react-native-dictionary-ios

Access the native iOS dictionary in React Native.

Super lightweight - Minimal footprint with just a thin wrapper around iOS native APIs.

iOS only - No Android implementation included, won't affect Android builds.

Bare React Native only - Does not work with Expo managed workflow. You need access to native iOS code.

Demo

Important Notes

This library provides access to the native iOS dictionary UI:

• No custom styling - The dictionary appears as a native iOS modal that cannot be styled or customized
• Theme follows device - The dictionary theme (light/dark) automatically matches the device's system theme and cannot be changed programmatically
• No data returned - The dictionary shows definitions to the user but does not return the actual definition text to your app
• Read-only interface - This is purely for displaying definitions to users, not for extracting dictionary data

Installation

# npm
npm install react-native-dictionary-ios

# yarn
yarn add react-native-dictionary-ios

# Install iOS dependencies
cd ios && pod install

Usage

// Default import
import Dictionary from 'react-native-dictionary-ios';

await Dictionary.showDefinition('example');
await Dictionary.checkIfTermExists('hello');
await Dictionary.isDictionaryAvailable();

// Named imports
import { showDefinition, checkIfTermExists, isDictionaryAvailable } from 'react-native-dictionary-ios';

await showDefinition('example');
const result = await checkIfTermExists('hello');
const available = await isDictionaryAvailable();

// Import types
import type { DictionaryResult, TermExistsResult } from 'react-native-dictionary-ios';

API

Method	Returns	Description
showDefinition(term: string)	Promise<{success: boolean, term: string}>	Shows the iOS dictionary view for a word
checkIfTermExists(term: string)	Promise<{exists: boolean, term: string}>	Checks if a word has a definition
isDictionaryAvailable()	Promise<boolean>	Checks if dictionary service is available

Requirements

• iOS 11.0+
• React Native 0.60+

License

MIT