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Android hit-testing rejects touches for children positioned outside parent bounds when view flattening is disabled (Reanimated) #54659
Description
Description
507139468-7bdc03a6-eaec-4df1-8ac7-8bfa2f3bd757.mp4
<Animated.View className="flex-1 items-center justify-center bg-red-600">
<Animated.View className="h-40 w-48 bg-green-800">
<Animated.View className="absolute top-96 h-20 bg-blue-800">
<Switch onValueChange={setIsEnabled} value={isEnabled} />
</Animated.View>
</Animated.View>
</Animated.View>There is an Android-only touches limitation in react native that becomes visible when using Reanimated’s Animated.View
Touch events are not delivered to children that are visually positioned outside the parent’s bounds(using position:absolute)
This does not happen on iOS due to the different hit-testing model used by UIKit.
here is what i think:
react native’s android hit-testing logic is implemented in:
TouchTargetHelper
Android rejects the touch as soon as:
x < 0 || x > view.width || y < 0 || y > view.height
So even if the child is visually outside, hit-testing is clipped to the parent rectangle.
Why it appears with Reanimated:
Reanimated intentionally disables view flattening (collapsable={false}) and assigns a custom nativeID for layout animations.
This changes the underlying native hierarchy in a way that exposes Android’s clipping limitation more often.
A plain RN is often flattened, so the child becomes the direct hit-target.
An Animated.View is not flattened, the parent remains the hit-target, android rejects touches outside its bounds.
So the underlying behavior comes from React Native Android, not from Reanimated.
This issue does not happen on iOS.
Expected behavior
on android i should be able to touch on absolutely positioned elements just as IOS. This would match iOS behavior
i opened an issue on react-native-reanimated and i think the root cause is from react native
software-mansion/react-native-reanimated#8497
Steps to reproduce
1- Create an Animated.View as the main container (for example, a full-screen red background).
2- Inside that container, create another Animated.View. this will act as the parent box (for example, a green box with fixed width and height).
3- Inside the green box, create a third Animated.View that has position: 'absolute' and a large top value so it goes outside the green box
4- Inside that absolutely positioned blue box, create a touchable element such as a Switch from react native
5- Run the app on Android and try interacting with the Switch:
You’ll notice that the Switch doesn’t respond to touches when it’s outside the green box (its parent).
6- Run the same setup on iOS, the Switch works normally, even when positioned outside the parent’s layout.
React Native Version
0.81.4
Affected Platforms
Build - Windows
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: 6.26 GB / 15.78 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
*
MANDATORY Reproducer
Screenshots and Videos
No response
Activity
react-native-bot commentedon Nov 24, 2025
Warning
Missing reproducer: We could not detect a reproducible example in your issue report. Reproducers are mandatory and we can accept only one of those as a valid reproducer:
You can read more about about it on our website: How to report a bug.
react-native-bot commentedon Dec 19, 2025
This issue is waiting for author's feedback since 24 days. Please provide the requested feedback or this will be closed in 7 days.
devanshsaini11 commentedon Jan 6, 2026
@khldonAlkateeh Can u provide repro using Reproducer Template
Dinkelborg commentedon Jan 19, 2026
@khldonAlkateeh Did you solve this Issue or find some kind of workaround?
If not, could you please provide a reproduction example so react-native can pick this up?
react-native-bot commentedon Feb 13, 2026
This issue is waiting for author's feedback since 24 days. Please provide the requested feedback or this will be closed in 7 days.
react-native-bot commentedon Mar 9, 2026
This issue is waiting for author's feedback since 24 days. Please provide the requested feedback or this will be closed in 7 days.
react-native-bot commentedon Apr 3, 2026
This issue is waiting for author's feedback since 24 days. Please provide the requested feedback or this will be closed in 7 days.
react-native-bot commentedon Apr 27, 2026
This issue is waiting for author's feedback since 24 days. Please provide the requested feedback or this will be closed in 7 days.
react-native-bot commentedon May 4, 2026
This issue was closed because it has been stalled for 7 days with no activity.