How do I request permission for Android Device Location in React Native at run-time?

I solved it by changing the targetSdkVersion ( same to compileSdkVersion, in my case 23) in android/app/build.gradle.

Edit AndroidManifest.xml located in android/src/main and add the

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION"/>

next :

import { PermissionsAndroid } from 'react-native';

and then add this method:

export async function requestLocationPermission() 
{
  try {
    const granted = await PermissionsAndroid.request(
      PermissionsAndroid.PERMISSIONS.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION,
      {
        'title': 'Example App',
        'message': 'Example App access to your location '
      }
    )
    if (granted === PermissionsAndroid.RESULTS.GRANTED) {
      console.log("You can use the location")
      alert("You can use the location");
    } else {
      console.log("location permission denied")
      alert("Location permission denied");
    }
  } catch (err) {
    console.warn(err)
  }
}

and access the method when you request the location at run-time

async componentWillMount() {
    await requestLocationPermission()
}

This did not work for me

if (granted === PermissionsAndroid.RESULTS.GRANTED) {
}

I referred to https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/permissionsandroid.html#request and check() return a boolean

const granted = await PermissionsAndroid.check( PermissionsAndroid.PERMISSIONS.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION );

if (granted) {
  console.log( "You can use the ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" )
} 
else {
  console.log( "ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permission denied" )
}

You could use the react native PermissionsAndroid to request the permission: https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/permissionsandroid.html#request

Or, an easier option will be using a library that does it for you, such as https://github.com/yonahforst/react-native-permissions