyleSheet, View} from 'react-native';
import {StreamChat} from 'stream-chat';
import {
  Channel,
  Chat,
  MessageInput,
  MessageList,
  OverlayProvider as ChatOverlayProvider,
} from 'stream-chat-react-native';
import {
  SafeAreaProvider,
  SafeAreaView,
  useSafeAreaInsets,
} from 'react-native-safe-area-context';

const userToken = "USER_TOKEN";

const user = { id: "USER_ID" };

const chatClient = StreamChat.getInstance("YOUR_API_KEY");
const connectUserPromise = chatClient.connectUser(user, userToken);

const channel = chatClient.channel('messaging', 'channel_id');

const ChannelScreen = () => {
  const {bottom} = useSafeAreaInsets();

  return (
    <ChatOverlayProvider bottomInset={bottom} topInset={0}>
      <SafeAreaView>
        <Chat client={chatClient}>
          {/* Setting keyboardVerticalOffset as 0, since we don't have any header yet */}
          <Channel channel={channel} keyboardVerticalOffset={0}>
            <View style={StyleSheet.absoluteFill}>
              <MessageList />
              <MessageInput />
            </View>
          </Channel>
        </Chat>
      </SafeAreaView>
    </ChatOverlayProvider>
  );
};

export default function App() {
  const [ready, setReady] = useState();

  useEffect(() => {
    const initChat = async () => {
      await connectUserPromise;
      await channel.watch();
      setReady(true);
    };

    initChat();
  }, []);

  if (!ready) {
    return null;
  }

  return (
    <SafeAreaProvider>
      <ChannelScreen channel={channel} />
    </SafeAreaProvider>
  );
}

With this code we know have a fully working chat mobile app running. The Chat component is responsible of handling API calls and keep a consistent shared state across all other children components.

react-native run-ios

This will start the React Native development server, you can leave it running, it will live reload your application when you make code changes.

Chat UI React Native components come with batteries included:

The built-in MessageList and MessageInput components provide several rich interactions out of the box

URL previews

Try copy/paste https://goo.gl/Hok8hp in a message.

Most chat applications handle more than just one single conversation. Apps like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp and Telegram allows you to have multiple one to one and group conversations.

Let’s find out how we can change our application chat screen to display the list of conversations and navigate between them.

First of all we need to add some basic navigation to our mobile app. We want to list all conversations and be able to go from one to another. Stacked navigation can handle this very well and is supported by the awesome react-navigation package that we installed earlier on.

In order to keep things easy to follow we are going to have all code App.js

/* eslint-disable react/display-name */
/* eslint-disable react/display-name */
import React, {useContext, useEffect, useMemo, useState} from 'react';
import {LogBox, SafeAreaView, StyleSheet, View} from 'react-native';
import {NavigationContainer} from '@react-navigation/native';
import {createStackNavigator, useHeaderHeight} from '@react-navigation/stack';
import {
  SafeAreaProvider,
  useSafeAreaInsets,
} from 'react-native-safe-area-context';
import {StreamChat} from 'stream-chat';
import {
  Channel,
  ChannelList,
  Chat,
  MessageInput,
  MessageList,
  OverlayProvider,
  useAttachmentPickerContext,
} from 'stream-chat-react-native';

LogBox.ignoreAllLogs(true);

const chatClient = StreamChat.getInstance("YOUR_API_KEY");
const userToken = "USER_TOKEN";
const user = { id: "USER_ID" };

const filters = {
  members: {$in: ["USER_ID"]},
  type: 'messaging',
};

const sort = {last_message_at: -1};

const ChannelListScreen = ({navigation}) => {
  const {setChannel} = useContext(AppContext);

  const memoizedFilters = useMemo(() => filters, []);

  return (
    <Chat client={chatClient}>
      <View style={StyleSheet.absoluteFill}>
        <ChannelList
          filters={memoizedFilters}
          onSelect={(channel) => {
            setChannel(channel);
            navigation.navigate('Channel');
          }}
          sort={sort}
        />
      </View>
    </Chat>
  );
};

const ChannelScreen = ({navigation}) => {
  const {channel} = useContext(AppContext);
  const headerHeight = useHeaderHeight();
  const {setTopInset} = useAttachmentPickerContext();

  useEffect(() => {
    setTopInset(headerHeight);
    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
  }, [headerHeight]);

  return (
    <SafeAreaView>
      <Chat client={chatClient}>
        <Channel channel={channel} keyboardVerticalOffset={headerHeight}>
          <View style={StyleSheet.absoluteFill}>
            <MessageList />
            <MessageInput />
          </View>
        </Channel>
      </Chat>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
};

const Stack = createStackNavigator();

const AppContext = React.createContext();

