expo-privacy-image

A React Native package that overlays a privacy image on the screen whenever the app goes to the background, preventing sensitive content from appearing in the app switcher (iOS) or recent apps (Android).

Built with Expo Modules.

Platform support

| Android | iOS | | ------- | --- | | ✅ | ✅ |

Installation

Bare React Native:

Ensure expo-modules is installed before proceeding, then run the command below.

Expo:

npx expo install expo-privacy-image

Setup

Image format: Only PNG is supported.

Expo managed

Add the plugin to your app.config.ts (or app.json) and point it at your privacy image:

// app.config.ts
export default {
  plugins: [
    [
      "expo-privacy-image",
      {
        imagePath: "./assets/images/privacy.png",
      },
    ],
  ],
};

Then run prebuild to apply the native changes:

npx expo prebuild

The plugin automatically:

• Android: copies the image to android/app/src/main/res/drawable/privacy_image.png
• iOS: adds the image as PrivacyImage.imageset inside Images.xcassets

Bare React Native (manual setup)

Android

Copy your privacy image to:

android/app/src/main/res/drawable/privacy_image.png

iOS

Create the imageset directory and add your image:

ios/<ProjectName>/Images.xcassets/PrivacyImage.imageset/
  privacy_image.png
  Contents.json

Contents.json should contain:

{
  "images": [
    { 
      "idiom": "universal",
      "filename": "privacy_image.png",
      "scale": "1x"
    }
  ],
  "info": { "version": 1, "author": "xcode" }
}

Then run:

npx pod-install

Usage

Call usePrivacyImage() once, typically at the root of your app or inside a top-level component. Once called, the module is permanently enabled for the lifetime of the app session.

import { usePrivacyImage } from "expo-privacy-image";

export default function App() {
  usePrivacyImage();

  return (
    // ...
  );
}

When the app moves to the background, the image you configured is shown as a full-screen overlay. It is removed automatically when the app returns to the foreground.

API

usePrivacyImage(): void

Enables the privacy overlay for the current app session. Safe to call multiple times, subsequent calls are no-ops.

| Parameter | Type | Description | | --------- | ---- | ----------- | | — | — | No parameters |

Requirements

• React Native ≥ 0.71
• expo
• iOS ≥ 15.1