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 Database - a Postgres database for storing your user data and Row Level Security so data is protected and users can only access their own information.
Supabase Auth - users log in through magic links sent to their email (without having to set up passwords).
Supabase Storage - users can upload a profile photo.

Supabase User Management example

If you get stuck while working through this guide, refer to the full example on GitHub.

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

Create a new project in the Supabase Dashboard.
Enter your project details.
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.

Go to the SQL Editor page in the Dashboard.
Click User Management Starter.
Click Run.

You can easily pull the database schema down to your local project by running the db pull command. Read the local development docs for detailed instructions.

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.

Go to the API Settings page in the Dashboard.
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:

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

cd expo-user-management

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

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.

lib/supabase.ts

import AsyncStorage from '@react-native-async-storage/async-storage'
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'

const supabaseUrl = YOUR_REACT_NATIVE_SUPABASE_URL
const supabaseAnonKey = YOUR_REACT_NATIVE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY

export const supabase = createClient(supabaseUrl, supabaseAnonKey, {
  auth: {
    storage: AsyncStorage,
    autoRefreshToken: true,
    persistSession: true,
    detectSessionInUrl: false,
  },
})

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.

components/Auth.tsx

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,
  },
})

By default Supabase Auth requires email verification before a session is created for the users. To support email verification you need to implement deep link handling!

While testing, you can disable email confirmation in your project's email auth provider settings.

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.

components/Account.tsx

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:

App.tsx

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:

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.

npx expo install expo-image-picker

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

components/Avatar.tsx

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,
  },
})

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

components/Account.tsx

// Import the new component
import 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.

npx expo prebuild

At this stage you have a fully functional application!

Build a User Management App with Expo React Native

Project setup

Create a project

Set up the database schema

Get the API Keys

Building the app

Initialize a React Native app

Account page

Launch!

Bonus: Profile photos

Additional dependency installation

Create an upload widget

Add the new widget

Is this helpful?

Build a User Management App with Expo React Native

Project setup#

Create a project#

Set up the database schema#

Get the API Keys#

Building the app#

Initialize a React Native app#

Set up a login component#

Account page#

Launch!#

Bonus: Profile photos#

Additional dependency installation#

Create an upload widget#

Add the new widget#

Is this helpful?

Project setup

Create a project

Set up the database schema

Get the API Keys

Building the app

Initialize a React Native app

Set up a login component

Account page

Launch!

Bonus: Profile photos

Additional dependency installation

Create an upload widget

Add the new widget