Profile photos, document uploads, and attachments all start with picking an image. react-native-image-picker gives you a simple API to launch the camera or the photo library and get back a usable file — once permissions and result handling are set up correctly.
Key takeaways
- Offer both camera capture and library selection, gated by the right permissions.
- Handle the cancelled and error cases explicitly, not just success.
- Compress and resize before upload to save bandwidth and server storage.
Camera vs library
The library exposes two entry points: launch the camera to capture a new photo, or open the photo library to pick existing ones. A common pattern is an action sheet that offers both, since users expect the choice. Each path needs its own permission — camera access versus photo-library access.
Handling the result
The picker returns an object that may indicate the user cancelled, an error occurred, or assets were selected. Handle all three: cancellation is normal and should be silent, errors deserve a message, and on success you get URIs plus metadata to preview or upload.
Compress before upload
Phone cameras produce large files. Resize and compress the image before sending it to your server — it speeds up uploads, reduces storage cost, and improves the perceived performance of the whole flow.