App Crash on Reload with expo reloadAppAsync

[pvturchik]

Description
I used a basic example from the documentation to draw a line using the Points component. The app crashes upon attempting to reload using the reloadAppAsync() function from expo. I have not tested other examples. Note that the application may not crash on the first attempt; sometimes, it requires multiple reloads to reproduce the issue. The crash occurs both in Expo Go and in the release build (tested on iOS)

In my real project, where I render many elements using the skia library, the crash happens consistently on every reload attempt.

In the video, you can see the app flickering — this happens when I press the "Reload app" text. On one of the reloads, the app crashes.

Simulator.Screen.Recording.-.iPhone.15.Pro.-.2024-12-23.at.19.16.48.mp4

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a new Expo project - npx create-expo-app@latest (my version is 52.0.20)
2. Install the @shopify/react-native-skia dependency - npx expo install @shopify/react-native-skia (expo installs 1.5.0 version in my project)
3. Use the following code in your component

import { reloadAppAsync } from 'expo';
import { Pressable, Text, View } from "react-native";
import { Canvas, Points, vec } from "@shopify/react-native-skia";

const points = [
  vec(128, 0),
  vec(168, 80),
  vec(256, 93),
  vec(192, 155),
  vec(207, 244),
  vec(128, 202),
  vec(49, 244),
  vec(64, 155),
  vec(0, 93),
  vec(88, 80),
  vec(128, 0),
];

export default function Chart() {
  function reload() {
    reloadAppAsync();
  }

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1, backgroundColor: '#D0D0D0' }}>
      <Canvas style={{ height: 500 }}>
        <Points
          points={points}
          mode="polygon"
          color="lightblue"
          style="stroke"
          strokeWidth={4}
        />
      </Canvas>
      <Pressable onPress={reload}>
        <Text style={{ fontSize: 24 }}>
          Reload app
        </Text>
      </Pressable>
    </View>
  );
}

[pvturchik]

@wcandillon Could you help me figure out the problem?

[wcandillon]

yes I could help with this issue. I don't have a setup with expo at moment if you could share an expo project with me where I could reproduce the issue, that would help a lot. I do suspect that the issue as been fixed in 1.10 but I would need to reproduce the issue first to confirm it.

[Hikkikomori72]

https://github.com/Hikkikomori72/reloadAppAsyncTest

1. install packages with yarn install
2. then yarn start
3. for testing scan qr code in console

@wcandillon the error is repeated when testing on a real device, no problem was detected on the emulator

[wcandillon]

@Hikkikomori72 Thank you for providing a reproduction. Unfortunately I wasn't able to reproduce it. I do believe that v1.10.1 will fix hot reload crashes. This is what I wanted to test however I wasn't able to reproduce the original crash.
In my case I had to install the dev-client, instead of running expo go, could that be why I couldn't reproduce the issue?

[juanmigdr]

Hey, I am experiencing the exact same issue. And expo-doctor does not recommend versions later than 1.5.0

I have done some investigation and debugging with android tools and this is the error thrown which points to the react-native-skia library (see bottom line of the error log)

