react / react/react-native

[Android] Dimensions.get('screen').scale reports primary display density on secondary displays, breaking Fabric layout

Open
#56,894 0 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

Resolution: PR Submitted
Dominant language
C++
Stars
127k
Forks
25.3k
Avg merge
1d 23h
Merged PRs (30d)
4

Description

Description

On Android, when a React Native activity runs on a secondary display (Samsung DeX, external monitor via desktop mode, ChromeOS desktop windowing, virtual/emulator display via am start --display N), the activity renders at the wrong scale. Content is laid out as if the surface were larger than the activity window, the visible region is a fraction of the window with the rest left black, and text rendering is sub-pixel-blurry.

Dimensions.get('window') and useWindowDimensions() report the activity's actual display correctly. Only Dimensions.get('screen').scale is wrong: it reports the device's primary-display density regardless of which display the activity is on.

window: { width: 1600, height: 720, scale: 1.5 }   ← matches the activity's display
screen: { width: 800,  height: 360, scale: 3   }   ← primary display's scale
Steps to reproduce
  1. Boot a phone-form-factor AVD (verified on Pixel 9 Pro, API 36).
  2. Attach a virtual secondary display at a different density than the primary (Pixel 9 Pro is 3.0×, 240dpi on the secondary is enough):
    adb emu multidisplay add 1 2400 1080 240 0
    
  3. Install the reproducer, start Metro, launch onto the secondary display:
    cd ReproducerApp && npm install && npm run android && npm start &
    adb shell am force-stop com.reproducerapp
    adb shell am start -n com.reproducerapp/.MainActivity --display 3
    

Expected: screen.scale === window.scale when the activity is on a single display.

Actual: screen.scale is the primary's density; the React surface lays out at the primary's scale into a window that doesn't have that scale.

React Native Version

0.85.3

Affected Platforms

Runtime - Android

Areas

Fabric - The New Renderer, Bridgeless - The New Initialization Flow

Output of npx @react-native-community/cli info
System:
  OS: macOS 26.3.1
  CPU: (14) arm64 Apple M4 Pro
  Memory: 506.70 MB / 48.00 GB
  Shell:
    version: "5.9"
    path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 24.13.0
    path: /Users/douwe/.nvm/versions/node/v24.13.0/bin/node
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.22
    path: /opt/homebrew/bin/yarn
  npm:
    version: 11.6.2
    path: /Users/douwe/.nvm/versions/node/v24.13.0/bin/npm
  Watchman:
    version: 2025.05.26.00
    path: /opt/homebrew/bin/watchman
Managers:
  CocoaPods:
    version: 1.16.2
    path: /opt/homebrew/bin/pod
SDKs:
  Android SDK:
    API Levels:
      - "31"
      - "32"
      - "33"
      - "34"
      - "35"
      - "36"
    Build Tools:
      - 30.0.3
      - 34.0.0
      - 35.0.0
      - 36.0.0
      - 36.1.0
    Android NDK: Not Found
IDEs:
  Android Studio: 2025.3 AI-253.29346.138.2531.14876573
Languages:
  Java:
    version: 21.0.10
    path: /usr/bin/javac
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli":
    installed: 20.1.0
    wanted: 20.1.0
  react:
    installed: 19.2.3
    wanted: 19.2.3
  react-native:
    installed: 0.85.3
    wanted: 0.85.3
Android:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: true
Stacktrace or Logs
adb logcat from the reproducer on the secondary display (2400x1080 @ 240dpi):

ReactNativeJS: '[repro] Dimensions.initial', '{"window":{"width":1600,"height":720,"scale":1.5,"fontScale":1},"screen":{"width":800,"height":360,"scale":3,"fontScale":1}}'
MANDATORY Reproducer

https://github.com/DouweBos/rn-secondary-display-repro

Screenshots and Videos

2400×1080 @ 240dpi secondary — cut off text, surface laid out at the wrong density:

Reproducer on secondary display

Same with an app-side workaround that overwrites DisplayMetricsHolder with the activity's actual metrics — screen.scale matches window.scale, text renders crisply:

Reproducer with workaround


Related: #55659.

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 with the mandatory rn-secondary-display-repro and reproduce the mismatch using the listed adb emu and am start commands. Trace the Android path that populates DisplayMetricsHolder and compare its metrics with the activity's display metrics. Done means Dimensions.get('screen').scale matches window.scale on a single secondary display and the Fabric surface renders at the correct density.

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
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
55/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.