Native Stack blank space appear at the bottom if headerShown is true

[AlexCernik]

Hi, in Native Stack, a black space appears at the bottom. If I change headerShown to false, this space disappears. Is anyone else having this problem?

I'm using the latest versions of react-native, react-navigation, and react-native-screens.

[github-actions]

Hey! 👋

It looks like you've omitted a few important sections from the issue template.

Please complete Description, Steps to reproduce, Snack or a link to a repository, Screens version, React Native version and Platforms sections.

[kkafar]

Hey, I've just checked on our example application & it seems to be working fine.

Screen.Recording.2025-12-18.at.11.59.24.mov

Can you try to reproduce this bug on clean application? If so, please post it as reproduction.

[AlexCernik]

Hey, I've just checked on our example application & it seems to be working fine.

Screen.Recording.2025-12-18.at.11.59.24.mov
Can you try to reproduce this bug on clean application? If so, please post it as reproduction.

Hello @kkafar, there I created this repository rn-reproducer for you to see. The problem persists in debug and release. I don't think the problem is necessarily the header.

Tested on Samsung J8 with Android 10.

az_recorder_20251218_162537.mp4

[t0maboro]

Hi @AlexCernik , would you be able to check whether this patch solves the issue? (I have only Pixel available atm, not sure whether this won't offset the header too much from the top on Samsung, but based on the 1st screenshot, I think that this snippet is worth trying)

diff --git a/android/src/main/java/com/swmansion/rnscreens/CustomToolbar.kt b/android/src/main/java/com/swmansion/rnscreens/CustomToolbar.kt
index 0ecc2fc36..8b957e13e 100644
--- a/android/src/main/java/com/swmansion/rnscreens/CustomToolbar.kt
+++ b/android/src/main/java/com/swmansion/rnscreens/CustomToolbar.kt
@@ -4,13 +4,16 @@ import android.annotation.SuppressLint
 import android.content.Context
 import android.os.Build
 import android.view.Choreographer
+import android.view.View
 import android.view.WindowInsets
 import android.view.WindowManager
 import androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
 import androidx.core.view.WindowInsetsCompat
+import com.facebook.react.bridge.ReactContext
 import com.facebook.react.modules.core.ReactChoreographer
 import com.facebook.react.uimanager.ThemedReactContext
 import com.swmansion.rnscreens.utils.InsetsCompat
+import com.swmansion.rnscreens.utils.getDecorViewTopInset
 import com.swmansion.rnscreens.utils.resolveInsetsOrZero
 import kotlin.math.max
 
@@ -139,13 +142,27 @@ open class CustomToolbar(
                 0,
             )
 
+        var maybeTopLevelDecorView: View? = null
+
+        if(context is ReactContext) {
+            val reactContext = context as ReactContext
+            maybeTopLevelDecorView =
+                requireNotNull(
+                    reactContext.currentActivity?.window?.decorView,
+                ) { "[RNScreens] DecorView is required for applying inset correction, but was null." }
+        }
+
+        val testTopInset =
+            if(maybeTopLevelDecorView!=null) getDecorViewTopInset(maybeTopLevelDecorView)
+            else max(cutoutInsets.top, if (shouldApplyTopInset) systemBarInsets.top else 0)
+
         // We want to handle display cutout always, no matter the HeaderConfig prop values.
         // If there are no cutout displays, we want to apply the additional padding to
         // respect the status bar.
         val verticalInsets =
             InsetsCompat.of(
                 0,
-                max(cutoutInsets.top, if (shouldApplyTopInset) systemBarInsets.top else 0),
+                testTopInset,
                 0,
                 max(cutoutInsets.bottom, 0),
             )

[AlexCernik]

Hi @t0maboro , unfortunately this doesn't solve the problem.
EDIT.
Using Header of @react-navigation/elements or custom does not cause this problem.

[AlexCernik]

@kkafar Apparently, the error occurs when edgeToEdgeEnabled is false, but starting with Android 15 (SDK 35), edge-to-edge is applied by default to all applications; therefore, edgeToEdgeEnabled should always be true, and so I don't know if it's a bug.

[kkafar]

@AlexCernik, yeah, setting edgeToEdgeEnabled=false in your gradle properties does not make much sense, since the targetSdk=35 is required since 31.08.25 for new apps & updates by Google Play Store.

There is no purpose in supporting such configuration on our end, and we most likely won't (unless somebody convinces me).

I'll close this ticket, since I deduce that the issue no longer persists after changing that option.

Let me know in case our attention is still required.