react / react/react-native

Scrolling a 'moving' FlatList causes it to stutter or block scrolling completely on Android

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Component: FlatList Issue: Author Provided Repro Needs: Attention Platform: Android
Dominant language
C++
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Description

When you create a FlatList that moves as it's being scrolled (change in offset for the FlatList is a change in top property of FlatList's style) it stutters heavily. This behavior is much less disruptive when movement is scaled down compared to scrolling and becomes app-breaking when upscaled. See provided videos:

  1. Multiplier: 1.0
    mult1.webm
  2. Mutliplier: 2.0
    mult2.webm
  3. Multiplier: 0.5
    mult0.5.webm

It was originally an issue in react-native-reanimated but after digging into it I narrowed it down to react-native and rewrote the code to not use react-native-reanimated. It seems to had been in the code for a long time, since this posts that dates 3 years back is about the same thing.

I checked it on versions 0.72, 0.71 and 0.70. On both Fabric and Paper and the result is always the same (although it feels a bit like Fabric behaviour is worse).

iOS works properly on each version too.

It seems like there is a problem when calculating layout and touch events - that's what I conducted due to multiplier making it better or worse. After moving a FlatList twice the distance it scrolled and having the component moved React Native seems to 'think' that the finger is now further than it should be and lowers the offset? That's just my guess.

React Native Version

0.72.3

Output of npx react-native info

System:
OS: macOS 13.4.1
CPU: (10) arm64 Apple M2 Pro
Memory: 49.31 MB / 16.00 GB
Shell:
version: "5.9"
path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
Node:
version: 18.16.0
path: /var/folders/jg/m839qn593nn7w_h3n0r9k25c0000gn/T/yarn--1689593442476-0.9098900178237601/node
Yarn:
version: 1.22.19
path: /var/folders/jg/m839qn593nn7w_h3n0r9k25c0000gn/T/yarn--1689593442476-0.9098900178237601/yarn
npm:
version: 9.5.1
path: ~/.nvm/versions/node/v18.16.0/bin/npm
Watchman:
version: 2023.06.12.00
path: /opt/homebrew/bin/watchman
Managers:
CocoaPods:
version: 1.12.1
path: /Users/user/.rbenv/shims/pod
SDKs:
iOS SDK:
Platforms:
- DriverKit 22.4
- iOS 16.4
- macOS 13.3
- tvOS 16.4
- watchOS 9.4
Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
Android Studio: 2022.1 AI-221.6008.13.2211.9619390
Xcode:
version: 14.3.1/14E300c
path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
Java:
version: 11.0.19
path: /usr/bin/javac
Ruby:
version: 3.2.2
path: /Users/user/.rbenv/shims/ruby
npmPackages:
"@react-native-community/cli": Not Found
react:
installed: 18.2.0
wanted: 18.2.0
react-native:
installed: 0.72.3
wanted: 0.72.3
react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
"react-native": Not Found
Android:
hermesEnabled: true
newArchEnabled: true
iOS:
hermesEnabled: true
newArchEnabled: false

Steps to reproduce

Just need to run the provided code snippet.

Snack, code example, screenshot, or link to a repository

https://github.com/tjzel/ReactNativeMovingFlatList

import React from 'react';
import {Dimensions, FlatList, StyleSheet, Text, View} from 'react-native';

const {height: SCREEN_HEIGHT} = Dimensions.get('screen');

const data = Array.from({length: 30}, (_, index) => ({
  id: `${index + 1}`,
  text: `Item ${index + 1}`,
}));

const multiplier = 1.0;

export default function App() {
  const [animatedVerticalScroll, setAnimatedVerticalScroll] = React.useState(0);
  // used to detect stutters
  const previousValue = React.useRef(0);

  const listAnimatedStyle = {
    top:
      animatedVerticalScroll * multiplier > SCREEN_HEIGHT * 0.7
        ? 0
        : SCREEN_HEIGHT * 0.7 - animatedVerticalScroll * multiplier,
  };

  const renderItem = ({item}) => (
    <View style={styles.item}>
      <Text>{item.text}</Text>
    </View>
  );

  const scrollHandler = event => {
    // logger to detect if there was a stutter
    if (previousValue.current > event.nativeEvent.contentOffset.y) {
      console.log(
        `\nScrolling stuttered!\nPrevious offset was ${previousValue.current}\nCurrent offset is ${event.nativeEvent.contentOffset.y}\n`,
      );
    } else {
      console.log(event.nativeEvent.contentOffset.y);
    }
    setAnimatedVerticalScroll(event.nativeEvent.contentOffset.y);
    previousValue.current = event.nativeEvent.contentOffset.y;
  };

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <View style={styles.containerBehind}>
        <Text>Multiplier: {multiplier}</Text>
      </View>
      <FlatList
        data={data}
        renderItem={renderItem}
        style={[styles.listContainer, listAnimatedStyle]}
        onScroll={scrollHandler}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  containerBehind: {
    width: '100%',
    height: '100%',
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: 'red',
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
  },
  listContainer: {
    top: 0,
    left: 0,
    position: 'absolute',
    zIndex: 10,
    width: '100%',
    height: '100%',
    backgroundColor: 'green',
  },
  item: {
    height: 50,
  },
});

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by running the provided ReactNativeMovingFlatList reproduction and compare Android scrolling with the moving FlatList across the listed multipliers. The issue names no React Native source file or test; done means scrolling remains smooth and is not blocked when the FlatList's top style changes, including under Fabric and Paper.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
android, react-native, typescript
Domain
mobile, performance
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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