const App = () => {
  const {bottom} = useSafeAreaInsets();

  const [channel, setChannel] = useState();
  const [clientReady, setClientReady] = useState(false);

  useEffect(() => {
    const setupClient = async () => {
      await chatClient.connectUser(user, userToken);

      setClientReady(true);
    };

    setupClient();
  }, []);

  return (
    <NavigationContainer>
      <AppContext.Provider value={{channel, setChannel}}>
        <OverlayProvider bottomInset={bottom}>
          {clientReady && (
            <Stack.Navigator
              initialRouteName="ChannelList"
              screenOptions={{
                headerTitleStyle: {alignSelf: 'center', fontWeight: 'bold'},
              }}>
              <Stack.Screen
                component={ChannelScreen}
                name="Channel"
                options={() => ({
                  headerBackTitle: 'Back',
                  headerRight: () => <></>,
                  headerTitle: channel?.data?.name,
                })}
              />
              <Stack.Screen
                component={ChannelListScreen}
                name="ChannelList"
                options={{headerTitle: 'Channel List'}}
              />
            </Stack.Navigator>
          )}
        </OverlayProvider>
      </AppContext.Provider>
    </NavigationContainer>
  );
};

export default () => {
  return (
    <SafeAreaProvider>
      <App />
    </SafeAreaProvider>
  );
};

If you run your application now, you will see the first chat screen now shows a list of conversations, you can open each by tapping and go back to the list.

The ChannelList component retrieves the list of channels based on a custom query and ordering. In this case we are showing the list of channels the current user is a member and we order them based on the time they had a new message. ChannelList handles pagination and updates automatically out of the box when new channels are created or when a new message is added to a channel.

The React Native Chat SDK library allows you to swap components easily without adding much boiler code. This also works when you have to change deeply nested components like the ChannelPreview or Message. We have prepared a visual guide to help you pointing out which and how to replace default components with custom once. https://github.com/GetStream/stream-chat-react-native/wiki/Cookbook-v3.0#custom-components

Lets say for example, you want to replace the entire preview component in ChannelList with your own implementation. You can simply do so by providing a prop Preview as a custom UI component. Simple as that. Additionally, if you want to customize a part of Preview component only, you have following options:

• PreviewStatus
• PreviewUnreadCount
• PreviewMessage
• PreviewTitle
• PreviewAvatar

/* eslint-disable react/display-name */
/* eslint-disable react/display-name */
import React, {useContext, useEffect, useMemo, useState} from 'react';
import {
  LogBox,
  SafeAreaView,
  StyleSheet,
  Text,
  TouchableOpacity,
  View,
} from 'react-native';
import {NavigationContainer} from '@react-navigation/native';
import {createStackNavigator, useHeaderHeight} from '@react-navigation/stack';
import {
  SafeAreaProvider,
  useSafeAreaInsets,
} from 'react-native-safe-area-context';
import {StreamChat} from 'stream-chat';
import {
  Channel,
  ChannelAvatar,
  ChannelList,
  Chat,
  MessageInput,
  MessageList,
  OverlayProvider,
  useChannelsContext,
  useAttachmentPickerContext,
} from 'stream-chat-react-native';

LogBox.ignoreAllLogs(true);

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  previewContainer: {
    display: 'flex',
    flexDirection: 'row',
    borderBottomColor: '#EBEBEB',
    borderBottomWidth: 1,
    padding: 10,
  },
  previewTitle: {
    textAlignVertical: 'center',
  },
});

const chatClient = StreamChat.getInstance("YOUR_API_KEY");
const userToken = "USER_TOKEN";
const user = { id: "USER_ID" };

const filters = {
  members: {$in: ["USER_ID"]},
  type: 'messaging',
};

const sort = {last_message_at: -1};

const CustomChannelPreview = ({channel, setActiveChannel}) => {
  const {onSelect} = useChannelsContext();
  return (
    <TouchableOpacity
      style={styles.previewContainer}
      onPress={() => onSelect(channel)}>
      <ChannelAvatar channel={channel} />
      <Text style={styles.previewTitle}>{channel.data.name}</Text>
    </TouchableOpacity>
  );
};

const ChannelListScreen = ({navigation}) => {
  const {setChannel} = useContext(AppContext);

  const memoizedFilters = useMemo(() => filters, []);

  return (
    <Chat client={chatClient}>
      <View style={StyleSheet.absoluteFill}>
        <ChannelList
          filters={memoizedFilters}
          onSelect={(channel) => {
            setChannel(channel);
            navigation.navigate('Channel');
          }}
          Preview={CustomChannelPreview}
          sort={sort}
        />
      </View>
    </Chat>
  );
};

