New navigation primitive: UISplitViewController

[okwasniewski]

Hey!

I propose a new navigator type for @react-navigation/native and react-native-screens that backs it up. The idea is to have a Split-view navigation for larger devices that has a list on the left side and a detail view on right.

This design would benefit apps written for iPad and visionOS and also for macOS through MacCatalyst.

The native settings app is a perfect representation of this pattern:

Screenshots

Resources

• https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uisplitviewcontroller
• https://developer.apple.com/tutorials/mac-catalyst/displaying-the-sidebar

Let me know what do you think 👍🏻

[tboba]

Hey @okwasniewski, thanks for starting this discussion!
I think that it's a very very great idea to have that in screens! There are already plans to support UISplitViewController. We have that point in our agenda 💪

[elsa17z]

May I ask what is the roadmap on this or is this still too early to say? Thanks a lot for your work!

[tboba]

@elsa17z Hi hi, sorry for late response on this. Unfortunately I'm not an active developer of screens right now, however this feature is still waiting on PR #2171 - right now, we've got prepared a PoC of working split screen support, however it's still not ready to use in RN apps. We'll keep you updated if something will change in this topic 🙏

[erickreutz]

Did this ever land anywhere?

[tboba]

Hi @erickreutz, some time ago I created a PR, dedicated for adding UISplitViewController to screens -#2171. Unfortunately, I'm not developing screens actively for now, but I believe this feature is still on screens roadmap!