Window not gaining focus on app start

[mgarv-amzn]

Problem Description

When the React Native Windows app launches, the main window does not automatically receive keyboard focus. This means:

• Users cannot immediately interact with the app using keyboard navigation (Tab, Enter, arrow keys, etc.)

• Accessibility tools (screen readers) don't announce the app content on launch

• Users must first click inside the window before keyboard input is recognized

Steps To Reproduce

• Create a new React Native Windows app
• Add a first component not focusable
• Add a focusable element (e.g., a Pressable or TextInput)
• Launch the app
• Without clicking, try pressing Tab or interacting via keyboard
• Observe that nothing happens until the window is clicked

Expected Results

Expected behavior:

When the app window opens and becomes the foreground window, it should automatically have keyboard focus so that:

• Tab navigation works immediately
• The first focusable element (or a designated autoFocus element) receives focus

Actual behavior:

The window appears in the foreground but keyboard focus is not set. The user must click inside the window before any keyboard/focus-based interaction works. This is particularly problematic for:

• Accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1 requires operable keyboard interfaces)
• Users who rely on keyboard-only navigation

CLI version

20.0.0

Environment

System:
  OS: Windows 11 10.0.26100
  CPU: (16) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 7 265H
  Memory: 30.96 GB / 63.43 GB
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 22.22.0
    path: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.22
    path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Yarn\bin\yarn.CMD
  npm:
    version: 10.9.4
    path: C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.CMD
  Watchman: Not Found
SDKs:
  Android SDK: Not Found
  Windows SDK:
    AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense: Enabled
    AllowAllTrustedApps: Enabled
    Versions:
      - 10.0.19041.0
      - 10.0.22621.0
      - 10.0.26100.0
IDEs:
  Android Studio: Not Found
  Visual Studio:
    - 17.14.37216.2 (Visual Studio Community 2022)
    - 16.11.37206.5 (Visual Studio Professional 2019)
Languages:
  Java: Not Found
  Ruby:
    version: 3.0.2
    path: C:\tools\ruby30\bin\ruby.exe
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli":
    installed: 20.0.0
    wanted: 20.0.0
  react:
    installed: 19.1.4
    wanted: 19.1.4
  react-native:
    installed: 0.81.6
    wanted: 0.81.6
  react-native-windows:
    installed: 0.81.15
    wanted: 0.81.15
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: Not found
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: Not found

Community Modules

No response

Target React Native Architecture

None

Target Platform Version

None

Visual Studio Version

None

Build Configuration

None

Snack, code example, screenshot, or link to a repository

No response