Getting Started

Build a User Management App with Expo React Native

This tutorial demonstrates how to build a basic user management app. The app authenticates and identifies the user, stores their profile information in the database, and allows the user to log in, update their profile details, and upload a profile photo. The app uses:

Supabase User Management example

Project setup

Before we start building we're going to set up our Database and API. This is as simple as starting a new Project in Supabase and then creating a "schema" inside the database.

Create a project

  1. Create a new project in the Supabase Dashboard.
  2. Enter your project details.
  3. Wait for the new database to launch.

Set up the database schema

Now we are going to set up the database schema. We can use the "User Management Starter" quickstart in the SQL Editor, or you can just copy/paste the SQL from below and run it yourself.

  1. Go to the SQL Editor page in the Dashboard.
  2. Click User Management Starter.
  3. Click Run.
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supabase link --project-ref <project-id># You can get <project-id> from your project's dashboard URL: https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/<project-id>supabase db pull

Get the API keys

Now that you've created some database tables, you are ready to insert data using the auto-generated API. We just need to get the Project URL and anon key from the API settings.

  1. Go to the API Settings page in the Dashboard.
  2. Find your Project URL, anon, and service_role keys on this page.

Building the app

Let's start building the React Native app from scratch.

Initialize a React Native app

We can use expo to initialize an app called expo-user-management:

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npx create-expo-app -t expo-template-blank-typescript expo-user-managementcd expo-user-management

Then let's install the additional dependencies: supabase-js

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npx expo install @supabase/supabase-js @react-native-async-storage/async-storage @rneui/themed

Now let's create a helper file to initialize the Supabase client. We need the API URL and the anon key that you copied earlier. These variables are safe to expose in your Expo app since Supabase has Row Level Security enabled on your Database.

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import AsyncStorage from '@react-native-async-storage/async-storage'import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'const supabaseUrl = YOUR_REACT_NATIVE_SUPABASE_URLconst supabaseAnonKey = YOUR_REACT_NATIVE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEYexport const supabase = createClient(supabaseUrl, supabaseAnonKey, {  auth: {    storage: AsyncStorage,    autoRefreshToken: true,    persistSession: true,    detectSessionInUrl: false,  },})

Set up a login component

Let's set up a React Native component to manage logins and sign ups. Users would be able to sign in with their email and password.

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import React, { useState } from 'react'import { Alert, StyleSheet, View, AppState } from 'react-native'import { supabase } from '../lib/supabase'import { Button, Input } from '@rneui/themed'// Tells Supabase Auth to continuously refresh the session automatically if// the app is in the foreground. When this is added, you will continue to receive// `onAuthStateChange` events with the `TOKEN_REFRESHED` or `SIGNED_OUT` event// if the user's session is terminated. This should only be registered once.AppState.addEventListener('change', (state) => {  if (state === 'active') {    supabase.auth.startAutoRefresh()  } else {    supabase.auth.stopAutoRefresh()  }})export default function Auth() {  const [email, setEmail] = useState('')  const [password, setPassword] = useState('')  const [loading, setLoading] = useState(false)  async function signInWithEmail() {    setLoading(true)    const { error } = await supabase.auth.signInWithPassword({      email: email,      password: password,    })    if (error) Alert.alert(error.message)    setLoading(false)  }  async function signUpWithEmail() {    setLoading(true)    const {      data: { session },      error,    } = await supabase.auth.signUp({      email: email,      password: password,    })    if (error) Alert.alert(error.message)    if (!session) Alert.alert('Please check your inbox for email verification!')    setLoading(false)  }  return (    <View style={styles.container}>      <View style={[styles.verticallySpaced, styles.mt20]}>        <Input          label="Email"          leftIcon={{ type: 'font-awesome', name: 'envelope' }}          onChangeText={(text) => setEmail(text)}          value={email}          placeholder="email@address.com"          autoCapitalize={'none'}        />      </View>      <View style={styles.verticallySpaced}>        <Input          label="Password"          leftIcon={{ type: 'font-awesome', name: 'lock' }}          onChangeText={(text) => setPassword(text)}          value={password}          secureTextEntry={true}          placeholder="Password"          autoCapitalize={'none'}        />      </View>      <View style={[styles.verticallySpaced, styles.mt20]}>        <Button title="Sign in" disabled={loading} onPress={() => signInWithEmail()} />      </View>      <View style={styles.verticallySpaced}>        <Button title="Sign up" disabled={loading} onPress={() => signUpWithEmail()} />      </View>    </View>  )}const styles = StyleSheet.create({  container: {    marginTop: 40,    padding: 12,  },  verticallySpaced: {    paddingTop: 4,    paddingBottom: 4,    alignSelf: 'stretch',  },  mt20: {    marginTop: 20,  },})

