Building a Snapchat Clone with Expo Camera | React Native Tutorial | Code with Beto

Learn how to create a full Snapchat camera clone app in React Native using Expo. You’ll learn to handle pictures, videos, and QR code scanning with Expo Camera, Expo Media Library, and Async Storage. It’s a practical guide for developers wanting to build camera apps with media handling and onboarding flows.

I demonstrate requesting permissions, onboarding screens, capturing photos and videos, saving and sharing media, and detecting QR codes. The app supports light and dark modes and uses Expo Symbols for iOS-style icons. This tutorial is great if you want to build camera features with React Native and Expo.

What's inside

Using Async Storage for onboarding flow
Handling user permissions for camera, microphone, and photos
Taking pictures and saving them to the media library
Playing and pausing recorded videos with native controls
Switching between photo and video modes with animations
Detecting and interacting with QR codes in the camera view
Accessing and displaying the user’s photo library
Using Expo Symbols for iOS-style icons and animations

Using Async Storage for onboarding flow

Async Storage is used to track if the user has opened the app before. On the first launch, the app shows a custom onboarding screen with a parallax animation from the Expo template. After onboarding, the app saves a flag in Async Storage so subsequent launches skip onboarding and go straight to the camera.

This approach ensures users only see onboarding once. Async Storage is a simple key-value store perfect for persisting small app state like this. I show how to set and read this flag to control app flow.

Handling user permissions for camera, microphone, and photos

The app requests permissions for camera, microphone, and photo library access on startup. If the user denies any permission, an alert prompts them to enable it in settings. I demonstrate how to handle permission denial gracefully by showing alerts and preventing access to camera features until permissions are granted.

This ensures the app complies with platform requirements and avoids crashes or unexpected behavior when permissions are missing. I also show how to manually enable permissions in device settings and how the app reloads after permission changes.

Taking pictures and saving them to the media library

Using Expo Camera, the app lets users take photos with a tap. After capturing a picture, users can save it to the device’s media library or share it directly. I show how to call Expo Camera’s method, display the captured image, and save it using Expo Media Library.

This flow mimics Snapchat’s camera experience, letting users quickly capture and save photos. I also covers UI transitions and alerts confirming the save action.

Playing and pausing recorded videos with native controls

The app supports video recording with Expo Camera. When recording, a yellow indicator shows the recording status. After stopping, the video playback screen appears with controls to play, pause, and toggle native video controls by tapping the video.

This gives users a familiar video playback experience with fullscreen and sharing options. I explain how to manage video state, toggle controls, and save or share recorded videos using Expo Media Library.

Switching between photo and video modes with animations

The UI includes a toggle to switch between photo (Snap) and video (Time) modes. Each switch triggers a smooth animation for the camera view and icons, enhancing the user experience. I demonstrate how to implement these animations using Expo Symbols for the icons and React Native’s animation APIs.

This polished UI detail makes the app feel professional and responsive, similar to Snapchat’s camera interface.

Detecting and interacting with QR codes in the camera view

A standout feature is QR code detection using Expo Camera’s barcode scanning capabilities. When a QR code is detected, a button appears on screen. Tapping it opens the QR code’s URL in the device browser.

I show how to implement real-time QR code detection, display the detected code UI, and handle user interaction. This feature adds useful functionality beyond basic camera capture.

Accessing and displaying the user’s photo library

Users can access their full photo library from the app. I show how to use Expo Media Library to fetch and display photos in a scrollable view. Users can browse recent photos and select them for viewing or sharing.

This integration completes the Snapchat clone experience by combining camera capture with media browsing.

Using Expo Symbols for iOS-style icons and animations

The app uses Expo Symbols to display iOS-style icons for camera controls, recording indicators, and UI buttons. These icons come with built-in animations that enhance the interface.

I references a previous tutorial on Expo Symbols for customizing and animating these icons. Using Expo Symbols helps achieve a native look and feel on iOS devices.

Resources

CourseReact Native course

Fundamentals through shipping: the concepts behind the prompts, with lifetime access.

LessonAnimations and Gestures

Reanimated, gesture-handler, and interactive UI patterns when Ease is not enough.

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