react / react/react-native

Touches don’t work on absolutely positioned child when it goes outside parent’s bounds (Android only)

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Issue: Author Provided Repro Needs: React Native Team Attention Platform: Android
Dominant language
C++
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Avg merge
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Description

Description
<GestureHandlerRootView style={styles.root}>
      <GestureDetector gesture={composedGesture}>
        <Animated.View style={styles.canvasWrapper}>
          // the red box
          <Animated.View style={[styles.canvasTransform, canvasAnimatedStyle]}>
            <Animated.View
              style={{
                position: 'absolute',
                left: 300,
                top: 0,
              }}
              collapsable={false}>
              <YoutubePlayer height={300} width={400} videoId={'HzL65tTeANs'} play={true} />
            </Animated.View>
          </Animated.View>
          <Animated.View style={focalPointStyle} pointerEvents="none" />
        </Animated.View>
      </GestureDetector>
</GestureHandlerRootView>

I have a parent <Animated.View> (the red box in my demo). Inside it, I have another <Animated.View> that’s absolutely positioned and contains a react-native-youtube-iframe player

When the absolutely positioned animated.view is inside the red box(the parent), everything works fine. I can play pause and interact with the video

But once it goes outside the parent bounds, the video stops receiving touches.

as you can see from my demo video that only the part of the video inside the red box receives touch events

Note: the problem is not related to react-native-youtube-iframe i tested it with a regular React Native component like <Switch /> and the same behavior occurs with only android

Steps to reproduce

1- Create a parent <Animated.View> that acts as a container

2- Inside it, create another <Animated.View> with position: 'absolute' and place it so that part of it goes outside the parent’s bounds.

3- Inside the absolutely positioned animated.view, render for example <Switch /> or even a WebView.

4- Run the app on Android.

5- Try interacting with the <Switch />:

When the absolutely positioned animated.view and the switch are inside the parent's layout, the switch works fine.

When you move the absolutely positioned animated.view and the switch are outside the parent’s layout. the switch doesn't work

6- Run the same code on iOS. everything works fine

React Native Version

0.81.4

Affected Platforms

Runtime - Android

Output of npx @react-native-community/cli info
System:
  OS: Windows 11 10.0.26100
  CPU: (24) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-14650HX
  Memory: 2.45 GB / 15.71 GB
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 22.17.0
    path: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.22
    path: C:\Users\LEGION\AppData\Roaming\npm\yarn.CMD
  npm:
    version: 10.9.2
    path: C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.CMD
  Watchman: Not Found
SDKs:
  Android SDK: Not Found
  Windows SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
  Android Studio: AI-251.26094.121.2513.14007798
  Visual Studio: Not Found
Languages:
  Java:
    version: 17.0.16
    path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft\jdk-17.0.16.8-hotspot\bin\javac.EXE
  Ruby: Not Found
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli": Not Found
  react:
    installed: 19.1.0
    wanted: 19.1.0
  react-native:
    installed: 0.81.4
    wanted: 0.81.4
  react-native-windows: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: Not found
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: Not found
Stacktrace or Logs
The issue is only related to touch behavior on Android (no crash).
MANDATORY Reproducer

https://snack.expo.dev/@khldon123/repro?platform=web

Screenshots and Videos

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1146f77e-95d4-4960-85ba-f538cb73ec36

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 linked Snack reproducer on Android and compare its touch behavior with iOS, using the absolutely positioned child containing a Switch or WebView as the entry point. Trace the Android touch handling for children that extend beyond a parent’s bounds. Done means the portion outside the parent also receives interaction without changing the behavior inside it.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
android, react-native
Domain
mobile
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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