FlatList with useState and stickyHeaderIndices is crashing on Android but working fine on IOS

Description

On Android, FlatList crashes if:

• data is stored in a state variable and updated in useEffect.
• stickyHeaderIndices is set.

If the same data is passed as a constant (instead of state), the crash does not occur.

This only happens on Android — iOS works fine.

A similar issue was reported before ([#25157](https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/25157)) but closed, yet the bug still exists in the latest version.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a FlatList with stickyHeaderIndices set.
2. Set data to a state variable, initially empty.
3. Use useEffect to update the state variable with an array after mount.
4. Run the app on Android.
5. The app crashes.

Expected Behavior:
The FlatList should render with sticky headers without crashing when the data is updated via state in useEffect.

Actual Behavior:
The app crashes on Android when data is updated from state inside useEffect if stickyHeaderIndices is used.

Example Code:

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { FlatList, Text, View } from 'react-native';

export default function App() {
  const [listData, setListData] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    setListData([
      { key: '1', title: 'Header' },
      { key: '2', title: 'Item 1' },
      { key: '3', title: 'Item 2' }
    ]);
  }, []);

  return (
    <View>
      <FlatList
        data={listData}
        stickyHeaderIndices={[0]} // causes crash on Android
        renderItem={({ item }) => <Text>{item.title}</Text>}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

// Works fine if using:
// const listData = [
//   { key: '1', title: 'Header' },
//   { key: '2', title: 'Item 1' },
//   { key: '3', title: 'Item 2' }
// ];

Steps to reproduce

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { FlatList, Text, View } from 'react-native';

export default function App() {
const [listData, setListData] = useState([]);

useEffect(() => {
setListData([
{ key: '1', title: 'Header' },
{ key: '2', title: 'Item 1' },
{ key: '3', title: 'Item 2' }
]);
}, []);

return (

<FlatList
data={listData}
stickyHeaderIndices={[0]} // causes crash on Android
renderItem={({ item }) => {item.title}}
/>

);
}

// Works fine if using:
// const listData = [
// { key: '1', title: 'Header' },
// { key: '2', title: 'Item 1' },
// { key: '3', title: 'Item 2' }
// ];

React Native Version

v0.81.0

Affected Platforms

Runtime - Android

Output of npx @react-native-community/cli info

info Fetching system and libraries information...
System:
  OS: macOS 15.4
  CPU: (12) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10600 CPU @ 3.30GHz
  Memory: 129.52 MB / 32.00 GB
  Shell:
    version: "5.9"
    path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 21.1.0
    path: /usr/local/bin/node
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.19
    path: /usr/local/bin/yarn
  npm:
    version: 10.2.0
    path: /usr/local/bin/npm
  Watchman: Not Found
Managers:
  CocoaPods:
    version: 1.14.3
    path: /usr/local/bin/pod
SDKs:
  iOS SDK:
    Platforms:
      - DriverKit 24.2
      - iOS 18.2
      - macOS 15.2
      - tvOS 18.2
      - visionOS 2.2
      - watchOS 11.2
  Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
  Android Studio: 2020.3 AI-203.7717.56.2031.7621141
  Xcode:
    version: 16.2/16C5032a
    path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
  Java:
    version: 17.0.15
    path: /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-17.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac
  Ruby:
    version: 3.3.3
    path: /Users/hassan/.rbenv/shims/ruby
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli":
    installed: 19.0.0
    wanted: 19.0.0
  react:
    installed: 19.1.0
    wanted: 19.1.0
  react-native:
    installed: 0.80.1
    wanted: 0.80.1
  react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: true
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: true

info React Native v0.81.0 is now available (your project is running on v0.80.1).
info Changelog: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/releases/tag/v0.81.0
info Diff: https://react-native-community.github.io/upgrade-helper/?from=0.80.1&to=0.81.0
info For more info, check out "https://reactnative.dev/docs/upgrading?os=macos".

Stacktrace or Logs

addViewAt: failed to insert view [664] into parent [646] at index 0

MANDATORY Reproducer

https://snack.expo.dev/@hassanalvi11/crash-app

Screenshots and Videos

Chạy trình tái hiện Snack bắt buộc và xác minh crash chỉ xảy ra trên Android khi dữ liệu dựa trên state được điền trong useEffect với stickyHeaderIndices. Truy vết đường cập nhật của FlatList xung quanh lỗi chèn addViewAt đã được báo cáo; hoàn tất nghĩa là cùng một ví dụ được render và vẫn giữ hành vi sticky-header trên Android mà không bị crash.