react-native-bottom-tabs Liquid Glass minimizeBehavior with LegendList, FlashList, etc.

_readme.md

demo.mp4

iOS 26 Liquid Glass Tab Bar Minimize on Scroll in React Native

Liquid Glass tab bars can minimize into a compact floating pill when you scroll. SwiftUI makes this easy with .tabBarMinimizeBehavior(.onScrollDown) but if you're using React Native with react-native-bottom-tabs, it doesn't work virtualized list libraries like LegendList or FlashList. Here is a simple patch to get it working.

Usage

Apply the patch with your package manager (bun, pnpm, yarn, etc.) and make a new native build, then pass minimizeBehavior to your tab navigator:

<Tabs minimizeBehavior="onScrollDown">
  <Tabs.Screen name="home" />
  <Tabs.Screen name="settings" />
</Tabs>

Options: "automatic", "onScrollDown", "onScrollUp", "never".

Works with ScrollView, FlatList, SectionList, FlashList, LegendList, or any component backed by UIScrollView.

react-native-bottom-tabs@1.1.0.patch

diff --git a/ios/RepresentableView.swift b/ios/RepresentableView.swift
index 09adaca401c716dd6c47590ffc7fe5646de2e50b..ff10f3977845832a3f955c1e8d93ef61a034c3b1 100644
--- a/ios/RepresentableView.swift
+++ b/ios/RepresentableView.swift
@@ -30,3 +30,56 @@ struct RepresentableView: PlatformViewRepresentable {
 
 #endif
 }
+
+#if !os(macOS)
+extension UIView {
+  /// BFS search for the first UIScrollView descendant
+  func findDescendantScrollView() -> UIScrollView? {
+    var queue: [UIView] = subviews.reversed()
+    while !queue.isEmpty {
+      let view = queue.removeLast()
+      if let scrollView = view as? UIScrollView {
+        return scrollView
+      }
+      queue.insert(contentsOf: view.subviews, at: 0)
+    }
+    return nil
+  }
+}
+
+/// Swizzles UIViewController.contentScrollView(for:) so UIKit can discover
+/// React Native UIScrollView descendants for tab bar minimize behavior.
+@available(iOS 15.0, *)
+enum ScrollViewBridging {
+  private static var installed = false
+
+  static func install() {
+    guard !installed else { return }
+    installed = true
+
+    let original = class_getInstanceMethod(
+      UIViewController.self,
+      #selector(UIViewController.contentScrollView(for:))
+    )
+    let swizzled = class_getInstanceMethod(
+      UIViewController.self,
+      #selector(UIViewController.rntabs_contentScrollView(for:))
+    )
+    if let original, let swizzled {
+      method_exchangeImplementations(original, swizzled)
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+@available(iOS 15.0, *)
+extension UIViewController {
+  @objc func rntabs_contentScrollView(for edge: NSDirectionalRectEdge) -> UIScrollView? {
+    // Call original (swizzled) implementation first
+    if let original = rntabs_contentScrollView(for: edge) {
+      return original
+    }
+    // Fall back to searching the view hierarchy for a RN scroll view
+    return view.findDescendantScrollView()
+  }
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/ios/TabViewImpl.swift b/ios/TabViewImpl.swift
index 72938be90540ea3a483d7db9a80fb74c04d31272..376756df1185fed074ac2db5539e93050e24cf95 100644
--- a/ios/TabViewImpl.swift
+++ b/ios/TabViewImpl.swift
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@ struct TabViewImpl: View {
 #if !os(macOS)
         tabController.view.backgroundColor = .clear
         tabController.viewControllers?.forEach { $0.view.backgroundColor = .clear }
+        // Swizzle contentScrollView(for:) so UIKit can find RN scroll views for tab bar minimize
+        if #available(iOS 15.0, *) {
+          ScrollViewBridging.install()
+        }
 #endif
         #if os(macOS)
           tabBar = tabController