Account page

After a user is signed in we can allow them to edit their profile details and manage their account.

Let's create a new component for that called Account.tsx.

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import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'import { supabase } from '../lib/supabase'import { StyleSheet, View, Alert } from 'react-native'import { Button, Input } from '@rneui/themed'import { Session } from '@supabase/supabase-js'export default function Account({ session }: { session: Session }) {  const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true)  const [username, setUsername] = useState('')  const [website, setWebsite] = useState('')  const [avatarUrl, setAvatarUrl] = useState('')  useEffect(() => {    if (session) getProfile()  }, [session])  async function getProfile() {    try {      setLoading(true)      if (!session?.user) throw new Error('No user on the session!')      const { data, error, status } = await supabase        .from('profiles')        .select(`username, website, avatar_url`)        .eq('id', session?.user.id)        .single()      if (error && status !== 406) {        throw error      }      if (data) {        setUsername(data.username)        setWebsite(data.website)        setAvatarUrl(data.avatar_url)      }    } catch (error) {      if (error instanceof Error) {        Alert.alert(error.message)      }    } finally {      setLoading(false)    }  }  async function updateProfile({    username,    website,    avatar_url,  }: {    username: string    website: string    avatar_url: string  }) {    try {      setLoading(true)      if (!session?.user) throw new Error('No user on the session!')      const updates = {        id: session?.user.id,        username,        website,        avatar_url,        updated_at: new Date(),      }      const { error } = await supabase.from('profiles').upsert(updates)      if (error) {        throw error      }    } catch (error) {      if (error instanceof Error) {        Alert.alert(error.message)      }    } finally {      setLoading(false)    }  }  return (    <View style={styles.container}>      <View style={[styles.verticallySpaced, styles.mt20]}>        <Input label="Email" value={session?.user?.email} disabled />      </View>      <View style={styles.verticallySpaced}>        <Input label="Username" value={username || ''} onChangeText={(text) => setUsername(text)} />      </View>      <View style={styles.verticallySpaced}>        <Input label="Website" value={website || ''} onChangeText={(text) => setWebsite(text)} />      </View>      <View style={[styles.verticallySpaced, styles.mt20]}>        <Button          title={loading ? 'Loading ...' : 'Update'}          onPress={() => updateProfile({ username, website, avatar_url: avatarUrl })}          disabled={loading}        />      </View>      <View style={styles.verticallySpaced}>        <Button title="Sign Out" onPress={() => supabase.auth.signOut()} />      </View>    </View>  )}const styles = StyleSheet.create({  container: {    marginTop: 40,    padding: 12,  },  verticallySpaced: {    paddingTop: 4,    paddingBottom: 4,    alignSelf: 'stretch',  },  mt20: {    marginTop: 20,  },})

Launch!

Now that we have all the components in place, let's update App.tsx:

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import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'import { supabase } from './lib/supabase'import Auth from './components/Auth'import Account from './components/Account'import { View } from 'react-native'import { Session } from '@supabase/supabase-js'export default function App() {  const [session, setSession] = useState<Session | null>(null)  useEffect(() => {    supabase.auth.getSession().then(({ data: { session } }) => {      setSession(session)    })    supabase.auth.onAuthStateChange((_event, session) => {      setSession(session)    })  }, [])  return (    <View>      {session && session.user ? <Account key={session.user.id} session={session} /> : <Auth />}    </View>  )}

Once that's done, run this in a terminal window:

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npm start

And then press the appropriate key for the environment you want to test the app in and you should see the completed app.

