Mastering iOS Context Menus & Link Previews: React Native & Expo Router

When building a polished iOS application, micro-interactions matter. One of the most satisfying native interactions on iOS is the Context Menu with Link Preview —the smooth animation when you long-press a card, the background blurs, and a mini preview of the destination screen appears along with contextual actions. Implementing this behavior in React Native has historically been complicated, relying on brittle third-party libraries or custom native modules. However, with Expo Router , this native iOS interaction can now be implemented cleanly and declaratively. 1. The Goal: A Reusable <Preview /> Wrapper Expo Router provides built-in components like <Link.Preview> , <Link.Menu> , and <Link.MenuAction> . However, using them directly everywhere quickly becomes repetitive—especially when dealing with dynamic or asynchronous menu items. Instead, we created a single reusable abstraction: <Preview /> . This wrapper handles: Routing logic Preview rendering Async menu item resolution Nested su