'RCTAppDelegate.h' file not found

Question

After updating the RN version from 0.70.6 to 0.71.4 ios pod install working, but the app doesn't build and gives an error. 'RCTAppDelegate.h' file not found any ideas??

I have tried all steps in react-native-update-helper(android works)

Updated

I don't have AppDelegate.mm so i did all changes in AppDelegate.m

Martinet

Answer 1

If you're using use_frameworks! :linkage => :static it has to come before use_react_native.

require_relative '../node_modules/react-native/scripts/react_native_pods'
require_relative '../node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-ios/native_modules'
$RNFirebaseAsStaticFramework = true # if you're using firebase

platform :ios, min_ios_version_supported
deployment_target = '13.0'
prepare_react_native_project!
# If you are using a `react-native-flipper` your iOS build will fail when `NO_FLIPPER=1` is set.
# because `react-native-flipper` depends on (FlipperKit,...) that will be excluded
#
# To fix this you can also exclude `react-native-flipper` using a `react-native.config.js`
# ```js
# module.exports = {
#   dependencies: {
#     ...(process.env.NO_FLIPPER ? { 'react-native-flipper': { platforms: { ios: null } } } : {}),
# ```
flipper_config = ENV['NO_FLIPPER'] == "1" ? FlipperConfiguration.disabled : FlipperConfiguration.enabled
linkage = ENV['USE_FRAMEWORKS']
if linkage != nil
  Pod::UI.puts "Configuring Pod with #{linkage}ally linked Frameworks".green
  use_frameworks! :linkage => linkage.to_sym
end

target 'AppName' do
  config = use_native_modules!

  # Flags change depending on the env values.
  flags = get_default_flags()

  # This has to come before use_react_native or you get AppDelegate or RCTEventEmitter not found
  use_frameworks! :linkage => :static
  
  use_react_native!(
    :path => config[:reactNativePath],
    :hermes_enabled => flags[:hermes_enabled],
    :fabric_enabled => flags[:fabric_enabled],
    # An absolute path to your application root.
    :app_path => "#{Pod::Config.instance.installation_root}/.."
  )

end

Also I am on Mac M1, and I am not excluding arm64. In my Project -> Target -> Exclude Architectures, I am only excluding i386 for both Debug and Release. Excluding arm64 caused issues with finding certain files as well. I hope something works!

Another well known issue is if you're also using react-native-splash-screens it will cause your iOS entrypoint to hang for 0.71.0 and greater. Update your AppDelegate.mm like so

@implementation AppDelegate

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
  [FIRApp configure]; // If you're using react-native firebase

  self.moduleName = @"main";
  // You can add your custom initial props in the dictionary below.
  // They will be passed down to the ViewController used by React Native.
  self.initialProps = @{};

  bool didFinish = [super application:application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:launchOptions];
   
   [RNSplashScreen show];  // this needs to be called after [super application:application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:launchOptions];
   
   return didFinish;
}

for android the builds were fine, but if you still want to open the splash screen follow the installation instructions and add import org.devio.rn.splashscreen.SplashScreen; to the import statements, then add this to the bottom of MainActivity.java

  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    SplashScreen.show(this);
    super.onCreate(null); // to ensure android is compatible with react-native-screens
  }

} // This is the final closing bracket of public class MainActivity extends ReactActivity {

Amoebocyte

Answer 2

Make sure you opened "projectName".xcworkspace and not "projectName".xcodeproj in XCode.

Ellington

Answer 3

Issue:

I had started building the app on Windows and testing on Android. I wanted to test on iOS as well, so I moved the code to my Intel Mac running Monterey.

After following the React Native Environment setup guide, I stumbled upon this error when trying to build my app:

fatal error: 'RCTAppDelegate.h' file not found
#import <RCTAppDelegate.h>

After hours of troubleshooting, I found that my Podfile in the project\ios folder was always generated empty.

> pod init
> pod install
Pod installation complete! There are 0 dependencies from the Podfile and 0 total pods installed.

I tried creating a new ReactNative project with:

> npx react-native init TestProject

And it worked and built the app without any errors.

Steps I ended up doing:

1. Downgrading Ruby:

   > brew install rbenv ruby-build
   > rbenv install 2.7.6
   > eval "$(rbenv init - zsh)"
   

2. Creating a new ReactNative project to test if everything is working smoothly

   > npx react-native init TestProject
   

3. I noticed the pod --version command showed 1.8.3, even though I had a newer version installed. After uninstalling it using sudo gem uninstall cocoapods, it still showed the same version. I had to uninstall all traces of Pod with this command:

   > which pod
   > sudo rm -rf <path>
   

4. Copied the Podfile contents of the TestProject to my main project and ran:

   > pod install
   

App built without any errors.

Derr

Answer 4

Delete the node_modules folder, along with package-lock.json

then run npm cache clean --force

and the reinstall using npm install

if you are using yard, basicly the same thing, rm yarn.lock, yarn cache clean and then yarn install

Squamulose

i did not help. Again giving same error – Martinet

Answer 5

Try to remove Pods and build folders and Podfile.lock file, then re-install pods.

Celiaceliac

Answer 6

I was able to fix this by deleting ios/build folder and reinstalling the dependencies. But I am not sure what caused this.

Ambulant

Answer 7

My issue was that I didn't have the arm architectures specifically listed in my build settings.

More specifically, in Xcode, navigate to Targets>"Your app">Build Settings>Architectures

Here, $(ARCHS_STANDARD) will already be listed by default. Add armv7, arm64, and x84_64 (this one may not be necessary) to the list.

Then clean the build folder (CMD+SHFT+K) and run pod deintegrate followed by pod install to clean install your pods.

Good luck

Overijssel