[Android] state is not restored on activity recreation

Description

On Android, when the Activity is recreated, either by memory pressure or a configuration change the entire view state is lost / recreated by react native.

For this reason, most templates restrict activity recreation on android.
According to our android team, google might not support these changes in future android versions (The future is adaptive: Changes to orientation and resizability APIs in Android 16).

We raised a similar issue in react-native-screens, where an analysis showed that the root cause is that react-native itself does not support activity recreation.

According to us, this is a bug and react native should properly support activity recreation on android.

Steps to reproduce

1. generate a new react-native app
2. remove android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenLayout|screenSize|smallestScreenSize|uiMode|fontScale" in android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
3. render a long list of items in App.tsx
4. run yarn android
5. scroll to the bottom of the list an rotate device
6. scroll position is lost

React Native Version

0.82.1

Affected Platforms

Runtime - Android

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

System:
  OS: macOS 15.7.2
  CPU: (11) arm64 Apple M3 Pro
  Memory: 151.86 MB / 36.00 GB
  Shell:
    version: "5.9"
    path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 25.2.1
    path: /Users/d0261170/.local/share/mise/installs/node/25.2.1/bin/node
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.22
    path: /opt/homebrew/bin/yarn
  npm:
    version: 11.6.2
    path: /Users/d0261170/.local/share/mise/installs/node/25.2.1/bin/npm
  Watchman: Not Found
Managers:
  CocoaPods: Not Found
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: 2025.2 AI-252.25557.131.2521.14432022
  Xcode:
    version: 16.2/16C5032a
    path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
  Java:
    version: 21.0.9
    path: /Users/d0261170/.local/share/mise/installs/java/zulu-21.46.19.0/bin/javac
  Ruby:
    version: 3.4.7
    path: /Users/d0261170/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/3.4.7/bin/ruby
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli":
    installed: 20.0.0
    wanted: 20.0.0
  react:
    installed: 19.1.1
    wanted: 19.1.1
  react-native:
    installed: 0.82.1
    wanted: 0.82.1
  react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: true
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: false

Stacktrace or Logs

not applicable

MANDATORY Reproducer

https://github.com/jakobfelsatdm/rn-activity-reproducer

Screenshots and Videos

No response

Start with the mandatory reproducer and the generated app's android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml and App.tsx. Run yarn android, scroll through the long list, rotate the device, and compare behavior with and without the configChanges entry. Done means the relevant view state, including scroll position, is preserved after Android activity recreation.