Migrating from expo-av to expo-audio

Imports

// Before
import { Audio } from 'expo-av';

// After
import { useAudioPlayer, useAudioRecorder, RecordingPresets, AudioModule, setAudioModeAsync } from 'expo-audio';

Audio Playback

Before (expo-av)

const [sound, setSound] = useState<Audio.Sound>();

async function playSound() {
  const { sound } = await Audio.Sound.createAsync(require('./audio.mp3'));
  setSound(sound);
  await sound.playAsync();
}

useEffect(() => {
  return sound ? () => { sound.unloadAsync(); } : undefined;
}, [sound]);

After (expo-audio)

const player = useAudioPlayer(require('./audio.mp3'));

// Play
player.play();

Audio Recording

Before (expo-av)

const [recording, setRecording] = useState<Audio.Recording>();

async function startRecording() {
  await Audio.requestPermissionsAsync();
  await Audio.setAudioModeAsync({ allowsRecordingIOS: true, playsInSilentModeIOS: true });
  const { recording } = await Audio.Recording.createAsync(Audio.RecordingOptionsPresets.HIGH_QUALITY);
  setRecording(recording);
}

async function stopRecording() {
  await recording?.stopAndUnloadAsync();
  const uri = recording?.getURI();
}

After (expo-audio)

const recorder = useAudioRecorder(RecordingPresets.HIGH_QUALITY);

async function startRecording() {
  await AudioModule.requestRecordingPermissionsAsync();
  await recorder.prepareToRecordAsync();
  recorder.record();
}

async function stopRecording() {
  await recorder.stop();
  const uri = recorder.uri;
}

Audio Mode

Before (expo-av)

await Audio.setAudioModeAsync({
  allowsRecordingIOS: true,
  playsInSilentModeIOS: true,
  staysActiveInBackground: true,
  interruptionModeIOS: InterruptionModeIOS.DoNotMix,
});

After (expo-audio)

await setAudioModeAsync({
  playsInSilentMode: true,
  shouldPlayInBackground: true,
  interruptionMode: 'doNotMix',
});

API Mapping

Key Differences

• No auto-reset on finish: After play() completes, the player stays paused at the end. To replay, call player.seekTo(0) then play()
• Time in seconds: expo-audio uses seconds, not milliseconds (matching web standards)
• Immediate loading: Audio loads immediately when the hook mounts—no explicit preloading needed
• Automatic cleanup: No need to call unloadAsync(), hooks handle resource cleanup on unmount
• Multiple players: Create multiple useAudioPlayer instances and store them—all load immediately
• Direct property access: Set volume, rate, loop directly on the player object (player.volume = 0.5)

API Reference

https://docs.expo.dev/versions/latest/sdk/audio/