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React Native permissions generator

React Native photo library permission

Letting the user pick an existing photo or video from their library needs read access: android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES on Android 13 and later (older releases used READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE), and NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription on iOS, shown in the consent prompt alongside iOS's limited-selection option.

expo-image-picker declares both and exposes requestMediaLibraryPermissionsAsync. On recent iOS and Android the system photo picker can return an image with no permission at all, so an app that only ever picks one file may not need this grant — declare it when the app browses or indexes the library itself.

Photo library at a glance

Android grants
android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES
iOS Info.plist key
NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription
Expo package
expo-image-picker
Config plugin
expo-image-picker
What it enables
Let the user pick an existing photo or video.
What the user agrees to
Read photos and videos already on the device

The declarations, for Expo and the bare workflow

Expo config

app.json
{
  "expo": {
    "ios": {
      "infoPlist": {
        "NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription": "TODO: why this app reads your photo library."
      }
    },
    "android": {
      "permissions": [
        "android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES"
      ]
    },
    "plugins": [
      "expo-router",
      "expo-image-picker"
    ]
  }
}

Prebuild writes these into the native projects; the config plugin is what makes the package's native code part of the build.

Bare workflow, Android

android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES" />

Bare workflow, iOS

ios/<App>/Info.plist
<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>TODO: why this app reads your photo library.</string>

The TODO is deliberate: the usage description is shown in the consent prompt and App Review rejects boilerplate.

Install the library

terminal
npx expo install expo-image-picker

Photo library permission, answered

The longer version is in the guide React Native permissions that satisfy both stores.

What permission does React Native need for photo library?
On Android, declare android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES in AndroidManifest.xml (or expo.android.permissions in app.json). On iOS, add NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription to Info.plist (or expo.ios.infoPlist) with a sentence explaining why — the user reads it in the consent prompt. expo-image-picker exposes the runtime request.
Do I still have to request photo library at runtime?
Yes. The declaration only makes the request possible. The first time the feature is used, call the request API from expo-image-picker; the operating system shows the prompt ("Read photos and videos already on the device") and remembers the answer. A declared but never requested permission does nothing, and a requested but never declared one fails.
Why was my app rejected over the photo library permission?
Most often the NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription string: App Review rejects a missing one at once and a vague or boilerplate one frequently. Write what the app does with the data in your own words. Google Play reviews the declaration against the app's visible features, so a grant no screen uses is also a finding.

Declare every feature the app uses

The React Native permissions generator builds the complete set from the same catalogue — tick each device feature and copy the paired Android grants and iOS usage descriptions, the Expo app.json fragment and the install line together. In the Nodlume workspace the declarations come from the screens themselves: a screen that uses the camera is what adds the camera permission to the Expo Router project it exports.

Open the generator

Other React Native permissions

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