A YouTube component for React Native

by React Native Example

react-native-youtube

A component for React Native.

Uses Google's official youtube-ios-player-helper for iOS and YouTube Android Player API for Android and exposes much of the API, as declaratively as possible, into React Native.

Usage

<YouTube
  videoId="KVZ-P-ZI6W4"   // The YouTube video ID
  play                    // control playback of video with true/false
  fullscreen              // control whether the video should play in fullscreen or inline
  loop                    // control whether the video should loop when ended

  onReady={e => this.setState({ isReady: true })}
  onChangeState={e => this.setState({ status: e.state })}
  onChangeQuality={e => this.setState({ quality: e.quality })}
  onError={e => this.setState({ error: e.error })}

  style={{ alignSelf: 'stretch', height: 300 }}
/>

API

YouTube Component

Importing

import YouTube from 'react-native-youtube'

Properties

  • apiKey (string, Android): Your YouTube developer API Key. This parameter is required. More Info.
  • videoId (string): The YouTube video ID to play. Can be changed while mounted to change the video playing.
  • videoIds (strings array): YouTube video IDs to be played as an interactive playlist. Can be changed while mounted. Overridden at start by videoId.
  • playlistId (string): A YouTube Playlist's ID to play as an interactive playlist.
    Can be changed while mounted. Overridden at start by videoId and videoIds.
  • play (boolean): Controls playback of video with true/false. Setting it as true in the beginning itself makes the video autoplay on loading. Default: false.
  • loop (boolean): Loops the video. Default: false.
  • fullscreen (boolean): Controls whether the video should play inline or in fullscreen. Default: false.
  • controls (number): Sets the player's controls scheme. Supported values are 0, 1, 2. Default: 1. On iOS the numbers conform to These Parameters. On Android the mapping is 0 = CHROMELSEE, 1 = DEFAULT, 2 = MINIMAL (More Info).
  • showFullscreenButton (boolean): Show or hide Fullscreen button. Default: true.
  • showinfo (boolean, iOS): Setting the parameter's value to false causes the player to not display information like the video title and uploader before the video starts playing. Default: true.
  • modestbranding (boolean, iOS): This parameter lets you use a YouTube player that does not show a YouTube logo. Default: false.
  • origin (string, iOS): This parameter provides an extra security measure for the iFrame API.
  • rel (boolean, iOS): Show related videos at the end of the video. Default: true.
  • resumePlayAndroid (boolean, Android): Makes the video resume playback after the app resumes from background. Default: true.

The iOS implementation of this player uses the official YouTube iFrame under the hood, so most parameters behavior can be further understood here.

Events

  • onReady: Called once when the video player is setup.
  • onChangeState: Sends the current state of the player on e.state. Common values are buffering/playing/paused and more (on Android there is also a seeking state that comes with the location of the playback in seconds on e.currentTime).
  • onChangeQuality: Sends the current quality of video playback on e.quality.
  • onError: Sends any errors before and during video playback on e.error.
  • onChangeFullscreen: Called when the player enters or exits the fullscreen mode on e.isFullscreen.
  • onProgress (iOS): Called every 500ms with the time progress of the playback on e.currentTime and also duration on e.duration.

Methods

  • seekTo(seconds): Seeks to a specified time in the video.
  • nextVideo(): Skip to next video on a playlist (videoIds or playlistId). When loop is true, will skip to the first video from the last. If called on a single video, will restart the video.
  • previousVideo(): opposite of nextVideo().
  • playVideoAt(index): Will start playing the video at index (zero-based) position in a playlist (videoIds or playlistId. Not supported for playlistId on Android).
  • videosIndex(): Returns a Promise that results with the index (zero-based) number of the video currently played in a playlist (videoIds or playlistId. Not supported for playlistId on Android) or errors with an errorMessage string.
  • currentTime(): Returns a Promise that results with the currentTime of the played video (in seconds) or errors with an errorMessage string. Should be used as an alternative for Android to onProgress event on iOS.
  • duration() (Android): Returns a Promise that results with the duration of the played video (in seconds) or errors with an errorMessage string. Should be used as an alternative for Android to onProgress event on iOS.
  • reloadIframe() (iOS): Specific props (fullscreen, modestbranding, showinfo, rel, controls, origin) can only be set at mounting and initial loading of the underlying WebView that holds the YouTube iFrame (Those are <iframe> parameters). If you want to change one of them during the lifecycle of the component, you should know the usability cost of loading the WebView again, and use this method right after the component received the updated prop.

Standalone Player (iOS)

Setup

Standalone iOS player Uses XCDYoutubeKit (Warning: XCDYoutubeKit doesn't conform to YouTube's Terms Of Use). Add the next line to your Podfile and run pod install inside /ios folder:

pod 'XCDYouTubeKit', '~> 2.8'

Importing

import { YouTubeStandaloneIOS } from 'react-native-youtube';

Example

YouTubeStandaloneIOS.playVideo('KVZ-P-ZI6W4')
  .then(() => console.log('Standalone Player Exited'))
  .catch(errorMessage => console.error(errorMessage))

YouTubeStandaloneIOS.playVideo(videoId) (Static)

A static method that returns a Promise to launch a standalone YouTube player with a specific video.

  • videoId (string): The YouTube Video ID to play. Required.

