Safeguarding Your React Native App: Protecting Screens for Unauthorized Users

Source: Dev.to

Developing a mobile application often involves managing user authentication and ensuring that sensitive parts of your app are only accessible to logged‑in users. In this post we’ll dive into how to protect your screens in a React Native application, preventing unauthorized access, as demonstrated in the video How to Protect Your Screen in React Native.

My application, Dowell – Do Everything Well, is a habit tracker. A key requirement was to ensure that users who are not logged in cannot access the core functionalities within the app’s protected sections.

The Core Concept: Authorization Management

The fundamental idea is to manage user sessions and authentication state. If a user is not authenticated, they should be redirected to a login screen; if they are logged in, they can access the main application.

Step 1: The Root Layout and Session Provider

The main logic resides in the layout file. Here you prepare your providers. In my setup I use a QueryClientProvider for data fetching, but the most crucial part for screen protection is creating a Session Provider.

Step 2: Session Provider for State Management

SessionProvider acts as a state‑management system that tracks whether a user is authenticated. It typically holds a state variable such as isAuthenticated. When the user logs in, this value becomes true.

Step 3: Implementing Protected Routes within the Root Navigator

Inside the RootNavigator you use the useSession hook to access isAuthenticated. This is where the screen protection happens.

• Authenticated (isAuthenticated === true) – render the main application screens. In the video I wrap the internal screens (e.g., those in the app folder) within a stack navigator.
• Unauthenticated (isAuthenticated === false) – redirect to the sign‑in page.

The key is conditional rendering of navigation stacks. You can wrap your screens with a “protected stack” and check isAuthenticated:

// Example (TypeScript/React Native)
import { useSession } from '@/hooks/useSession';
import { createStackNavigator } from '@react-navigation/stack';
import SignInScreen from '@/screens/SignInScreen';
import HomeScreen from '@/screens/HomeScreen';

const Stack = createStackNavigator();

export default function RootNavigator() {
  const { isAuthenticated } = useSession();

  return (
    <>
      {isAuthenticated ? (
        // Protected screens
        <>
          {/* other protected screens */}
        </>
      ) : (
        // Public screens
        <>
          <Stack.Screen name="SignIn" component={SignInScreen} />
        </>
      )}
    </>
  );
}

Demonstration of the Workflow

When an unauthorized user opens the app, they are immediately redirected to the sign‑in page. After a successful login, they are taken to the main application screens. The app also checks the authentication status on launch; if the user is already authenticated, they are sent straight to the main screens, otherwise they return to the sign‑in page.

Conclusion

Implementing screen protection is essential for building secure and user‑friendly React Native applications. By leveraging a SessionProvider and conditionally rendering navigation stacks based on the authentication state, you ensure that only authorized users can access protected parts of your app. This simple yet powerful logic helps maintain the integrity and security of your mobile app.

You can explore the application here: DOWELL