The Best React Native Liquid Glass & Glassmorphism Libraries in 2026 (Compared)

Apple's Liquid Glass (iOS 26) made translucent, refractive glass the default look for modern apps — and every React Native developer now wants it. The catch: most "glass" in React Native is really just blur, and the libraries that render real Liquid Glass are iOS-only, leaving Android out. Here's an honest, hands-on comparison of the options in 2026, including the one that does Android too.

Quick answer: If you only need a blurred backdrop on both platforms, use expo-blur. If you're iOS-only and want Apple's native Liquid Glass, use expo-glass-effect or @callstack/liquid-glass. If you want real Liquid Glass on iOS and a matching refractive glass effect on Android, react-native-liquid-glassmorphism is currently the only option — it renders native UIGlassEffect on iOS 26 and a real-time AGSL refraction shader on Android.

TL;DR

	expo-blur	@react-native-community/blur	expo-glass-effect	@callstack/liquid-glass	react-native-liquid-glassmorphism
Real Liquid Glass	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Works on Android	✅ (blur only)	✅ (blur only)	❌ iOS-only	❌ iOS-only	✅ AGSL shader
Refraction (not just blur)	❌	❌	✅ (iOS, OS-rendered)	✅ (iOS, OS-rendered)	✅ both platforms
Custom shapes	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Best for	Simple backdrop blur, both platforms	Bare-workflow blur	iOS-only apps, least code	iOS-only, native wrapper	Real glass on iOS and Android

Notice the Works on Android row: every other option gives Android either a plain blur or nothing at all. As of 2026, react-native-liquid-glassmorphism is the only React Native library that renders real glass optics — refraction, not blur — on Android. That single difference is what this comparison mostly comes down to.

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What to look for in a React Native glass library

1. Real glass vs. blur — does it refract the backdrop (bend and magnify it through a glass surface), or just blur it? Real Liquid Glass has edge lensing, a Fresnel rim, and chromatic dispersion; a blur view has none of that.
2. Android — Apple's Liquid Glass is iOS-only. Does the library give you anything comparable on Android, or does Android fall back to a flat blur (or nothing)?
3. Interactivity — does the glass react to touch and device tilt with a moving specular highlight, like the real thing?
4. Shapes — can the glass be a circle, a squircle, or a notched tab-bar silhouette, or is it always a rectangle?
5. Fallbacks — does it degrade cleanly on iOS < 26 and older Android, or break?

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1. expo-blur

The default for a quick blurred backdrop in Expo apps. Cross-platform, well-supported, trivial to use. But it's blur only — no refraction, no iOS-26 glass material, no interactivity. Great for a frosted nav bar; not a Liquid Glass look.

2. @react-native-community/blur

The long-standing bare-workflow blur view. Same story as expo-blur: solid blur, no glass optics.

3. expo-glass-effect / @callstack/liquid-glass

These wrap Apple's native iOS 26 Liquid Glass material and look fantastic — because it's the real OS effect. The limitation is fundamental: iOS 26 only. On Android (and older iOS) both simply fall back to a plain, opaque View — there's no glass. Perfect if your app is iOS-only.

4. react-native-liquid-glassmorphism — the only one that does Android

Built specifically for the gap: real Liquid Glass on both platforms from one component. Your Android users are probably half your user base or more — with every other library on this list, they get a flat blur at best while your iOS users get glass.

• iOS 26 — renders Apple's native UIGlassEffect (with a UIBlurEffect fallback below 26).
• Android — there's no system Liquid Glass, so it reproduces the optics in a real-time AGSL refractive-lens shader: it captures the backdrop each frame, blurs it, and bends it through a rounded-glass lozenge with edge refraction, chromatic dispersion, a mirrored edge reflection, a Fresnel rim, and tilt/touch specular highlights. This is the part no other RN library does.
• Interactive — a specular bloom + optical magnification under the finger, and a specular that tracks device tilt.
• Custom shapes — circle, squircle, polygon, explicit points, or an arbitrary (even concave) SVG path (a notched tab bar, for example). The glass lenses the backdrop through the silhouette.
• Degrades cleanly — Android 12 → blur + tint; below 12 → translucent tint. iOS < 26 → blur.

npm install react-native-liquid-glassmorphism

import { LiquidGlassView } from 'react-native-liquid-glassmorphism';

<LiquidGlassView variant="regular" tintColor="rgba(10,132,255,0.5)" interactive borderRadius={24}>
  <Text>Frosted glass content</Text>
</LiquidGlassView>

Trade-offs: it's a native module (needs a dev build / prebuild, not Expo Go), it's newer with a smaller community than expo-blur, and it's mobile-only (no web yet). If you only need a blur, expo-blur is simpler; if you're iOS-only, expo-glass-effect is less code.

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Which should you pick?

• Just need a blurred backdrop on both platforms? → expo-blur.
• iOS-only and want Apple's native Liquid Glass with minimal code? → expo-glass-effect / @callstack/liquid-glass.
• Want real Liquid Glass on iOS and a matching refractive glass effect on Android, with custom shapes and interactivity? → react-native-liquid-glassmorphism.

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FAQ

Does Liquid Glass work on Android?

Not natively — Liquid Glass is an Apple system material and Android has no equivalent. The only way to get the look on Android today is to reproduce the optics with a shader, which is what react-native-liquid-glassmorphism does: per-frame backdrop capture, a RenderEffect blur, and an AGSL refraction shader (Android 13+, with blur/tint fallbacks below that).

Is expo-blur the same as Liquid Glass?

No. expo-blur is a backdrop blur — it softens what's behind the view. Liquid Glass is a lens: it refracts and magnifies the backdrop at the edges, disperses color at the rim, and reacts to touch and tilt. A blur view gives you none of that.

How do I add a glassmorphism effect in React Native?

For a simple frosted look, wrap your content in expo-blur's BlurView with a translucent background color. For actual glass optics on both platforms, use LiquidGlassView from react-native-liquid-glassmorphism — one component, no per-platform code.

Does react-native-liquid-glassmorphism work in Expo Go?

No — it's a native module, so you need a development build (npx expo prebuild or EAS Build). It ships a config plugin, so setup in a managed Expo project is still one line in app.json.

What happens on older iOS and Android versions?

It degrades tier by tier instead of breaking: iOS below 26 gets UIBlurEffect; Android 12 gets blur + tint; below Android 12 gets a translucent tint with a rim outline.

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Links: Docs & guides · GitHub (source + side-by-side iOS/Android demos) · npm package — if it saves you time, a ⭐ on GitHub helps other people find it.

I built the Android renderer for this library from scratch (backdrop capture + AGSL refraction shader), so if you have questions about how any of it works — or you think I got a comparison wrong — drop a comment. I'd genuinely like to hear what glass effect you're trying to build.