[BUG]: External Subtitles Not Working in Latest Versions (`onTextTracks` returns null)

[mrrobot-XX]

Version

6.18.0

What platforms are you having the problem on?

Android

System Version

Android 12

On what device are you experiencing the issue?

Real device

Architecture

Old architecture

What happened?

Hi, I'm reporting a breaking issue affecting all versions after 6.15.0.

---

✅ Working Version:

react-native-video@6.15.0

❌ Broken Versions (tested):

6.16.0
6.17.0
6.18.0 (latest)

---

Issue Description

External subtitles (VTT/SRT) do not load in the latest versions.

• The video plays normally, but subtitles never display.
• onTextTracks() returns null or an empty array.
• No subtitle item appears for selection.
• Selecting subtitle manually also does nothing.

The same code works perfectly on version 6.15.0, so this is a regression.

---

Code Example (Working only on 6.15.0)

<Video
  useExoPlayer={true}
  source={{ uri: videoUrl }}
  textTracks={[
    {
      title: "English",
      language: "en",
      type: TextTrackType.VTT,
      uri: subtitleUrl,
    },
  ]}
  selectedTextTrack={{
    type: "index",
    value: 0,
  }}
  onTextTracks={(tracks) => {
    console.log("Subtitle tracks:", tracks);
  }}
/>

---

Current Behavior (Bug)

• onTextTracks → returns: null or []
• Subtitles never appear
• Cannot select subs or display them at runtime

---

Expected Behavior

• textTracks should load the external subtitle file
• onTextTracks should return available subtitle tracks
• Selected subtitle should be displayed during playback (like in 6.15.0)

---

Notes

This affects:

• Android (ExoPlayer path)
• External subtitles (not embedded)
• .vtt, .srt, .vtt remote URLs

---

Impact

This breaks accessibility and multilingual playback support. Many streaming apps rely on subtitles — so this is a major regression.

---

Request

Please fix this subtitle regression in the latest version or provide guidance / patch.

I’m available to test builds and provide logs if needed.

Reproduction Link

repository link

Reproduction

Step to reproduce this bug are:

[github-actions]

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[2004durgesh]

This PR fixes this issue
For a similar issue, see #4614.

As a temporary workaround until this PR is merged, use:

"react-native-video": "github:pigeonmal/react-native-video#ajami1.4.1"

Then remove the Expo plugin, as it will not work.
Keep the native configurations intact.

atlast do

npm run android # to build the project

[mrrobot-XX]

@2004durgesh Thanks a lot, I’ll test this and let you know.