Updating Navigation Bar Titles in Expo with Tab Navigation

When developing apps with the Expo framework and using navigation with tabs, developers often need the flexibility to update the navigation bar's title based on the active tab or the state of the application. This article outlines the process of dynamically changing the navigation bar title when using Expo and React Navigation with tab navigators.

Setting Up Your Environment

Before you start, make sure you have Expo CLI installed. If not, you can install it using npm:

npm install -g expo-cli

Create a new Expo project by running:

expo init MyTabNavigatorApp

Navigate into your project folder and start the development server:

cd MyTabNavigatorApp
expo start

Installing React Navigation

To handle navigation in the Expo app, install React Navigation and its dependencies:

npm install @react-navigation/native @react-navigation/bottom-tabs react-native-screens react-native-safe-area-context react-native-gesture-handler

Ensure you wrap your app’s root component with the <NavigationContainer> provided by @react-navigation/native.

Configuring Tab Navigation

Create a bottom tab navigator by importing createBottomTabNavigator from @react-navigation/bottom-tabs and setting up your tabs:

import { createBottomTabNavigator } from '@react-navigation/bottom-tabs';

const Tab = createBottomTabNavigator();

function MyTabs() {
  return (
    <Tab.Navigator>
      <Tab.Screen name="Home" component={HomeScreen} />
      <Tab.Screen name="Settings" component={SettingsScreen} />
    </Tab.Navigator>
  );
}

Changing the Navigation Bar Title Dynamically

To change the navigation bar title dynamically based on the active tab, use the navigation.setOptions method within your screen components:

function HomeScreen({ navigation }) {
  navigation.setOptions({ title: 'Custom Home Title' });
  return <View><Text>Home Screen</Text></View>;
}

function SettingsScreen({ navigation }) {
  navigation.setOptions({ title: 'Custom Settings Title' });
  return <View><Text>Settings Screen</Text></View>;
}

This approach allows you to customize the navigation bar title based on the specific tab or screen, enhancing the user interface and making your application more intuitive and accessible.