const ChannelScreen = ({navigation}) => {
  const {channel} = useContext(AppContext);
  const headerHeight = useHeaderHeight();
  const {setTopInset} = useAttachmentPickerContext();

  useEffect(() => {
    setTopInset(headerHeight);
    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
  }, [headerHeight]);

  return (
    <SafeAreaView>
      <Chat client={chatClient}>
        <Channel channel={channel} keyboardVerticalOffset={headerHeight}>
          <View style={StyleSheet.absoluteFill}>
            <MessageList />
            <MessageInput />
          </View>
        </Channel>
      </Chat>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
};

const Stack = createStackNavigator();
const AppContext = React.createContext();

const App = () => {
  const {bottom} = useSafeAreaInsets();

  const [channel, setChannel] = useState();
  const [clientReady, setClientReady] = useState(false);
  const [thread, setThread] = useState();

  useEffect(() => {
    const setupClient = async () => {
      await chatClient.connectUser(user, userToken);

      setClientReady(true);
    };

    setupClient();
  }, []);

  return (
    <NavigationContainer>
      <AppContext.Provider value={{channel, setChannel, setThread, thread}}>
        <OverlayProvider bottomInset={bottom}>
          {clientReady && (
            <Stack.Navigator
              initialRouteName="ChannelList"
              screenOptions={{
                headerTitleStyle: {alignSelf: 'center', fontWeight: 'bold'},
              }}>
              <Stack.Screen
                component={ChannelScreen}
                name="Channel"
                options={() => ({
                  headerBackTitle: 'Back',
                  headerRight: () => <></>,
                  headerTitle: channel?.data?.name,
                })}
              />
              <Stack.Screen
                component={ChannelListScreen}
                name="ChannelList"
                options={{headerTitle: 'Channel List'}}
              />
            </Stack.Navigator>
          )}
        </OverlayProvider>
      </AppContext.Provider>
    </NavigationContainer>
  );
};

export default () => {
  return (
    <SafeAreaProvider>
      <App />
    </SafeAreaProvider>
  );
};

Stream Chat supports message threads out of the box. Threads allows users to create sub-conversations inside the same channel.

Using threaded conversations is very simple and mostly a matter of plugging the Thread component with React Navigation.

We created a new chat screen component called ThreadScreen

We registered the new chat screen to navigation

We pass the onThreadSelect prop to MessageList and use that to navigate to ThreadScreen.

Now we can open threads and create new ones as well, if you long press a message you can tap on Reply and it will open the same ThreadScreen.

/* eslint-disable react/display-name */
import React, {useContext, useEffect, useMemo, useState} from 'react';
import {LogBox, SafeAreaView, StyleSheet, View} from 'react-native';
import {NavigationContainer} from '@react-navigation/native';
import {createStackNavigator, useHeaderHeight} from '@react-navigation/stack';
import {
  SafeAreaProvider,
  useSafeAreaInsets,
} from 'react-native-safe-area-context';
import {StreamChat} from 'stream-chat';
import {
  Channel,
  ChannelList,
  Chat,
  MessageInput,
  MessageList,
  OverlayProvider,
  Thread,
  useAttachmentPickerContext,
} from 'stream-chat-react-native';

LogBox.ignoreAllLogs(true);


const chatClient = StreamChat.getInstance("YOUR_API_KEY");
const userToken = "USER_TOKEN";
const user = { id: "USER_ID" };

const filters = {
  members: {$in: ["USER_ID"]},
  type: 'messaging',
};
const sort = {last_message_at: -1};

const ChannelListScreen = ({navigation}) => {
  const {setChannel} = useContext(AppContext);

  const memoizedFilters = useMemo(() => filters, []);

  return (
    <Chat client={chatClient}>
      <View style={StyleSheet.absoluteFill}>
        <ChannelList
          filters={memoizedFilters}
          onSelect={(channel) => {
            setChannel(channel);
            navigation.navigate('Channel');
          }}
          sort={sort}
        />
      </View>
    </Chat>
  );
};

const ChannelScreen = ({navigation}) => {
  const {channel, setThread, thread} = useContext(AppContext);
  const headerHeight = useHeaderHeight();
  const {setTopInset} = useAttachmentPickerContext();

  useEffect(() => {
    setTopInset(headerHeight);
    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
  }, [headerHeight]);

  return (
    <SafeAreaView>
      <Chat client={chatClient}>
        <Channel
          channel={channel}
          keyboardVerticalOffset={headerHeight}
          thread={thread}>
          <View style={StyleSheet.absoluteFill}>
            <MessageList
              onThreadSelect={(thread) => {
                setThread(thread);
                navigation.navigate('Thread', {
                  channelId: channel.id,
                });
              }}
            />
            <MessageInput />
          </View>
        </Channel>
      </Chat>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
};

