The 'navigation' object hasn't been initialized yet" — conference screen never mounts

[ivandotv]

What happened?

I'm using the latest master with the new architecture.

I believe that this is connected to React Navigation version mismatch, but I would like to hear your opinion.

| React Native | `0.83.2` (**New Architecture / Fabric enabled**, Hermes) |
| React | `19.2.0` |
| Expo SDK | `55.0.5` (Expo Router as the host navigator) |
| Host navigation | `@react-navigation/native` **7.x** (via expo-router) |

When embedding <JitsiMeeting> inside an app that already uses React Navigation
(Expo Router / React Navigation v7), appNavigate is dispatched from
AbstractApp.componentDidMount/componentDidUpdate before the SDK's own
root NavigationContainer has finished mounting. navigateRoot() then calls
rootNavigationRef.current?.navigate(...) on a container that isn't ready yet,
and React Navigation throws:

The 'navigation' object hasn't been initialized yet. This might happen if you
don't have a navigator mounted, or if the navigator hasn't finished mounting.

The error fires repeatedly (from both componentDidMount and
componentDidUpdate). The SDK shows its initial Connecting route
(initialRouteName of the root stack) but the conference screen
(replaceRoot(screen.conference.root)) never mounts, so the UI is stuck on
"Connecting you to your meeting…" and the call never starts.

Platform

• Chrome (or Chromium based)
• Firefox
• Safari
• Other desktop browser
• Android browser
• iOS browser
• Electron app
• Android mobile app
• iOS mobile app
• Custom app using a mobile SDK

Browser / app / sdk version

@jitsi/react-native-sdk built from master @ 223e6f0941f568762990af1cb58b487ec7171871 (nearest published: 12.1.3);

Relevant log output

The 'navigation' object hasn't been initialized yet. This might happen if you don't have a navigator mounted, or if the navigator hasn't finished mounting. See https://reactnavigation.org/docs/navigating-without-navigation-prop#handling-initialization for more details.

Reproducibility

• The problem is reproducible on meet.jit.si

More details?

No response

[Calinteodor]

Hello. You are using react navigation v7, right? Unfortunately we haven't migrated, yet. We also don't test under expo-router, so that setup is unsupported for now.

[ivandotv]

Yes, since version 53, Expo SDK has used react-navigation v7. And as of version 56 (which was just released), they have forked react-navigation and are now using their own internal implementation.

Am I correct in assuming that jitsi might not work with expo in the near future, especially considering that expo is using its own implementation of react-navigation?

Also, is there a possibility that react-navigation in jitsi will be removed or replaced with something else?

[Calinteodor]

Correct for the first assumption. For the second one, no. We are not planning on replacing react navigation with something else. Most certainly we will upgrade to v7, but not replace it.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.