2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A  Cmdline: host.exp.exponent
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A  pid: 17047, tid: 17054, name: FinalizerDaemon  >>> host.exp.exponent <<<
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #00 pc 0000000000285940  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!librnskia.so (offset 0x2554000) (std::__ndk1::__tree<std::__ndk1::__value_type<std::__ndk1::basic_string<char, std::__ndk1::char_traits<char>, std::__ndk1::allocator<char>>, facebook::jsi::Function>, std::__ndk1::__map_value_compare<std::__ndk1::basic_string<char, std::__ndk1::char_traits<char>, std::__ndk1::allocator<char>>, std::__ndk1::__value_type<std::__ndk1::basic_string<char, std::__ndk1::char_traits<char>, std::__ndk1::allocator<char>>, facebook::jsi::Function>, std::__ndk1::less<std::__ndk1::basic_string<char, std::__ndk1::char_traits<char>, std::__ndk1::allocator<char>>>, true>, std::__ndk1::allocator<std::__ndk1::__value_type<std::__ndk1::basic_string<char, std::__ndk1::char_traits<char>, std::__ndk1::allocator<char>>, facebook::jsi::Function>>>::destroy(std::__ndk1::__tree_node<std::__ndk1::__value_type<std::__ndk1::basic_string<char, std::__ndk1::char_traits<char>, std::__ndk1::allocator<char>>, facebook::jsi::Function>, void*>*)+56) (BuildId: 69d452d376fd34cbaf09e66c0463f1559c20f136)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #01 pc 00000000002841f8  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!librnskia.so (offset 0x2554000) (RNJsi::RuntimeAwareCache<std::__ndk1::map<std::__ndk1::basic_string<char, std::__ndk1::char_traits<char>, std::__ndk1::allocator<char>>, facebook::jsi::Function, std::__ndk1::less<std::__ndk1::basic_string<char, std::__ndk1::char_traits<char>, std::__ndk1::allocator<char>>>, std::__ndk1::allocator<std::__ndk1::pair<std::__ndk1::basic_string<char, std::__ndk1::char_traits<char>, std::__ndk1::allocator<char>> const, facebook::jsi::Function>>>>::~RuntimeAwareCache()+72) (BuildId: 69d452d376fd34cbaf09e66c0463f1559c20f136)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #02 pc 000000000028411c  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!librnskia.so (offset 0x2554000) (RNJsi::JsiHostObject::~JsiHostObject()+40) (BuildId: 69d452d376fd34cbaf09e66c0463f1559c20f136)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #03 pc 000000000030429c  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!librnskia.so (offset 0x2554000) (RNSkia::JsiDomNode::invalidate()+544) (BuildId: 69d452d376fd34cbaf09e66c0463f1559c20f136)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #04 pc 00000000003028ac  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!librnskia.so (offset 0x2554000) (RNSkia::JsiDomRenderNode::dispose(bool)+52) (BuildId: 69d452d376fd34cbaf09e66c0463f1559c20f136)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #05 pc 0000000000304240  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!librnskia.so (offset 0x2554000) (RNSkia::JsiDomNode::invalidate()+452) (BuildId: 69d452d376fd34cbaf09e66c0463f1559c20f136)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #06 pc 00000000003028ac  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!librnskia.so (offset 0x2554000) (RNSkia::JsiDomRenderNode::dispose(bool)+52) (BuildId: 69d452d376fd34cbaf09e66c0463f1559c20f136)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #07 pc 0000000000364dbc  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!librnskia.so (offset 0x2554000) (RNSkia::RNSkDomRenderer::~RNSkDomRenderer()+52) (BuildId: 69d452d376fd34cbaf09e66c0463f1559c20f136)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #08 pc 00000000002776ec  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!librnskia.so (offset 0x2554000) (RNSkia::RNSkView::~RNSkView()+92) (BuildId: 69d452d376fd34cbaf09e66c0463f1559c20f136)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #09 pc 0000000000276f40  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!librnskia.so (offset 0x2554000) (RNSkia::JniSkiaDomView::~JniSkiaDomView()+120) (BuildId: 69d452d376fd34cbaf09e66c0463f1559c20f136)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #10 pc 00000000000215c8  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/split_config.arm64_v8a.apk!libfbjni.so (offset 0x16c8000) (BuildId: a22242831a7971267de570e06121acb588ce64cd)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #12 pc 0000000000dbb578  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/oat/arm64/base.odex (com.facebook.jni.HybridData.resetNative+72)
2025-01-15 20:56:35.635 17546-17546 DEBUG                   pid-17546                            A        #14 pc 000000000039d7ca  /data/app/~~lk40WOIu4ZKasxWt3bU7MQ==/host.exp.exponent-HV5sgCRrXWG1u1zJGZZ33A==/base.apk (com.shopify.reactnative.skia.SkiaDomView.finalize+10)

Furthermore, updating the library to the latest version does not work since it is not supported by expo (Run expo-doctor and see it yourself) and even if you upgrade it, you will find a ton of errors straight away.