Cannot useRef() in functional component. null is not an object

I have a functional component which causes the following error:

null is not an object (evaluating ‘textInput.current.blur’

I wonder why

import React, { useState, useRef } from "react";
import { TextInput } from "react-native";

const UselessTextInput = ({ hide }) => {
    const [text, onChangeText] = React.useState("Useless Text");
    const textInput = useRef(null);

    const _renderInput = () => {
        if (hide) textInput.current.blur();
        <TextInput
            ref={textInput}
            onFocus={() => ...}
            onChangeText={onChangeText}
            value={text} />

    ...

    return __renderInput();
}

Can anyone explain this behaviour?

>Solution :

use optional chaining to your textInput value

like this : textInput?.current?.blur();