const ThreadScreen = ({route}) => {
  const {thread} = useContext(AppContext);
  const [channel] = useState(
    chatClient.channel('messaging', route.params.channelId),
  );
  const headerHeight = useHeaderHeight();

  return (
    <SafeAreaView>
      <Chat client={chatClient}>
        <Channel
          channel={channel}
          keyboardVerticalOffset={headerHeight}
          thread={thread}>
          <View style={StyleSheet.absoluteFill}>
            <Thread thread={thread} />
          </View>
        </Channel>
      </Chat>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
};

const Stack = createStackNavigator();
const AppContext = React.createContext();

const App = () => {
  const {bottom} = useSafeAreaInsets();

  const [channel, setChannel] = useState();
  const [clientReady, setClientReady] = useState(false);
  const [thread, setThread] = useState();

  useEffect(() => {
    const setupClient = async () => {
      await chatClient.connectUser(user, userToken);

      setClientReady(true);
    };

    setupClient();
  }, []);

  return (
    <NavigationContainer>
      <AppContext.Provider value={{channel, setChannel, setThread, thread}}>
        <OverlayProvider bottomInset={bottom}>
          {clientReady && (
            <Stack.Navigator
              initialRouteName="ChannelList"
              screenOptions={{
                headerTitleStyle: {alignSelf: 'center', fontWeight: 'bold'},
              }}>
              <Stack.Screen
                component={ChannelScreen}
                name="Channel"
                options={() => ({
                  headerBackTitle: 'Back',
                  headerRight: () => <></>,
                  headerTitle: channel?.data?.name,
                })}
              />
              <Stack.Screen
                component={ChannelListScreen}
                name="ChannelList"
                options={{headerTitle: 'Channel List'}}
              />
              <Stack.Screen component={ThreadScreen} name="Thread" />
            </Stack.Navigator>
          )}
        </OverlayProvider>
      </AppContext.Provider>
    </NavigationContainer>
  );
};

export default () => {
  return (
    <SafeAreaProvider>
      <App />
    </SafeAreaProvider>
  );
};

Customizing how messages are rendered is another very common use-case that the SDK supports easily.

Replace the built-in message component with your own is done by passing it as a prop to one of the parent components (eg. Channel, ChannelList, MessageList).

Let’s make a very simple custom message component that uses a more compact layout for messages.

import React, {useEffect, useState} from 'react';
import {StyleSheet, Text, View} from 'react-native';
import {StreamChat} from 'stream-chat';
import {
  Channel,
  Chat,
  MessageInput,
  MessageList,
  OverlayProvider as ChatOverlayProvider,
  useMessageContext,
} from 'stream-chat-react-native';
import {
  SafeAreaProvider,
  SafeAreaView,
  useSafeAreaInsets,
} from 'react-native-safe-area-context';

const userToken = "USER_TOKEN";

const user = { id: "USER_ID" };

const chatClient = StreamChat.getInstance("YOUR_API_KEY");
const connectUserPromise = chatClient.connectUser(user, userToken);

const channel = chatClient.channel('messaging', 'channel_id');

const CustomMessage = (props) => {
  const {message} = useMessageContext();
  return (
    <View style={{borderColor: 'black', borderWidth: 1}}>
      <Text>{message.text}</Text>
    </View>
  );
};

const ChannelScreen = () => {
  const {bottom} = useSafeAreaInsets();

  return (
    <ChatOverlayProvider bottomInset={bottom} topInset={0}>
      <SafeAreaView>
        <Chat client={chatClient}>
          {/* Setting keyboardVerticalOffset as 0, since we don't have any header yet */}
          <Channel
            channel={channel}
            keyboardVerticalOffset={0}
            MessageSimple={CustomMessage}>
            <View style={StyleSheet.absoluteFill}>
              <MessageList />
              <MessageInput />
            </View>
          </Channel>
        </Chat>
      </SafeAreaView>
    </ChatOverlayProvider>
  );
};

export default function App() {
  const [ready, setReady] = useState();

  useEffect(() => {
    const initChat = async () => {
      await connectUserPromise;
      await channel.watch();
      setReady(true);
    };

    initChat();
  }, []);

  if (!ready) {
    return null;
  }

  return (
    <SafeAreaProvider>
      <ChannelScreen channel={channel} />
    </SafeAreaProvider>
  );
}

Please don't forget to checkout react-native cookbook for many more examples of message customizations.

This SDK provides quite rich UI components in terms of design and functionality. But sometimes you may want to replace the default components with something that better fits your application requirements. For this purpose, we have made it quite easy to either replace the existing components with custom components or add your own styling on existing components

• Theme customization
• Component customization