How to create Like Button Using React JS ?

Last Updated : 28 Apr, 2025

This is a social media world and the like button is one of the main components of it. From social media accounts to shopping platforms like buttons are everywhere.

In this tutorial, we'll explore how to create a dynamic button in a React application. The button will change its appearance based on different states, including default, hover, and liked. Additionally, we'll incorporate asynchronous handling for API calls when the button is clicked.

Preview of final output: Let us have a look at how the final output will look like.

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Prerequisites

Approach to create Like button:

The task is to design a like button with the following states:

Default State: The button appears in a default state.
Hover State: When hovered, the button turns red.
Liked State: After clicking, the button transitions to a loading state, indicating that an API call is in progress. The API can either succeed or fail, affecting the final state of the button.

Steps to Create the Project

Step 1: Set Up Your React App with Vite

npm create vite@latest

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Step 2: Navigate to the Project Directory

cd like-button

Step 3: Install the project dependencies using:

npm install

Project Structure:

Screenshot-2024-02-10-130538 — project structure

The updated dependencies in package.json will look like:

"dependencies": {
    "react": "^18.2.0",
    "react-dom": "^18.2.0"
},
"devDependencies": {
    "@types/react": "^18.2.55",
    "@types/react-dom": "^18.2.19",
    "@vitejs/plugin-react-swc": "^3.5.0",
    "eslint": "^8.56.0",
    "eslint-plugin-react": "^7.33.2",
    "eslint-plugin-react-hooks": "^4.6.0",
    "eslint-plugin-react-refresh": "^0.4.5",
    "vite": "^5.1.0"
}

Example: Create the required files and add the following code.

JavaScript

// App.jsx

import { HeartIcon, SpinnerIcon } from "./Icon";
import { useState } from "react";
import "./App.css";

export default function App() {
    const [liked, setLiked] = useState(false);
    const [isFetching, setIsFetching] = useState(false);
    const [error, setError] = useState(null);

    const handleLikeUnlike = async () => {
        setError(null);
        setIsFetching(true);

        try {
            const response = await fetch(
                "https://www.greatfrontend.com/api/questions/like-button",
                {
                    method: "POST",
                    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
                    body: JSON.stringify({
                        action: liked ? "unlike" : "like",
                    }),
                }
            );

            if (response.status >= 200 && response.status < 300) {
                setLiked(!liked);
            } else {
                const res = await response.json();
                setError(res.message);
                return;
            }
        } finally {
            setIsFetching(false);
        }
    };

    return (
        <div>
            <button
                onClick={handleLikeUnlike}
                className={`likeBtn ${liked ? "liked" : ""}`}
            >
                {isFetching ? <SpinnerIcon /> : <HeartIcon />}
                {liked ? "Liked" : "Like"}
            </button>
            {error && <div className="error">{error}</div>}
        </div>
    );
}

JavaScript

// Icon.jsx 

export function SpinnerIcon({ className }) {
    return (
        <svg
            className={className}
            width={16}
            height={16}
            viewBox="0 0 38 38"
            xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
            stroke="currentColor"
        >
            <g fill="none" fillRule="evenodd">
                <g transform="translate(1 1)" strokeWidth="2">
                    <circle strokeOpacity=".5" cx="18" cy="18" r="18" />
                    <path d="M36 18c0-9.94-8.06-18-18-18">
                        <animateTransform
                            attributeName="transform"
                            type="rotate"
                            from="0 18 18"
                            to="360 18 18"
                            dur="1s"
                            repeatCount="indefinite"
                        />
                    </path>
                </g>
            </g>
        </svg>
    );
}

export function HeartIcon({ className }) {
    return (
        <svg
            className={className}
            fill="currentColor"
            viewBox="0 0 24 24"
            width="16"
            height="16"
        >
            <g>
                <path d="M12 21.638h-.014C9.403 21.59 1.95 14.856 1.95 8.478c0-3.064
                2.525-5.754 5.403-5.754 2.29 0 3.83 1.58 4.646 2.73.814-1.148 2.354-2.73
                4.645-2.73 2.88 0 5.404 2.69 5.404 5.755 0 6.376-7.454 13.11-10.037
                13.157H12zM7.354 4.225c-2.08 0-3.903 1.988-3.903 4.255 0 5.74 7.034 11.596
                8.55 11.658 1.518-.062 8.55-5.917 8.55-11.658 0-2.267-1.823-4.255-3.903-4.255-2.528
                0-3.94 2.936-3.952 2.965-.23.562-1.156.562-1.387 0-.014-.03-1.425-2.965-3.954-2.965z">
                </path>
            </g>
        </svg>
    );
}

JavaScript

// main.jsx 

import React from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom/client";
import App from "./App.jsx";

ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById("root")).render(
    <React.StrictMode>
        <App />
    </React.StrictMode>
);

CSS

/* App.css  */
:root {
    --default-color: #888;
    --active-color: #f00;
}

* {
    font-family: sans-serif;
}

.likeBtn {
    border: 2px solid var(--default-color);
    display: flex;
    align-items: center;
    gap: 8px;
    border-radius: 32px;
    cursor: pointer;
    font-weight: bold;
    height: 30px;
    padding: 4px 8px;
    margin-bottom: 5px;
    color: var(--default-color);
    background-color: #fff;
}

.likeBtn:hover {
    border-color: var(--active-color);
    color: var(--active-color);
}

.liked,
.liked:hover {
    background-color: var(--active-color);
    border-color: var(--active-color);
    color: #fff;
}

.likeBtn-icon {
    display: flex;
}

.error {
    font-size: 12px;
}

Steps to run the application:

Step 1: Type the following command in the terminal.

npm run dev