NativeTabs hidden prop: no animation + no gesture tracking — request for hidesBottomBarWhenPushed equivalent

[andreavrr]

Problem

When using NativeTabs with the hidden prop to hide the tab bar on specific screens (the approach documented in the official Expo Router docs via useSegments or Context API), the result feels broken compared to native iOS behavior:

1. No animation: the tab bar disappears/appears instantly. The underlying native call in RNSTabsHostComponentView.mm is [_controller setTabBarHidden:_tabBarHidden animated:NO] — hardcoded animated:NO.

2. No gesture tracking: during an interactive swipe-back gesture, useSegments (or useFocusEffect) only updates after the gesture commits, not during it. So mid-swipe, the previous screen is visible underneath but the tab bar is hidden — it then pops in abruptly when the gesture completes. It is clearly visible and looks bad.

The result is an app that feels janky and unpolished. For any serious app that wants to hide the tab bar on a pushed screen, this is a real blocker.

Expected behavior

This is exactly what UIKit's hidesBottomBarWhenPushed = true does on UIViewController:

• Tab bar slides out in sync with the push animation
• During swipe-back gesture, the tab bar slides in proportionally with the gesture position (50% swipe = 50% visible)
• Fully native, zero jank

What I have tried

• useSegments in _layout.tsx → hides correctly on push, but the return is abrupt and mid-swipe the tab bar is invisible
• useFocusEffect + Context API → same mid-swipe issue, and on push the tab bar remains visible during the animation
• transitionStart { closing: true } event → tab bar appears at gesture start (better than after commit), but instantly and not proportionally

SwiftUI's .toolbar(.hidden, for: .tabBar) does not apply here since react-native-screens uses UITabBarController (UIKit), not SwiftUI TabView.

Request

Please expose hidesBottomBarWhenPushed in Stack.Screen options (or an equivalent), so that the tab bar hides and shows with full native animation and gesture tracking — exactly the way every native iOS app does it.

[sonu93418]

I can confirm this behavior and have run into the same limitation when building production apps with Expo Router NativeTabs.

The current hidden prop successfully hides the tab bar, but it does not replicate the native iOS experience provided by hidesBottomBarWhenPushed.

Observed issues:

• The tab bar visibility changes instantly without animation.
• Interactive swipe-back gestures are not tracked.
• The tab bar only reappears after navigation state updates, causing a noticeable visual jump.
• During a partially completed back gesture, the previous screen is visible while the tab bar remains hidden, which feels inconsistent with native UIKit navigation.

Expected behavior:

• Tab bar should animate together with the push transition.
• Interactive back gestures should progressively reveal the tab bar.
• Behavior should match UIKit's hidesBottomBarWhenPushed implementation.

This is especially important for apps that push full-screen detail views from tab-based navigation, such as:

• Food delivery apps
• Social media apps
• E-commerce apps
• Banking applications

Having an option such as:

<Stack.Screen
  options={{
    hidesBottomBarWhenPushed: true,
  }}
/>

would provide a much more native user experience and eliminate the need for workarounds based on route segments or focus events.

Thanks for opening this issue. I would also like to see support for a native implementation.