React Native Shadow Generator
Generate React Native shadow style properties to mimic CSS box-shadow
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About React Native Shadow Generator
React Native Shadow Generator - Get Platform-Perfect Shadow Styles
Shadows in React Native are notoriously fiddly. Unlike CSS where a single box-shadow property handles everything, React Native splits shadow configuration across multiple platform-specific properties - and iOS and Android handle them completely differently. The React Native shadow generator gives you a visual interface to design your shadow, then outputs the correct style properties for both platforms, ready to paste into your component code.
Why React Native Shadows Are Painful
On iOS, React Native shadows use four properties: shadowColor, shadowOffset (with width and height), shadowOpacity, and shadowRadius. These map directly to Core Animation's shadow system and produce smooth, customisable shadows that look great. Getting the values right, however, involves juggling four interconnected properties and reloading your simulator repeatedly.
On Android, the situation is different. React Native uses the elevation property, which maps to Android's Material Design elevation system. Elevation is a single number that controls both the shadow's size and its apparent depth. You don't get independent control over offset, blur, spread, or colour - the system renders the shadow based purely on the elevation value following Material Design guidelines.
This means achieving consistent-looking shadows across both platforms requires maintaining two different sets of style properties and testing on both. The React Native shadow generator handles this dual-platform reality, generating a style object that includes both the iOS shadow properties and the Android elevation value, matched to produce the closest visual equivalence across platforms.
What the Generator Lets You Control
The visual interface provides real-time control over every shadow parameter:
Shadow colour - iOS supports any colour for shadows. The generator lets you pick the colour and opacity independently. On Android, elevation shadows are always a system-defined grey, but setting the shadow colour is still useful for the iOS output.
Shadow offset - the horizontal and vertical displacement of the shadow relative to the element. Positive X shifts right, positive Y shifts down. This creates the directional shadow effect that implies a light source position.
Shadow opacity - controls how dark or subtle the shadow appears on iOS. A value of 0.1 gives a barely visible shadow; 0.8 gives a heavy, dramatic one. Combined with colour, this gives you fine control over the shadow's visual weight.
Shadow radius - the blur radius on iOS. A radius of 0 produces a hard-edged shadow; higher values create a softer, more diffused shadow. This is often the most important parameter for achieving a modern, elevated-card look.
Elevation - the Android-specific depth value. Higher elevation creates a larger, more diffused shadow. Common values range from 1-2 for subtle depth to 8-12 for prominently elevated cards and floating action buttons. The generator maps your iOS shadow settings to an appropriate elevation value.
Common Shadow Patterns in Mobile Apps
Card shadows are the most common use case. Modern mobile apps are built with cards - content containers that float above the background with a subtle shadow indicating depth. A typical card shadow uses a light opacity (0.1-0.15), small vertical offset (2-4), and moderate blur radius (6-10), with an elevation of 3-5 on Android.
Navigation bar shadows appear along the bottom edge of top navigation bars, creating a subtle separation from the content below. These use a zero horizontal offset, small vertical offset, and very low opacity.
Floating action button shadows need more prominent depth to indicate that the button floats above all other content. Higher elevation (6-12), larger blur radius, and moderate opacity create the expected Material Design floating effect.
Bottom sheet shadows appear along the top edge of slide-up panels, using a negative vertical offset to cast the shadow upward.
Copy-Paste Ready Output
The React Native shadow generator outputs a complete StyleSheet-compatible object that you can paste directly into your component. The output includes platform-specific properties wrapped in Platform.select() or simply listed together (since iOS ignores the elevation property and Android ignores the shadow* properties, they coexist safely in a single style object).
No Installation, No Dependencies
This tool runs in your browser - no npm packages, no Expo snack, no simulator required. Adjust the visual controls, see the shadow preview update in real time, and copy the generated styles into your React Native project. For mobile developers who are tired of the guess-and-reload cycle of shadow styling, this React Native shadow generator turns a frustrating task into a quick, visual process.