Add useAppState() hook for tracking app foreground/background state

Add a new React hook that lets components subscribe to app state
changes using the modern useSyncExternalStore pattern, matching
the existing useColorScheme and useWindowDimensions hooks.

This solves a common pain point where developers must manually
manage AppState event listeners and local state to know if the
app is in foreground or background. Common use cases include:
- Refreshing data when the app returns to foreground
- Pausing media playback when backgrounded
- Saving drafts when the user leaves
- Disabling timers in background

Usage:
  import { useAppState } from 'react-native';

  function MyComponent() {
    const appState = useAppState();
    // Returns: 'active' | 'background' | 'inactive' | 'unknown'
  }

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: nedunchezhiyan-fin

packages/jest-preset/jest/mocks/useAppState.js

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ *
+ * @flow strict-local
+ * @format
+ */
+
+import type {AppStateStatus} from 'react-native/Libraries/AppState/AppState';
+
+const useAppState = jest.fn(() => 'active') as JestMockFn<
+  [],
+  AppStateStatus,
+>;
+
+export default useAppState;

packages/jest-preset/jest/setup.js

@@ -91,6 +91,11 @@ mock(
   // $FlowFixMe[incompatible-type] - `./mocks/AppState` is incomplete.
   'm#./mocks/AppState',
 );
+mock(
+  'm#react-native/Libraries/AppState/useAppState',
+  // $FlowFixMe[react-rule-hook-incompatible]
+  'm#./mocks/useAppState',
+);
 mock(
   'm#react-native/Libraries/BatchedBridge/NativeModules',
   'm#./mocks/NativeModules',

packages/react-native/Libraries/AppState/__tests__/useAppState-test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ *
+ * @flow strict-local
+ * @format
+ */
+
+import useAppState from '../useAppState';
+
+describe('useAppState', () => {
+  it('should return a mocked active state by default', () => {
+    expect(jest.isMockFunction(useAppState)).toBe(true);
+    // $FlowFixMe[react-rule-hook]
+    expect(useAppState()).toBe('active');
+  });
+
+  it('should have console.error when not using mock', () => {
+    const useAppStateActual = jest.requireActual<{
+      default: typeof useAppState,
+    }>('../useAppState').default;
+    const spy = jest.spyOn(console, 'error').mockImplementationOnce(() => {
+      throw new Error('console.error() was called');
+    });
+
+    expect(() => {
+      // $FlowFixMe[react-rule-hook]
+      useAppStateActual();
+    }).toThrow();
+
+    expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.stringMatching(
+        /Invalid hook call. Hooks can only be called inside of the body of a function component./,
+      ),
+    );
+  });
+});

packages/react-native/Libraries/AppState/useAppState.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ *
+ * @format
+ */
+
+import type {AppStateStatus} from './AppState';
+
+/**
+ * `useAppState` is a React hook that returns the current app state.
+ * The component will re-render whenever the app state changes.
+ *
+ * Returns one of: 'active', 'background', 'inactive', 'unknown', or 'extension'.
+ *
+ * @see https://reactnative.dev/docs/appstate
+ */
+export default function useAppState(): AppStateStatus;

packages/react-native/Libraries/AppState/useAppState.js

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ *
+ * @flow strict-local
+ * @format
+ */
+
+'use strict';
+
+import type {AppStateStatus} from './AppState';
+
+import AppState from './AppState';
+import {useSyncExternalStore} from 'react';
+
+const subscribe = (onStoreChange: () => void) => {
+  const subscription = AppState.addEventListener('change', onStoreChange);
+  return () => subscription.remove();
+};
+
+const getSnapshot = (): AppStateStatus => {
+  return AppState.currentState ?? 'unknown';
+};
+
+/**
+ * `useAppState` is a React hook that returns the current app state.
+ *
+ * The value will be one of:
+ * - `active` - The app is running in the foreground
+ * - `background` - The app is running in the background
+ * - `inactive` - (iOS only) Transitioning between foreground and background
+ * - `unknown` - The initial state before the app state is determined
+ *
+ * The hook automatically subscribes to app state changes and re-renders the
+ * component when the state changes.
+ *
+ * Usage:
+ * ```
+ * function MyComponent() {
+ *   const appState = useAppState();
+ *
+ *   useEffect(() => {
+ *     if (appState === 'active') {
+ *       // App came to foreground - refresh data
+ *     }
+ *   }, [appState]);
+ *
+ *   return <Text>App is {appState}</Text>;
+ * }
+ * ```
+ *
+ * See https://reactnative.dev/docs/appstate
+ */
+export default function useAppState(): AppStateStatus {
+  return useSyncExternalStore(subscribe, getSnapshot);
+}

packages/react-native/index.js

@@ -375,6 +375,9 @@ module.exports = {
   get useAnimatedColor() {
     return require('./Libraries/Animated/useAnimatedColor').default;
   },
+  get useAppState() {
+    return require('./Libraries/AppState/useAppState').default;
+  },
   get useColorScheme() {
     return require('./Libraries/Utilities/useColorScheme').default;
   },

packages/react-native/index.js.flow

@@ -414,6 +414,7 @@ export type {
   EventHandlers as PressabilityEventHandlers,
 } from './Libraries/Pressability/Pressability';
 export {default as usePressability} from './Libraries/Pressability/usePressability';
+export {default as useAppState} from './Libraries/AppState/useAppState';
 export {default as useColorScheme} from './Libraries/Utilities/useColorScheme';
 export {default as useWindowDimensions} from './Libraries/Utilities/useWindowDimensions';
 export {default as UTFSequence} from './Libraries/UTFSequence';