Will android activity changes (configchanges) ever be supported?

[jakobfelsatdm]

This question is related to the solution proposed in
#17

Google seems to be introducing configuration changes recently that can't be opted out any more.
This will lead to suboptimal experiences when using e.g. foldables.

[kkafar]

I admit I haven't dig into this topic at all. Could you provide me with links describing changes you speak of?

[jakobfelsatdm]

I'll try and look up the relevant docs.
Some examples we found are folding foldable devices, rotating devices above a certain screen size (most tablet devices) and using multi window mode on large devices.

All of these actions trigger activity recreation even when opting out.

[SuddenH4X]

To provide some context, I've observed that the opt out in the AndroidManifest doesn't cover all configuration changes. In certain cases, these changes cannot be intercepted, leading to app restarts or crashes. Here are some examples:

• Orientation changes on devices with 600 dp or more with portrait lock (see https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/01/orientation-and-resizability-changes-in-android-16.html), and on some devices and manufacturers even before Android 16 (e.g. Pixel Fold with Android 15)
• Opening and closing foldables/flip phones
• Invoking external activities, including system components, such as the system photo picker (e.g. Library does not handle Activity re-creation by Android system react-native-image-picker/react-native-image-picker#1502)
• Split mode/multi-window mode (only on some devices)
• Desktop windowing on tablets
• Changing some system settings, like font adjustments and Material You color

Given the variability across Android versions and manufacturers, there are likely more scenarios that can lead to these issues. Since configuration changes are a fundamental aspect of Android, they can differ between versions and manufacturers, making it difficult to test all scenarios comprehensively. Furthermore, it is reasonable to expect that the number of configuration changes will likely increase in the future. Especially taking the announcement of Google regarding adaptive layouts into account.

Here is a brief video demonstrating the app's restart behavior after an orientation change on a Pixel Fold. We used the Bluesky app as a reference because the example app encountered some issues with our local setup.

Screen_recording_20250226_085939.mp4

[kkafar]

With release of 4.16 we've updated installation steps of the library. These should vastly improve the situation. Please check them out here.