Use Ionicons in React Native using react-native-ionicons

Ionicons

This is an Example to Use Ionicons in React Native using react-native-ionicons. Ionicons are beautifully crafted open source icons built by the Ionic Framework team.

You can use Ionicons very anywhere easily. You can visit the official site of the Ionicons to find a variety of icons.

Use of Ionicons in React Native

To use the Ionicons in React Native you have to import react-native-ionicons dependency which will provide an Icon component. You can use this Icon component to create an Icon.
Prop “name” will render the same icon in Android and IOS.

<Icon name="information-circle-outline" />

But if you want to show the different icons for Android and IOS for the same Icon component then you can also use ios and android prop and can set the different icons.

<Icon ios="ios-add" android="md-add" />

Props

Name	Type	Default	Description
name	`IconName`	–	Icon name used on all platforms
android	`IconName`	–	Icon name for Android devices
ios	`IconName`	–	Icon name for iOS devices
color	`?string`	–	Icon color
size	`?number`	30	Icon size, namely `fontSize`

In this example, We will create a simple Screen with different icons and will run it in Android and IOS to see the changes. So Let’s get started.

To Make a React Native App

Getting started with React Native will help you to know more about the way you can make a React Native project. We are going to use react native command line interface to make our React Native App.

If you have previously installed a global react-native-cli package, please remove it as it may cause unexpected issues:

npm uninstall -g react-native-cli @react-native-community/cli

Run the following commands to create a new React Native project

npx react-native init ProjectName

If you want to start a new project with a specific React Native version, you can use the --version argument:

npx react-native init ProjectName --version X.XX.X

Note If the above command is failing, you may have old version of react-native or react-native-cli installed globally on your pc. Try uninstalling the cli and run the cli using npx.

This will make a project structure with an index file named App.js in your project directory.

Installation of Dependency

To use Icon component you need to install react-native-ionicons dependency.

To install this open the terminal and jump into your project

cd ProjectName

Run the following command

npm install react-native-ionicons --save

This command will copy all the dependencies into your node_module directory. –save is optional, it is just to update the react-native-ionicons dependency in your package.json file.

CocoaPods Installation

Please use the following command to install CocoaPods

npx pod-install

Importing Fonts in Android

To use IonIcons in Android, you need to create assets/fonts directory in main and have to copy Ionicons.ttf file from node_modules/react-native-ionicons/fonts

node_modules/react-native-ionicons/fonts/Ionicons.ttf -> projectname/android/app/src/main/assets/fonts/Ionicons.ttf

Importing Fonts in iOS

Please follow the below steps to use IonIcons in iOS(Refer to “Importing Font-Awesome Files in Android/iOS” for the better understanding)

1. Create a fonts directory in ios and copy Ionicons.ttf file from node_modules/react-native-ionicons/fonts

2. Now open the project YourProject -> ios -> YourProject.xcworkspace in Xcode.

3. After opening the project in Xcode click on the project from the left sidebar to open the options and select Add Files to “YourProjectName”

4. Select the fonts directory which you have created. Remember to select Create Folder references from below and click Add

5. Now click the project name on the left top, and select the project name on TARGETS. Click the Info tab on the top menu to see Info.plist and add Fonts provided by application and font files to Info.plist. If you were an iOS developer or have knowledge about info.plist then you can add following lines directly into info.plist but if you performed the above action then you don’t worry about this as this has been already added by XCode.

<key>UIAppFonts</key>
<array>
  <string>fonts/Ionicons.ttf</string>
  <string>fonts/MaterialIcons.ttf</string>
</array>

Code to use Ionicons in React Native

Now Open App.js in any code editor and replace the code with the following code.

App.js

// Example to Use Ionicons in React Native using react-native-ionicons
// https://aboutreact.com/react-native-ionicons/

// Import React
import React from 'react';
// Import required components
import {SafeAreaView, StyleSheet, Text, View} from 'react-native';

//import Ionicons
import Icon from 'react-native-ionicons';

const App = () => {
  return (
    <SafeAreaView style={styles.container}>
      <View style={styles.container}>
        <Text style={styles.titleText}>
          Example to Use Ionicons in React Native
          using react-native-ionicons
        </Text>
        {/*Icon name used on all platforms*/}
        <Text style={styles.textStyle}>
          Icon (camera, information-circle-outline)
          for all platforms
        </Text>
        <Text style={styles.instructions}>
          <Icon name="camera" size={40} color="red" />
        </Text>
        <Icon
          name="information-circle-outline"
          size={40}
          color="blue"
        />
        {/*Different Icon for different platforms*/}
        <Text style={styles.textStyle}>
          Platform specific Icon
        </Text>
        <Icon
          ios="ios-add"
          android="md-albums"
          size={40}
          color="orange"
        />
        <Icon
          ios="ios-albums"
          android="md-add"
          size={40}
          color="green"
        />
      </View>
    </SafeAreaView>
  );
};
export default App;

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
    backgroundColor: 'white',
    padding: 10,
  },
  titleText: {
    fontSize: 20,
    fontWeight: 'bold',
    textAlign: 'center',
    paddingVertical: 20,
  },
  textStyle: {
    textAlign: 'center',
    marginTop: 20,
  },
  instructions: {
    textAlign: 'center',
    margin: 10,
  },
});

To Run the React Native App

Open the terminal again and jump into your project using.

cd ProjectName

1. Start Metro Bundler

First, you will need to start Metro, the JavaScript bundler that ships with React Native. To start Metro bundler run following command:

npx react-native start

Once you start Metro Bundler it will run forever on your terminal until you close it. Let Metro Bundler run in its own terminal. Open a new terminal and run the application.

2. Start React Native Application

To run the project on an Android Virtual Device or on real debugging device:

npx react-native run-android

or on the iOS Simulator by running (macOS only)

npx react-native run-ios

Download Source Code

Output Screenshots

IOS

Android

That was the Example to Use Ionicons in React Native using react-native-ionicons. If you have any doubts or you want to share something about the topic you can comment below or contact us here. There will be more posts coming soon. Stay tuned!

Hope you liked it. 🙂