Cordova File Plugin only works after killing and restarting app

With WebView installed, the Cordova File Plugin hangs when I try to use writeFIle. It does not raise an exception, it does not log anything in .catch or .then, it just enters the method and never returns.
I am assuming this has to do with the file:// issue. I am trying to write to the application directory with locations like file:///var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/D6326230-58CE-4776-8D38-DB495D1CD551/Library/NoCloud/downloaded-assets/d4f3fcc4-ec81-4634-900f-3f47e433f74c/

The part that is strange to me is that killing the app and restarting makes everything work exactly as expected. Looking at the logs, it does not seem like any of the data I am passing to these methods has changed at all.

Another wrinkle: the app will work fine on first download from the app store. However, if I use Ionic Deploy to push new Javascript, the app fails as described above. Upon killing the app and restarting after a Deploy, the app resumes to normal function.

Any ideas?