<Activity mode="hidden"> prevents WKWebView from loading content (onLoad never fires) #56180
Description
Description
A WKWebView (via react-native-webview) inside never loads its content. onLoad/onLoadStart/onLoadEnd never fire. This makes Activity unusable for pre-rendering/pooling WebViews offscreen.
Activity mode="hidden" applies display: none via cloneHiddenInstance() in Fabric, which maps to UIView.hidden = YES + Yoga zeroing the frame. WKWebView requires a non-zero frame and visible state to initialize its Web Content process and load content.
Also produces this warning as the web content process gets jetsammed:
[BrowserEngineKit] Failed to terminate process: Error Domain=com.apple.extensionKit.errorDomain Code=18 NSUnderlyingError: RBSRequestErrorDomain Code=3 "No such process found"
WebView pooling — pre-render WebViews in Activity mode="hidden", then flip to mode="visible" for instant display. Currently impossible because content never loads while hidden.
Versions
- react-native: 0.83.2
- react: 19.2.0
- react-native-webview: 13.16.0
Steps to reproduce
Minimal Reproducible Example:
import { useState, useCallback, Activity } from "react";
import { View, Text, StyleSheet } from "react-native";
import { WebView } from "react-native-webview";
const HTML = `<!DOCTYPE html><html><body><h1>Hello</h1></body></html>`;
export default function Test() {
const [logs, setLogs] = useState<string[]>([]);
const log = useCallback((msg: string) => {
console.log(msg);
setLogs((p) => [msg, ...p]);
}, []);
return (
<View style={{ flex: 1, padding: 20 }}>
{/* ✅ This fires onLoad */}
<Activity mode="visible">
<View style={{ width: 1, height: 1, overflow: "hidden" }}>
<WebView source={{ html: HTML }} onLoad={() => log("VISIBLE: onLoad ✅")} />
</View>
</Activity>
{/* ❌ This never fires onLoad */}
<Activity mode="hidden">
<View style={{ width: 1, height: 1, overflow: "hidden" }}>
<WebView source={{ html: HTML }} onLoad={() => log("HIDDEN: onLoad ❌")} />
</View>
</Activity>
{/* ✅ Control without Activity */}
<View style={{ width: 1, height: 1, overflow: "hidden" }}>
<WebView source={{ html: HTML }} onLoad={() => log("CONTROL: onLoad ✅")} />
</View>
{logs.map((l, i) => <Text key={i}>{l}</Text>)}
</View>
);
}
Only VISIBLE and CONTROL log. HIDDEN never fires any load events.
React Native Version
0.83.2
Affected Platforms
Runtime - iOS
Output of npx @react-native-community/cli info
info Fetching system and libraries information...
System:
OS: macOS 15.6.1
CPU: (10) arm64 Apple M1 Pro
Memory: 128.64 MB / 16.00 GB
Shell:
version: "5.9"
path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
Node:
version: 23.2.0
path: /Users/mark/.nvm/versions/node/v23.2.0/bin/node
Yarn:
version: 1.22.22
path: /Users/mark/.nvm/versions/node/v23.2.0/bin/yarn
npm:
version: 10.9.0
path: /Users/mark/.nvm/versions/node/v23.2.0/bin/npm
Watchman: Not Found
Managers:
CocoaPods:
version: 1.16.2
path: /opt/homebrew/bin/pod
SDKs:
iOS SDK:
Platforms:
- DriverKit 25.2
- iOS 26.2
- macOS 26.2
- tvOS 26.2
- visionOS 26.2
- watchOS 26.2
Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
Android Studio: 2025.2 AI-252.27397.103.2522.14617522
Xcode:
version: 26.2/17C52
path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
Java:
version: 23.0.2
path: /opt/homebrew/opt/openjdk/bin/javac
Ruby:
version: 2.6.10
path: /usr/bin/ruby
npmPackages:
"@react-native-community/cli": Not Found
react:
installed: 19.2.0
wanted: 19.2.0
react-native:
installed: 0.83.2
wanted: 0.83.2
react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
"*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
hermesEnabled: Not found
newArchEnabled: Not found
iOS:
hermesEnabled: Not found
newArchEnabled: Not found
info React Native v0.84.1 is now available (your project is running on v0.83.2).
info Changelog: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/releases/tag/v0.84.1
info Diff: https://react-native-community.github.io/upgrade-helper/?from=0.83.2&to=0.84.1
info For mor
Stacktrace or Logs
[BrowserEngineKit] Failed to terminate process: Error Domain=com.apple.extensionKit.errorDomain Code=18 NSUnderlyingError: RBSRequestErrorDomain Code=3 "No such process found"
MANDATORY Reproducer
https://snack.expo.dev/@markwitt/ab3289
Screenshots and Videos
No response