React native Android app crashes immediately after start

Question

My app crashes immediately after startup in release mode but it's working fine when using it in debug mode. List of things that i did to build the apk:

1. creating a keystore file and adding it to build.gradle file
2. cd android && ./gradlew clean && ./gradlew assembleRelease

build.gradle:

def enableProguardInReleaseBuilds = true // proguard is enabled
.
.
.
android {
    ndkVersion rootProject.ext.ndkVersion

    compileSdkVersion rootProject.ext.compileSdkVersion

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.wallet"
        minSdkVersion rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
        targetSdkVersion rootProject.ext.targetSdkVersion
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
    }
    splits {
        abi {
            reset()
            enable enableSeparateBuildPerCPUArchitecture
            universalApk false  // If true, also generate a universal APK
            include "armeabi-v7a", "x86", "arm64-v8a", "x86_64"
        }
    }
    signingConfigs {
        debug {
            storeFile file('debug.keystore')
            storePassword 'android'
            keyAlias 'androiddebugkey'
            keyPassword 'android'
        }
        release {
            if (project.hasProperty('MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_FILE')) {
                storeFile file(MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_FILE)
                storePassword MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_PASSWORD
                keyAlias MYAPP_UPLOAD_KEY_ALIAS
                keyPassword MYAPP_UPLOAD_KEY_PASSWORD
            }
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        debug {
            signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
            if (nativeArchitectures) {
                ndk {
                    abiFilters nativeArchitectures.split(',')
                }
            }
        }
        release {
            // Caution! In production, you need to generate your own keystore file.
            // see https://reactnative.dev/docs/signed-apk-android.
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
            minifyEnabled enableProguardInReleaseBuilds
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android.txt"), "proguard-rules.pro"
        }
    }

    // applicationVariants are e.g. debug, release
    applicationVariants.all { variant ->
        variant.outputs.each { output ->
            // For each separate APK per architecture, set a unique version code as described here:
            // https://developer.android.com/studio/build/configure-apk-splits.html
            // Example: versionCode 1 will generate 1001 for armeabi-v7a, 1002 for x86, etc.
            def versionCodes = ["armeabi-v7a": 1, "x86": 2, "arm64-v8a": 3, "x86_64": 4]
            def abi = output.getFilter(OutputFile.ABI)
            if (abi != null) {  // null for the universal-debug, universal-release variants
                output.versionCodeOverride =
                        defaultConfig.versionCode * 1000 + versionCodes.get(abi)
            }

        }
    }
}

package.json:

{
  "name": "wallet",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "private": true,
  "scripts": {
    "android": "react-native run-android",
    "ios": "react-native run-ios",
    "start": "react-native start",
    "test": "jest",
    "lint": "eslint ."
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@react-native-async-storage/async-storage": "^1.15.14",
    "@react-native-clipboard/clipboard": "^1.8.5",
    "@react-native-community/blur": "^3.6.0",
    "@react-native-community/masked-view": "^0.1.11",
    "@react-native-community/slider": "^4.1.12",
    "@react-navigation/bottom-tabs": "^6.0.9",
    "@react-navigation/native": "^6.0.6",
    "@react-navigation/stack": "^6.0.11",
    "axios": "^0.24.0",
    "moment": "^2.29.1",
    "moment-jalaali": "^0.9.4",
    "moment-timezone": "^0.5.34",
    "react": "17.0.2",
    "react-native": "0.66.4",
    "react-native-animatable": "^1.3.3",
    "react-native-device-info": "^8.4.8",
    "react-native-elements": "^3.4.2",
    "react-native-flags": "^1.0.0",
    "react-native-gesture-handler": "^2.1.0",
    "react-native-keyboard-aware-scroll-view": "^0.9.5",
    "react-native-linear-gradient": "^2.5.6",
    "react-native-modal": "^13.0.0",
    "react-native-network-info": "^5.2.1",
    "react-native-reanimated": "^2.3.1",
    "react-native-restart": "^0.0.23",
    "react-native-safe-area-context": "^3.3.2",
    "react-native-screens": "^3.10.1",
    "react-native-splash-screen": "^3.3.0",
    "react-native-svg": "^12.1.1",
    "react-native-toast-message": "^2.1.1",
    "react-native-touch-id": "^4.4.1",
    "react-native-vector-icons": "^9.0.0",
    "react-redux": "^7.2.6",
    "redux": "^4.1.2",
    "redux-persist": "^6.0.0",
    "redux-thunk": "^2.4.1",
    "reselect": "^4.1.5"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@babel/core": "^7.12.9",
    "@babel/runtime": "^7.12.5",
    "@react-native-community/eslint-config": "^2.0.0",
    "babel-jest": "^26.6.3",
    "eslint": "7.14.0",
    "jest": "^26.6.3",
    "metro-react-native-babel-preset": "^0.66.2",
    "react-test-renderer": "17.0.2"
  },
  "jest": {
    "preset": "react-native"
  }
}

proguard-rules.pro:

-keep class com.swmansion.reanimated.** { *; } // Added these two lines because of what they said in reanimated 2 documentation
-keep class com.facebook.react.turbomodule.** { *; }

And i ran adb logcat -d > logs.txt command to get a list of logs:

--------- beginning of crash
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime: Process: com.wallet, PID: 4969
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.IllegalStateException: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke interface method 'boolean com.swmansion.reanimated.layoutReanimation.NativeMethodsHolder.isLayoutAnimationEnabled()' on a null object reference
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.facebook.react.bridge.ReactContext.handleException(Unknown Source:74)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.facebook.react.bridge.ReactContext$ExceptionHandlerWrapper.handleException(Unknown Source:2)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.facebook.react.bridge.GuardedRunnable.run(Unknown Source:7)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:883)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:100)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:224)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7562)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:539)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:950)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime: Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke interface method 'boolean com.swmansion.reanimated.layoutReanimation.NativeMethodsHolder.isLayoutAnimationEnabled()' on a null object reference
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.swmansion.reanimated.layoutReanimation.AnimationsManager.isLayoutAnimationEnabled(Unknown Source:2)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.swmansion.reanimated.layoutReanimation.ReaLayoutAnimator.isLayoutAnimationEnabled(Unknown Source:5)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.swmansion.reanimated.layoutReanimation.ReanimatedNativeHierarchyManager.manageChildren(Unknown Source:11)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.z0$m.b(Unknown Source:14)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.z0$a.run(Unknown Source:135)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.z0.U(Unknown Source:53)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.z0.s(Unknown Source:0)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.facebook.react.uimanager.z0$b.runGuarded(Unknown Source:2)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    at com.facebook.react.bridge.GuardedRunnable.run(Unknown Source:0)
01-11 15:34:02.883  4969  4969 E AndroidRuntime:    ... 7 more

Apparently, Reanimated is the thing that is causing the problem. But how can i fix this? Much appreciated

Answer 1

To track the issue in release mode, connect your device with Metro. Then run this command

npx react-native log-android

After that run the following command

npx react-native run-android --variant=release

Your logs will appear in Metro console.