React Native Is Keyboard Connected

Demo of a React Native app reacting to a physical keyboard connecting and disconnecting

Native-first React Native module that reports whether a physical (hardware) keyboard is connected, and emits an event whenever that connection state changes — on iOS and Android.

🔌 Connection status — one-shot isKeyboardConnected() query
📡 Live updates — subscribe to connect / disconnect events
⚛️ Hook — useIsKeyboardConnected() for drop-in React state
⚡ New Architecture · Old Architecture · Bridgeless

Tip

Need more than connection status? This module is also bundled — alongside screen-reader focus order, physical-keyboard support, and iOS accessibility containers — into the all-in-one react-native-a11y toolkit. Install the focused package for just this capability, or react-native-a11y for the complete set.

Installation

yarn add react-native-is-keyboard-connected
cd ios && pod install

That's it — on iOS the GameController framework is linked automatically via the podspec. No manual "Link Binary With Libraries" step is required.

Why GameController?

GameController is the only App Store–safe way to obtain hardware keyboard connection status (GCKeyboard, iOS 14+). Other approaches are workarounds that risk rejection during App Store review.

Usage

Hardware keyboard

Backed by the native module (GameController on iOS, Configuration on Android).

import {
  isKeyboardConnected,
  keyboardStatusListener,
  useIsKeyboardConnected,
  useIsKeyboardConnectedRef,
} from 'react-native-is-keyboard-connected';

// Hook — re-renders when a keyboard connects or disconnects
const connected = useIsKeyboardConnected();

// Ref hook — same live value without re-rendering (read `ref.current` in callbacks)
const connectedRef = useIsKeyboardConnectedRef();

// Or drive it yourself:
// one-shot query
isKeyboardConnected().then((isConnected) => setResult(isConnected));

// subscribe to changes — returns an unsubscribe function
const removeListener = keyboardStatusListener((e) => setResult(e.status));

Screen reader

Note: These helpers only wrap React Native's default AccessibilityInfo API — no native module and no extra linking. They're syntax sugar that mirrors the keyboard API (same { status } listener payload) so both can be used the same way.

import {
  isScreenReaderEnabled,
  screenReaderStatusListener,
  useIsScreenReaderEnabled,
  useIsScreenReaderEnabledRef,
} from 'react-native-is-keyboard-connected';

// Hook — re-renders when VoiceOver / TalkBack is toggled
const enabled = useIsScreenReaderEnabled();

// Ref hook — same live value without re-rendering
const enabledRef = useIsScreenReaderEnabledRef();

// Or drive it yourself:
isScreenReaderEnabled().then((isEnabled) => setResult(isEnabled));

const removeListener = screenReaderStatusListener((e) => setResult(e.status));

API

Hardware keyboard (native module)

Export	Purpose
`useIsKeyboardConnected()`	Hook returning the current connection state, updated on change.
`useIsKeyboardConnectedRef()`	Ref variant — `.current` holds the latest state without re-rendering.
`isKeyboardConnected()`	`Promise<boolean>` — one-shot query of the current state.
`keyboardStatusListener(cb)`	Subscribe to `{ status: boolean }` change events; returns an unsubscribe function.

Screen reader (wraps RN `AccessibilityInfo`)

Export	Purpose
`useIsScreenReaderEnabled()`	Hook returning whether a screen reader is enabled, updated on change.
`useIsScreenReaderEnabledRef()`	Ref variant — `.current` holds the latest state without re-rendering.
`isScreenReaderEnabled()`	`Promise<boolean>` — one-shot query of the current state.
`screenReaderStatusListener(cb)`	Subscribe to `{ status: boolean }` change events; returns an unsubscribe function.

Architecture support

Capability	Supported
New Architecture (Fabric / Turbo Modules)	✅
Old Architecture (Bridge)	✅
Bridgeless mode	✅

Migrating from 1.0.0

1.1.0 is backward compatible — no breaking changes. isKeyboardConnected, keyboardStatusListener, and useIsKeyboardConnected keep the same signatures, so existing code needs no changes.

New in 1.1.0 (all additive):

useIsKeyboardConnectedRef — ref variant of useIsKeyboardConnected.
isScreenReaderEnabled / screenReaderStatusListener / useIsScreenReaderEnabled / useIsScreenReaderEnabledRef — screen-reader helpers over RN's AccessibilityInfo (see the note above).

Contributing

See the contributing guide to learn how to contribute to the repository and the development workflow.

License

MIT

Made with create-react-native-library

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