Example to 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 init to make our React Native App. Assuming that you have node installed, you can use npm to install the react-native-cli command line utility. Open the terminal and go to the workspace and run

npm install -g react-native-cli

Run the following commands to create a new React Native project

react-native init ProjectName

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

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

react-native init ProjectName --version react-native@next

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.

Linking of Dependency

After the updation of React Native 0.60, they have introduced autolinking feature means we do not require to link the library but they have also mentioned that some libraries need linking and react-native-ionicons is one of those cases. So for that, we need to link the library using

react-native link react-native-ionicons

CocoaPods Installation

Now we need to install pods

cd ios && pod install && cd ..

Code

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

App.js

/*This is an Example of Ionicons in React Native*/
import React, {Component} from 'react';
//import react in our project
import {Platform, StyleSheet, Text, View} from 'react-native';
//import basic react native components
import Icon from 'react-native-ionicons'
//import Ionicons
type Props = {};
export default class App extends Component<Props> {
  render() {
    return (
      <View style={styles.container}>
        <Text style={styles.instructions}>Example of Ion Icons</Text>
        {/*Icon name used on all platforms*/}
        <Text style={styles.instructions}><Icon name="add" /></Text>
        <Icon name="information-circle-outline" />
        {/*Different Icon for different platforms*/}
        <Text style={styles.instructions}><Icon ios="ios-add" android="md-add" /></Text>
        <Icon ios="ios-add" android="md-add" />
        {/*Different Icon for different platforms*/}
        <Text style={styles.instructions}><Icon ios="ios-album" android="md-add" /></Text>
        <Icon ios="ios-albums" android="md-add" />
      </View>
    );
  }
}
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
    backgroundColor: '#F5FCFF',
  },
  instructions: {
    textAlign: 'center',
    color: '#333333',
    margin: 10,
  },
});

To Run the React Native App

Open the terminal again and jump into your project using.

cd ProjectName

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

react-native run-android

or on the iOS Simulator by running

react-native run-ios (macOS only).

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. 🙂