androidNavigationBar not working after create build APK

[DavidFilipeG]

Summary

I want to create an app where the user cannot exit through the andriod navigation bar, I am adding the androidNavigationBar to the app.json file and saying that visible = 'immersive'. When I'm developing using npx expo start I get what I want but when I create an apk the navigation bar is always visible

What platform(s) does this occur on?

Android

SDK Version

50.0.17

Environment

expo-env-info 1.2.0 environment info:
System:
OS: Windows 11 10.0.22631
Binaries:
Node: 20.9.0 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE
npm: 10.2.4 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.CMD
npmPackages:
expo: ^50.0.17 => 50.0.17
react: 18.2.0 => 18.2.0
react-native: 0.73.2 => 0.73.2
Expo Workflow: bare

Minimal reproducible example

supposedly the android navigation bar shouldn't be showing

[alanjhughes]

Hi @DavidFilipeG - The android navigation bar cannot be completely hidden and you cannot stop the user from using it to leave the app. The immersive setting will hide the bar but when when the user interacts with the screen, it will return. It's intended use it if you have some content like a video where you want to remove everything from the screen but that element. It is not a way to prevent the user from using the nav bar.

[DavidFilipeG]

Hi @alanjhughes I needed my app to always have the navigationbar hidden. How can I do it?