Mastering Network Connection State Changes in React Native
Why Connection Resilience Matters
As mobile app builders, we know that users may not always have access to the internet or have a poor network connection. Yet, they still want to access our application. By making our app resilient in the face of unknown connectivity, we can greatly improve user experience and consequently, user retention.
Getting Started with React Native
Before we dive into our demo, let’s create a React Native project by running the following command: npx react-native init MyOfflineApp. Next, go into the project folder and install the required npm packages. Then, run the following command for iOS to link libraries using CocoaPods: npx pod-install.
The Importance of Communicating Status Changes
Most mobile apps require users to have an internet connection to fetch data from an API. However, as developers, we can’t expect users to have a stable internet connection all the time. That’s why we need a plan to handle cases where the user’s internet connection goes down while the app is retrieving data from the server. The first step is to let the user know that their device is not connected to the internet and set up a fallback UI until the connection is up again.
Leveraging NetInfo for Connection Insights
The NetInfo package provides valuable information about the user’s active network connection and connectivity status of their mobile device. It identifies the user’s current network type (WiFi, cellular, ethernet, and so on) and returns details about the connection, such as its generation type (2G, 3G, 4G) and its impact on battery consumption and monetary value.
Using NetInfo in Your App
You can import the NetInfo package into your component file and subscribe to network state changes using the addEventListener() method. This will return a reference to the unsubscribe method, which you can use to remove the listener when the component unmounts. If you only need the active network state once, you can use the fetch() method instead.
Demo: Managing Connectivity with NetInfo and Axios
Let’s create an example app that fetches a list of users from a public API using axios. We’ll display the data in a list and handle connection errors using the react-native-modal package.
Handling UI Changes with NetInfo.addEventListener
To handle the UI when the user’s internet connection is disrupted, we’ll create a isOffline state variable that holds a boolean value representing the user’s connectivity status. We’ll then add NetInfo.addEventListener in the useEffect hook to listen to network changes and update the isOffline state.
Taking It Further: Advanced Use Cases
For further practice, you could explore ways of making the network connection state available to all components using Context API or a third-party library like Redux. In a more advanced use case, you can let users browse the app without the internet by caching data from the server, a strategy commonly used by social media apps to increase engagement.
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