Storage is not retained after force quit and re-open of app

[samtsai]

Current behavior

Items set via AsyncStorage seem to be cleared on apps that are forced quit and re-opened.

Expected behavior

Storage should persist even if an app is forced quit and also with app updates (but I have not tested this scenario yet).

Repro steps

Follow basic example code https://react-native-async-storage.github.io/async-storage/docs/api#useasyncstorage to get / set an item.

• on App load, getItem
• show a modal on first time loading the app and upon clicking the "Accept" button triggers the setItem
• switch out of the app
• come back and app state is remembered
• force quit
• re-open app
• modal dialog is shown again but shouldn't be if state is remembered

I've also added Sentry exception calls in the catch but not receiving any errors so I don't think AsyncStorage is failing.

Environment

• Platforms tested:
  • Android
  • iOS
  • macOS
  • Windows
• AsyncStorage version: ^1.13.2
• Environment:

System:
OS: macOS 10.15.7
CPU: (8) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz
Memory: 751.25 MB / 16.00 GB
Shell: 5.7.1 - /bin/zsh
Binaries:
Node: 15.5.1 - /var/folders/36/vnmypcbj02xf8_c2fp8gnl700000gn/T/yarn--1610253002684-0.4976098686317718/node
Yarn: 1.22.10 - /var/folders/36/vnmypcbj02xf8_c2fp8gnl700000gn/T/yarn--1610253002684-0.4976098686317718/yarn
npm: 7.3.0 - /usr/local/bin/npm
Watchman: 4.9.0 - /usr/local/bin/watchman
Managers:
CocoaPods: 1.10.1 - /usr/local/bin/pod
SDKs:
iOS SDK:
Platforms: iOS 14.3, DriverKit 20.2, macOS 11.1, tvOS 14.3, watchOS 7.2
Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
Android Studio: 4.1 AI-201.8743.12.41.6953283
Xcode: 12.3/12C33 - /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
Java: 12.0.1 - /usr/bin/javac
Python: 2.7.16 - /usr/bin/python
npmPackages:
@react-native-community/cli: Not Found
react: 16.13.1 => 16.13.1
react-native: 0.63.4 => 0.63.4
react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
react-native: Not Found

Also using Expo SDK 40 in a managed workflow.

• Logs/Errors that may be relevant:

Might be related to #517

[peracc]

Same here. It is somehow working on an Android emulator device and not working on a real android device (api 21).

[samtsai]

Works on iOS simulator as well, was able to confirm with logging to Sentry.

[samtsai]

Is this still true? https://react-native-async-storage.github.io/async-storage/docs/help/troubleshooting#rncasyncstorage-nativemodule-asyncstorage-is-null

This package will not work when using Expo in Managed workflow?

[peracc]

@samtsai I use bare workflow and still have this issue

[samtsai]

@peracc did this use to work for you? I have not used the library until now, I may try downgrading versions.

[peracc]

@samtsai Nope, I have not used it too

[peracc]

@samtsai Do you use redux-persist? Because I do. My case:

• App loads
• Start timer and save the state using 'redux-persist'
• App goes background, save the state directly using AsyncStorage.setItem('persist:<my_key', adaptToReduxPersist(state))
• App closes
• 'redux-persist' loads last persisted state.

I have to use backgroundTimer to save state when app is background. The problem is that 'redux-persist' uses setTimeout to persist state using AsyncStorage which (setTimeout) does not work in background, so I have to save the state directly using AsyncStorage.
It is not the best solution (probably, not a good at all) but for me it is working now. But I'm still testing.

PS
To set state directly in AsyncStorage I serialize the state like this:

function adaptToReduxPersist(mockValue) {
  // redux-persist converts total value and top-level properties to //string:
  // Es: {a: {foo: 'bar'}} -> {a: JSON.stringify({foo: 'bar'})} -> //JSON.stringify({a: JSON.stringify({foo: 'bar'})});
  // so in order for the tests to work properly, we need to simulate //this behavior
  const partialConversion = Object.keys(mockValue).reduce((acc, key) => {
    acc[key] = JSON.stringify(mockValue[key]);
    return acc;
  }, {});
  return JSON.stringify(partialConversion);
}

(source)

[samtsai]

Hm... interesting. My use case is fairly simple, no redux-persist just:

• check for existing storage key
• skip modal if it exists
• show modal if it doesn't exist
• user clicks button on modal and it saves to storage

So next time opening the app it should not show the modal, whether that's force quit, hopefully update will just work too, or bring app up from background.

[tido64]

@samtsai: Are you using Expo's managed workflow? If so, you cannot use this module as explained here: https://docs.expo.io/introduction/managed-vs-bare/. Otherwise, please provide a minimal repro if you want us to take a look.

[samtsai]

@samtsai: Are you using Expo's managed workflow? If so, you cannot use this module as explained here: https://docs.expo.io/introduction/managed-vs-bare/. Otherwise, please provide a minimal repro if you want us to take a look.

Yes I am using managed workflow, it just wasn't clear in the docs that this project doesn't support managed.

Looks like I'll plan to eject and try it out that way.

[tido64]

To be clear, this is not AsyncStorage not supporting Expo's managed workflow. It's the other way around.

[samtsai]

It's also confusing because of https://expo.canny.io/feature-requests/p/continued-support-for-asyncstorage. I will ask the Expo group.

[krizzu]

Expo is supported through using a deprecated version of AsyncStorage (that comes with react-native itself). This was mainly to avoid confusion on which version should be used (community or bundled).

@samtsai Care to provide a code snippet/repo that can reproduce the issue?

[samtsai]

Expo is supported through using a deprecated version of AsyncStorage (that comes with react-native itself). This was mainly to avoid confusion on which version should be used (community or bundled).

@samtsai Care to provide a code snippet/repo that can reproduce the issue?

To my embarrassment, it was an implementation detail that caused this. Thanks for the clarification @krizzu and @tido64
I have it working now and published the app to production!