Handling Keyboard Appearance in React Native Chat UI (iOS & Android)
Handling Keyboard Appearance in React Native Chat UI (iOS & Android) When building a chat-style interface in React Native, one of the most common UX problems is the input box being covered by the on-screen keyboard . This issue affects both iOS and Android, but the underlying behavior and fixes differ slightly. In this post, I’ll walk through how we solved this problem in a real chat screen implementation, covering: Using KeyboardAvoidingView correctly Adjusting input position dynamically iOS vs Android behavior differences Why Android does require an AndroidManifest.xml change 1. Wrapping the Screen with KeyboardAvoidingView The foundation of the solution is React Native’s built-in KeyboardAvoidingView . The entire chat screen is wrapped inside it: <KeyboardAvoidingView style={styles.root} behavior="padding" keyboardVerticalOffset={Platform.OS === 'ios' ? 90 : 80} > {/* Chat UI */} </KeyboardAvoidingView> T...