A music picker library for React Native. Provides access to the system's UI for selecting songs from the phone's music library
❗ Work in progress. This library is not yet published to npm. Instructions below will not work.
Expo Music Picker
A music picker library for React Native. Provides access to the system’s UI for selecting songs from the phone’s music library.
Add screenshot/demo here
Supported platforms
Android Device | Android Emulator | iOS Device | iOS Simulator | Web | Expo Go |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
- ✅ You can use this library with Expo Development Builds. It includes a config plugin.
- ❌ This library can’t be used in the “Expo Go” app because it requires custom native code.
This library requires Expo SDK 45 or newer
Installation
npx expo install expo-music-picker
Once the library is installed, create a new Development Build.
If you’re installing this in a bare React Native app, you will need to have the expo
package installed and configured.
Configuration in app.json / app.config.js
Add expo-music-picker
to the plugins array of your app.json or app.config.js and then create a new Development Build to apply the changes.
{
"expo": {
"plugins": [
"expo-music-picker",
{ "musicLibraryPermission": "The app accesses your music to play it" }
]
}
}
The config plugin has the following options:
Name | Type | Explanation | Required | Default Value |
---|---|---|---|---|
musicLibraryPermission |
string |
? iOS only A string to set the NSAppleMusicUsageDescription permission message. |
❌ | "Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to access your music library" |
Configuration for iOS ?
This is only required for usage in bare React Native apps.
Add NSAppleMusicUsageDescription
key to your Info.plist
:
<key>NSAppleMusicUsageDescription</key>
<string>Give $(PRODUCT_NAME) permission to access your music library</string>
Run npx pod-install
after installing the npm package.
Configuration for Android ?
This is only required for usage in bare React Native apps.
This package automatically adds the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
permission. It is used when picking music from the phone’s library.
<!-- Added permissions -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
Usage
import { useState } from "react";
import { Image, Text, View, Button } from "react-native";
import * as MusicPicker from "expo-music-picker";
export default function App() {
const [item, setItem] = useState<MusicPicker.MusicItem | null>();
const pickMediaAsync = async () => {
try {
// Request permissions
const permissionResult = await MusicPicker.requestPermissionsAsync();
if (!permissionResult.granted) {
console.warn("No permission");
return;
}
// Open the music picker
const result = await MusicPicker.openMusicLibraryAsync({
allowMultipleSelection: true,
includeArtworkImage: true,
});
// Process the result
console.log(result);
if (!result.cancelled) {
const [firstItem] = result.items;
setItem(firstItem ?? null);
}
} catch (e) {
console.warn("Exception occurred when picking music:", e);
}
};
const artworkData = item?.artworkImage?.base64Data;
return (
<View style={{ flex: 1, alignItems: "center", justifyContent: "center" }}>
<Button title="Open music library" onPress={pickMediaAsync} />
<Text>
{item ? `Song: ${item.artist} - ${item.title}` : "No song selected"}
</Text>
{artworkData && (
<Image
source={{ uri: `data:image/jpeg;base64,${artworkData}` }}
style={{ width: 200, height: 200 }}
resizeMode="contain"
/>
)}
</View>
);
}
API
import * as MusicPicker from `expo-music-picker`;
requestPermissionsAsync(): Promise<PermissionResponse>
Asks the user to grant permissions for accessing user’s music library.
- ? On iOS this is required to open the picker.
- ? On Android this is not required, but recommended to get the most accurate results. Only basic metadata will be retrieved without that permission.
- ? On Web this does nothing – the permission is always granted.
Returns: A promise that fulfills with Expo standard permission response object.
getPermissionsAsync(): Promise<PermissionResponse>
Checks user’s permissions for accessing music library.
On Web, this does nothing – the permission is always granted.
Returns: A promise that fulfills with Expo standard permission response object.
openMusicLibraryAsync(options?: MusicPickerOptions): Promise<PickerResult>
MusicPickerOptions
Options for the picker:
Name | Type | Explanation | Required | Default Value |
---|---|---|---|---|
allowMultipleSelection |
boolean |
Whether or not to allow selecting multiple media files at once. | ❌ | false |
includeArtworkImage |
boolean |
Whether to also include the artwork image dimensions and its data in Base64 format. | ❌ | false |
showCloudItems |
boolean |
? iOS only When set to true , the picker shows available iCloud Music Library items, including purchased items, imported content, and Apple Music subscription content. When set to false , the picker only shows content downloaded to the device. |
❌ | true |
userPrompt |
string | undefined |
? iOS only A prompt, for the user, that appears above the navigation bar buttons on the picker screen. | ❌ | undefined |
PickerResult
A picking result resolved by openMusicLibraryAsync
.
type PickerResult =
| { cancelled: true }
| { cancelled: false; items: MusicItem[] };
When the cancelled
property is false
, the picked music items are available under the items
property.
MusicItem
Represents a single picked music item.
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
id |
number |
Unique asset ID. On Android, this value can be used to access the asset with expo-media-library . If the ID cannot be obtained, the value is -1 . |
uri |
string |
URI of the asset. It can be used to play selected media with expo-av . |
title |
string? |
The title or name of the music item. |
artist |
string? |
The performing artist the music item. |
album |
string? |
The title of an album. |
durationSeconds |
number |
The duration of the music item in seconds. Returns -1 if unavailable. |
track |
number? |
The track number of the media item, for a media item that is part of an album. |
year |
number? |
? Android only Year of the song. |
fileName |
string? |
? Android only The filename of the media. Example: toto_africa.mp3 |
artworkImage |
ArtworkImage? |
When options.includeArtworkImage is true and the music item has attached artwork image, it can be accessed by this property. See ArtworkImage type below. |
ArtworkImage
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
width |
number |
Whether or not to allow selecting multiple media files at once. |
height |
number |
Whether to also include the artwork image dimensions and its data in Base64 format. |
base64Data |
string |
? iOS only When set to true , the picker shows available iCloud Music Library items, including purchased items, imported content, and Apple Music subscription content. When set to false , the picker only shows content downloaded to the device. |