[iOS] Instagram embed video playback broken on iOS 18.x – freezes after play, no audio
Bug description:
Instagram video embeds do not play on iOS 18.x. The embed page loads correctly and the video thumbnail with the play button is visible, but after tapping play, the video freezes on the first frame with no audio. The problem affects Instagram video embeds exclusively – all other embed types in our app work correctly. The issue does not occur on Android. This looks related to #3796, which described the same behavior and was auto-closed by the stale bot in May 2026 without a fix being merged.
To Reproduce:
- Render a WebView with an Instagram video/Reel embed URL as the source.
- Run the app on iOS 18.x.
- Tap the play button on the embedded video.
- The video freezes on the first frame, no audio plays.
Expected behavior: The video should play inline after tapping play, as it does on Android.
Screenshots/Videos:
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6fa160e9-cd65-4c3c-96e8-de5e13281d7e
Environment:
OS: iOS OS version: 18.4 react-native version: 0.84.1 react-native-webview version: 13.16.1
Source: react-native-webview/react-native-webview