How to prevent pull-down-to-refresh of mobile browser

// PreventPullToRefresh.js
import React, { useEffect } from 'react';

const PreventPullToRefresh = ({ children }) => {
  useEffect(() => {
    const disablePullToRefresh = (e) => {
      // Prevent default action if the touch move is vertical
      if (e.touches.length > 1 || e.touches[0].clientY > 0) {
        e.preventDefault();
      }
    };

    // Add event listener to the document
    document.addEventListener("touchmove", disablePullToRefresh, { passive: false });

    // Clean up the event listener on unmount
    return () => {
      document.removeEventListener("touchmove", disablePullToRefresh);
    };
  }, []);

  return (
    <div style={{ touchAction: 'pan-x' }}>
      {children}
    </div>
  );
};

export default PreventPullToRefresh;

// App.js
import React from 'react';
import PreventPullToRefresh from './PreventPullToRefresh'; // Adjust import path as necessary

const App = () => {
  return (
    <PreventPullToRefresh>
      <div>
        {/* Rest of the app components */}
        <h1>Welcome to My App</h1>
        <p>This content is within a component that disables the pull-to-refresh feature.</p>
      </div>
    </PreventPullToRefresh>
  );
};

export default App;

Disabling Pull-to-Refresh in Android Chrome

The Problem:

When developing web applications, especially for mobile, you may encounter an unintended behavior in Android's Chrome browser: the pull-to-refresh feature. This feature, while useful in general browsing, can interfere with the functionality of web apps, particularly those with vertical scrolling or drag-and-drop interfaces. When a user scrolls down rapidly, the page can unintentionally refresh, disrupting the user experience.

Assumptions:

To solve this issue, the following assumptions are made:

1. The application uses React.
2. You want to prevent the pull-to-refresh action globally or within specific components.
3. The solution should be clean and not interfere with the regular functioning of other touch events.

Solution:

To address this issue, I referred to a Stack Overflow discussion. The accepted answer suggests disabling the pull-to-refresh feature by listening to the touchmove event and preventing the default action if a vertical scroll is detected.

In the provided solution, we create a React component named PreventPullToRefresh that applies this behavior. By wrapping your application or specific parts of it with this component, you effectively disable the pull-to-refresh feature in those areas.

This approach ensures that your app maintains its intended behavior without unwanted page refreshes, providing a smoother user experience on Android devices.

Code Explanation:

• The useEffect hook is used to add an event listener to the document for the touchmove event.
• Inside the event handler, we check if the touch movement is vertical (clientY > 0). If it is, we prevent the default action, which in this case would be refreshing the page.
• The touchAction: 'pan-x' style is applied to ensure that horizontal scrolling is still allowed.

This simple yet effective solution can be implemented in any React application where you need to prevent the pull-to-refresh behavior.