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When using NativeTabs with role="search" on iOS 26, the trigger icon is always the default magnifying glass, ignoring any custom icon settings.
This behavior limits the flexibility of the NativeTabs component. According to Apple's design philosophy, the detached tab can also serve purposes other than just search, such as adding a new item or activating a specific feature, as shown in the example below.
To enhance the functionality and provide more creative control to developers, we would like to request support for custom icons when role="search" is used.
Current behavior:
<NativeTabs.Trigger role="search">
Displays the default magnifying glass icon.
Ignores any
<Icon />
child component.
Requested behavior:
We request that NativeTabs support custom icons for the search role.
Example of requested behavior:
<NativeTabs.Trigger name="add" role="search">
<Label>Add New</Label>
<Icon sf="plus.circle.fill" />
</NativeTabs.Trigger>
In this example, the tab would be detached on the right side of the tab bar, but it would display the plus.circle.fill icon instead of the default magnifying glass. This would allow developers to use this flexible layout for various actions like "Add New," "Create," or "Filter."
Thhank you for your excellent work on supporting iOS 26 UI features in Expo. We hope you will consider this request to make the NativeTabs component even more powerful.