Creating a page with a template is very slow on certain devices

[antonis]

Expected behavior

When creating a new page with template the editor starts normally

Actual behavior

Creating a page with a template is very slow on certain devices.
At this point the problem has been observed on Pixel devices but it may be more wide spread.

device-2021-07-14-085935.mp4

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Try to create a new blank page
2. Verify that the editor opens with no delay
3. Try to create a new page with any template
4. Observe that the editor loads forever or starts with a really big delay

Tested on:

• Pixel 2 XL, Android 11, WPAndroid 17.7 💥
• Pixel 5, Android 11, WPAndroid 17.7 💥
• Pixel 5, Android 12, WPAndroid 17.7 💥
• Pixel 3a, Android 11, WPAndroid 17.7 💥
• Samsung Galaxy S21, Android 11, WPAndroid 17.8-rc-1 💥
• Samsung Galaxy S20, Android 11, WPAndroid 17.8-rc-1 💥
• Redmi Note 8T, Android 10 👻
• Samsung Galaxy S7edge, Android 8, WPAndroid 17.8-rc-1 ✅
• Emulator (any) ✅

[antonis]

The issue seems to start with the upgrade of React Native to 0.64 (Gutenberg mobile v1.56.0-alpha1).
Checking APK artifacts from the commits on develop from June 16th:

• 0db39c7 ✅
• 238a442 💥

[thehenrybyrd]

I was able to reproduce on Samsung Galaxy S21, Android 11, WPAndroid 17.8-rc-1.

Screen_Recording_20210714-121543_WordPress.mp4

After waiting more than 30 seconds for it to load, I tapped the back button which initiated saving. This took another 20 seconds.
After leaving the new Page, I can find it in the Drafts list and tap on it. The editor loads immediately in this case.

[hypest]

FWIW, can't reproduce on a Galaxy S7 Edge running Android 8.0, WPAndroid v17.8-rc-1.

I do replicate on a Pixel 2XL, Android 11., WPAndroid v17.8-rc-1.

[antonis]

Among other things I tried to clear the initialData when it reaches Gutenberg . Even in that case the problem still persists 😞
This makes me think that something breaks on certain devices when passing the data above the RN bridge.

[dcalhoun]

I replicated the issue with Samsung Galaxy S20, Android 11, WPAndroid 17.8-rc-1. After tapping the back button, loading the Page from Drafts loaded immediately.

[antonis]

The same behaviour is observed in the other two cases where we initialize the editor with content:

• Reblog
• Share action

reblog.mp4

share.mp4

[dcalhoun]

The same behaviour is observed in the other two cases where we initialize the editor with content:

• Reblog
• Share action

@antonis good find! I captured Reblog in #14972, but didn't realize the connection. It looks like someone captured Sharing in #15023 as well.

[antonis]

Good catch @dcalhoun 👍
Thank you for linking the issues 🙇
It seems that something is broken when we try to pass content over the RNBridge in RN0.64 😢

[geriux]

Yesterday I tried it on my Redmi Note 8T running Android 10 and it worked, today I turned on my phone to test it again and its failing, it gets stuck loading too :(

[antonis]

Fixed with #15027 in 17.8