Bonus: Profile photos

Every Supabase project is configured with Storage for managing large files like photos and videos.

Additional dependency installation

You will need an image picker that works on the environment you will build the project for, we will use expo-image-picker in this example.

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npx expo install expo-image-picker

Create an upload widget

Let's create an avatar for the user so that they can upload a profile photo. We can start by creating a new component:

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import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'import { supabase } from '../lib/supabase'import { StyleSheet, View, Alert, Image, Button } from 'react-native'import * as ImagePicker from 'expo-image-picker'interface Props {  size: number  url: string | null  onUpload: (filePath: string) => void}export default function Avatar({ url, size = 150, onUpload }: Props) {  const [uploading, setUploading] = useState(false)  const [avatarUrl, setAvatarUrl] = useState<string | null>(null)  const avatarSize = { height: size, width: size }  useEffect(() => {    if (url) downloadImage(url)  }, [url])  async function downloadImage(path: string) {    try {      const { data, error } = await supabase.storage.from('avatars').download(path)      if (error) {        throw error      }      const fr = new FileReader()      fr.readAsDataURL(data)      fr.onload = () => {        setAvatarUrl(fr.result as string)      }    } catch (error) {      if (error instanceof Error) {        console.log('Error downloading image: ', error.message)      }    }  }  async function uploadAvatar() {    try {      setUploading(true)      const result = await ImagePicker.launchImageLibraryAsync({        mediaTypes: ImagePicker.MediaTypeOptions.Images, // Restrict to only images        allowsMultipleSelection: false, // Can only select one image        allowsEditing: true, // Allows the user to crop / rotate their photo before uploading it        quality: 1,        exif: false, // We don't want nor need that data.      })      if (result.canceled || !result.assets || result.assets.length === 0) {        console.log('User cancelled image picker.')        return      }      const image = result.assets[0]      console.log('Got image', image)      if (!image.uri) {        throw new Error('No image uri!') // Realistically, this should never happen, but just in case...      }      const arraybuffer = await fetch(image.uri).then((res) => res.arrayBuffer())      const fileExt = image.uri?.split('.').pop()?.toLowerCase() ?? 'jpeg'      const path = `${Date.now()}.${fileExt}`      const { data, error: uploadError } = await supabase.storage        .from('avatars')        .upload(path, arraybuffer, {          contentType: image.mimeType ?? 'image/jpeg',        })      if (uploadError) {        throw uploadError      }      onUpload(data.path)    } catch (error) {      if (error instanceof Error) {        Alert.alert(error.message)      } else {        throw error      }    } finally {      setUploading(false)    }  }  return (    <View>      {avatarUrl ? (        <Image          source={{ uri: avatarUrl }}          accessibilityLabel="Avatar"          style={[avatarSize, styles.avatar, styles.image]}        />      ) : (        <View style={[avatarSize, styles.avatar, styles.noImage]} />      )}      <View>        <Button          title={uploading ? 'Uploading ...' : 'Upload'}          onPress={uploadAvatar}          disabled={uploading}        />      </View>    </View>  )}const styles = StyleSheet.create({  avatar: {    borderRadius: 5,    overflow: 'hidden',    maxWidth: '100%',  },  image: {    objectFit: 'cover',    paddingTop: 0,  },  noImage: {    backgroundColor: '#333',    borderWidth: 1,    borderStyle: 'solid',    borderColor: 'rgb(200, 200, 200)',    borderRadius: 5,  },})

Add the new widget

And then we can add the widget to the Account page:

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// Import the new componentimport Avatar from './Avatar'// ...return (  <View>    {/* Add to the body */}    <View>      <Avatar        size={200}        url={avatarUrl}        onUpload={(url: string) => {          setAvatarUrl(url)          updateProfile({ username, website, avatar_url: url })        }}      />    </View>    {/* ... */}  </View>)// ...

Now you will need to run the prebuild command to get the application working on your chosen platform.

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npx expo prebuild

At this stage you have a fully functional application!