Standalone Player (Android)

Importing

import { YouTubeStandaloneAndroid } from 'react-native-youtube';

Example

YouTubeStandaloneAndroid.playVideo({
  apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY',     // Your YouTube Developer API Key
  videoId: 'KVZ-P-ZI6W4',     // YouTube video ID
  autoplay: true,             // Autoplay the video
  startTime: 120,             // Starting point of video (in seconds)
})
  .then(() => console.log('Standalone Player Exited'))
  .catch(errorMessage => console.error(errorMessage))

YouTubeStandaloneAndroid.playVideo(options) (Static)

A static method that returns a Promise to launch a standalone YouTube player with a specific video.

options is an object with properties:

  • apiKey (string): Your developer YouTube API key. Required.
  • videoId (string): The YouTube Video ID to play. Required.
  • autoplay (boolean): Should the video start automatically, Default: false.
  • lightboxMode (boolean): Should the video play inside a lightbox instead of fullscreen. Default: false.
  • startTime (number): Optional starting time of the video (in seconds). Default: 0.

YouTubeStandaloneAndroid.playVideos(options) (Static)

A static method that returns a Promise to launch a standalone YouTube player with a specific video.

options is an object with properties:

  • apiKey (string): Your developer YouTube API key. Required.
  • videoIds (strings array): The list of video IDs to be played. Required.
  • autoplay (boolean): Should the video start automatically, Default: false.
  • lightboxMode (boolean): Should the video play inside a lightbox instead of fullscreen. Default: false.
  • startIndex (number): The index position of the video to play first. Default: 0.
  • startTime (number): Optional starting time of the video (in seconds). Default: 0.

YouTubeStandaloneAndroid.playPlaylist(options) (Static)

A static method that returns a Promise to launch a standalone YouTube player with a specific video.

options is an object with properties:

  • apiKey (string): Your developer YouTube API key. Required.
  • playlistId (string): The YouTube Playlist ID to play. Required.
  • autoplay (boolean): Should the video start automatically, Default: false.
  • lightboxMode (boolean): Should the video play inside a lightbox instead of fullscreen. Default: false.
  • startIndex (number): The index position of the video to play first. Default: 0.
  • startTime (number): Optional starting time of the video (in seconds). Default: 0.

Installation

Install the latest version to your package.json:

$ npm install react-native-youtube -S

React Native automatically connects this native module to your iOS and Android projects. On Android this link is supported with Gradle and is done automatically after installation. On iOS the linking is done by Cocoapods, without the need to add this library to the Podfile, Just run pod install after installation.

IMPORTANT! (Android Only): The Android implementation of this component needs to have the official YouTube app installed on the device. Otherwise the user will be prompted to install / activate the app, and an error event will be triggered with SERVICE_MISSING/SERVICE_DISABLED.

OPTIONAL: Activated sound when iPhone (iOS) is on vibrate mode

Open AppDelegate.m and add :

  • #import <AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h>

  • [[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback error: nil]; in your didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method

Known Issues

UNAUTHORIZED_OVERLAY and PLAYER_VIEW_TOO_SMALL on Android

The Android version of this component is based on the official Java YouTube Android Player API library which have a few built-in limitations and protections that we must mitigate with a few hacks. In some cases the native view that holds the YouTube instance fails to mount correctly inside React-Native's view hierarchy so we initiate an unnoticeable change in its style after the onReady event fires to force a real re-render on the native views hierarchy. Other than that, the native instance has a built-in mechanism to protect it from being covered by other components (what triggers the UNAUTHORIZED_OVERLAY error) and it's triggered if the native instance only touches another view. For this reason we must margin the native view from its containing view by StyleSheet.hairlineWidth which means a single pixel width for the specific device. PLAYER_VIEW_TOO_SMALL error can also be fired due to the same problems.

These specific hacks are sufficiently solving these related problems in the example app in this repo and also in a private app that I develop which uses standard views and the (now deprecated) NavigationExperimental. On a virtual AVD (Nexus 5X) and on a real Nexus 5X, with React-Native 0.37 through 0.45.

How do we solve this?

Different configurations and environments can still persist these problems so we must find better and more general ways of mitigating them. The best thing anybody who encounters these errors can do, before posting an issue, is try to set up and run the example app in this repo and see if the same behavior persist. If it is, then the problem is probably with the development environment and / or hardware. If not, the problem is probably with other libraries or custom components, and the way they are used in conjunction with this component. Try to understand the nature of the limitations of the native component and gather as much information before posting an issue, even then, better add to #161.

No player controls in Android

The Android version can sometimes disable the players control even when the controls are explicitly set to be shown. There is no explanation to this behavior yet. This bug is managed in #131.

Multiple <YouTube /> instances on Android

The YouTube API for Android is a singleton. What it means is that unlike the iOS implementation, no two players can be mounted and play a video at the same time. If you have two scenes that happen to live together, or come one after the other (such as when navigating to a new scene), The new <YouTube /> Will take the focus of the singleton and play the video, but after being unmounted, the older mounted <YouTube /> will not be able to take the role back, and will need to be re-mounted.

Example App and Development

This repository includes an example project that can be used for trying, developing and testing all functionalities on a dedicated clean app project.

First, copy the git repository and install the React-Native project inside /example:

$ git clone https://github.com/inProgress-team/react-native-youtube.git
$ cd react-native-youtube/example
$ npm install

For iOS, also install the Cocoapods

$ cd ios
$ pod install

Then build and run with react-native run-ios / react-native run-android or your preferred IDE.

For Developers

To be able to directly test your changes with the example app, re-install the package from the root directory with npm run install-root after each change. This command packs the root directory into an npm package .tar file and installs it locally to the example app.

GitHub