react-native-installed-apps-android

Get installed Android apps list via React Native Turbo Module

Installation

npm install react-native-installed-apps-android

Android Permissions

Add the following to your Android app's android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:

<queries>
    <intent>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
    </intent>
</queries>

Note: This library uses Intent queries to get only user-facing apps (apps with launcher activities), which means:

• ✅ No QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES permission required
• ✅ No Google Play Console approval needed
• ✅ Works on all Android versions
• ✅ Returns all apps that users can launch (including system apps like YouTube, Chrome, etc.)
• ✅ Excludes background services and non-launchable system components

Usage

import { getInstalledApps } from 'react-native-installed-apps-android';

// Get list of user-facing installed apps (apps with launcher activities)
getInstalledApps()
  .then(apps => {
    console.log('User-facing installed apps:', apps);
    // Each app object contains: 
    // { 
    //   packageName: string, 
    //   appName: string, 
    //   appVersion?: string
    // }
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.error('Error getting installed apps:', error);
  });

TypeScript Support

The library includes full TypeScript support:

import { getInstalledApps, type InstalledApp } from 'react-native-installed-apps-android';

const apps: InstalledApp[] = await getInstalledApps();

API

getInstalledApps(): Promise<InstalledApp[]>

Returns a promise that resolves to an array of user-facing installed apps (apps that have launcher activities and can be opened by users). This includes user-installed apps as well as system apps that have launcher icons (like YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, etc.), but excludes background services and non-launchable system components.

InstalledApp Interface

interface InstalledApp {
  packageName: string;    // e.g., "com.android.chrome"
  appName: string;        // e.g., "Chrome"
  appVersion?: string;    // e.g., "108.0.5359.79" (Android only)
}

Note:

• appVersion is only available on Android. iOS will return "Unknown" due to sandboxing restrictions.
• On iOS, only the current app's information is returned due to platform restrictions.

Example

import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { View, Text, FlatList } from 'react-native';
import { getInstalledApps, type InstalledApp } from 'react-native-installed-apps-android';

export default function App() {
  const [apps, setApps] = useState<InstalledApp[]>([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    getInstalledApps()
      .then(setApps)
      .catch(console.error);
  }, []);

  return (
    <View>
      <Text>Installed Apps ({apps.length})</Text>
      <FlatList
        data={apps}
        keyExtractor={item => item.packageName}
        renderItem={({ item }) => (
          <View>
            <Text>{item.appName}</Text>
            <Text>{item.packageName}</Text>
            {item.appVersion && <Text>Version: {item.appVersion}</Text>}
          </View>
        )}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

Platform Support

• ✅ Android: Full support - returns all user-facing installed apps with complete information including app version
• ⚠️ iOS: Limited support - due to iOS sandboxing restrictions, only returns information about the current app. App version is still provided based on the current app.

Contributing

See the contributing guide to learn how to contribute to the repository and the development workflow.

License

MIT

Made with create-react-native-library