Taking a photo with high contrast (bright and shade) with device running on Android 16 even with limited size of image request crashes my app

[canaver]

Bug Report

My app running on Android 16 (Samsung S21) crashes systematically with certain types of pictures (seems to be with high contrast with a lot of light and shades) even with a request of small quality and size (e.g. quality: 30 and size 600x600).

Problem

The photo seems to take too much memory and crashes the app on returning to it.

What is expected to happen?

Once photo taken it shoud return it to the app

What does actually happen?

The app crashes and restarts.

Information

Here is an extract of LogCat:
2026-03-22 12:36:16.332 20595-20595 chromium eu.asho.shareexpenses I [INFO:CONSOLE:33508] "selectSmartCompressedImage option= [object Object]", source: http://localhost/vendor.js (33508)
2026-03-22 12:36:16.353 20595-20595 CordovaActivity eu.asho.shareexpenses D Paused the activity.
2026-03-22 12:36:16.359 20595-20704 PluginManager eu.asho.shareexpenses W THREAD WARNING: exec() call to Camera.takePicture blocked the main thread for 27ms. Plugin should use CordovaInterface.getThreadPool().
2026-03-22 12:36:16.371 20595-20595 ImeTracker eu.asho.shareexpenses I eu.asho.shareexpenses:e33b5aa2: onRequestHide at ORIGIN_CLIENT reason HIDE_SOFT_INPUT fromUser false
2026-03-22 12:36:16.371 20595-20595 InputMethodManager_LC eu.asho.shareexpenses I hsifw() - flag : 0
2026-03-22 12:36:16.371 20595-20595 InputMethodManager_LC eu.asho.shareexpenses I hsifw() - mService.hideSoftInput
2026-03-22 12:36:16.371 20595-20595 InsetsController eu.asho.shareexpenses D hide(ime(), fromIme=false)
2026-03-22 12:36:16.371 20595-20595 ImeTracker eu.asho.shareexpenses I eu.asho.shareexpenses:e33b5aa2: onCancelled at PHASE_CLIENT_ALREADY_HIDDEN
2026-03-22 12:36:16.371 20595-20595 InputMethodManagerUtils eu.asho.shareexpenses D startInputInner - Id : 0
2026-03-22 12:36:16.371 20595-20595 InputMethodManager eu.asho.shareexpenses I startInputInner - IInputMethodManagerGlobalInvoker.startInputOrWindowGainedFocus
2026-03-22 12:36:16.376 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.393 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.409 20595-20595 InputMethodManagerUtils eu.asho.shareexpenses D startInputInner - Id : 0
2026-03-22 12:36:16.410 20595-20595 InputMethodManager eu.asho.shareexpenses I startInputInner - IInputMethodManagerGlobalInvoker.startInputOrWindowGainedFocus
2026-03-22 12:36:16.411 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.416 20595-20595 ImeFocusController eu.asho.shareexpenses I onPreWindowFocus: skipped hasWindowFocus=false mHasImeFocus=true
2026-03-22 12:36:16.418 20595-20595 ImeFocusController eu.asho.shareexpenses I onPostWindowFocus: skipped hasWindowFocus=false mHasImeFocus=true
2026-03-22 12:36:16.419 20595-25222 CameraManagerGlobal eu.asho.shareexpenses I Camera 20 facing CAMERA_FACING_BACK state now CAMERA_STATE_OPENING for client com.sec.android.app.camera API Level 2 User Id 0Device Id 0
2026-03-22 12:36:16.427 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.428 20595-25222 CameraManagerGlobal eu.asho.shareexpenses I postSingleUpdate device: camera id 0 status STATUS_NOT_AVAILABLE
2026-03-22 12:36:16.429 20595-25331 CameraManagerGlobal eu.asho.shareexpenses I postSingleUpdate device: camera id 2 status STATUS_NOT_AVAILABLE
2026-03-22 12:36:16.436 20595-20595 InputMethodManagerUtils eu.asho.shareexpenses D startInputInner - Id : 0
2026-03-22 12:36:16.444 20595-25222 CameraManagerGlobal eu.asho.shareexpenses I Camera 20 facing CAMERA_FACING_BACK state now CAMERA_STATE_OPEN for client com.sec.android.app.camera API Level 2 User Id 0Device Id 0
2026-03-22 12:36:16.446 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.463 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.480 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.493 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.523 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.530 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.539 20595-20595 InputTransport eu.asho.shareexpenses D Input channel destroyed: 'ClientS', fd=262
2026-03-22 12:36:16.545 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.559 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.594 20595-20595 View eu.asho.shareexpenses I setRequestedFrameRate frameRate=-4.0, this=org.apache.cordova.engine.SystemWebView{d539c13 VFEDH.C.. .F...... 0,0-1080,2097 #64 aid=1073741824}, caller=android.view.ViewGroup.setRequestedFrameRate:9952 WV.rf.p:1 WV.rg.h:118 WV.rg.onDraw:7 com.android.webview.chromium.WebViewChromium.onDraw:19
2026-03-22 12:36:16.893 20595-25222 CameraManagerGlobal eu.asho.shareexpenses I Camera 20 facing CAMERA_FACING_BACK state now CAMERA_STATE_ACTIVE for client com.sec.android.app.camera API Level 2 User Id 0Device Id 0
2026-03-22 12:36:16.989 20595-20595 VRI[MainAc...y]@c8136d9 eu.asho.shareexpenses I handleAppVisibility mAppVisible = true visible = false
2026-03-22 12:36:16.989 20595-20595 VRI[MainAc...y]@c8136d9 eu.asho.shareexpenses D visibilityChanged oldVisibility=true newVisibility=false
2026-03-22 12:36:16.992 20595-20649 HWUI eu.asho.shareexpenses D CacheManager::trimMemory(20)
2026-03-22 12:36:17.010 20595-20595 InsetsController eu.asho.shareexpenses I onStateChanged: host=eu.asho.shareexpenses/eu.asho.shareexpenses.MainActivity, from=android.view.ViewRootImpl.onInsetsStateChanged:3026, state=InsetsState: {mDisplayFrame=Rect(0, 0 - 1080, 2340), mDisplayCutout=DisplayCutout{insets=Rect(0, 99 - 0, 0) waterfall=Insets{left=0, top=0, right=0, bottom=0} boundingRect={Bounds=[Rect(0, 0 - 0, 0), Rect(505, 0 - 575, 99), Rect(0, 0 - 0, 0), Rect(0, 0 - 0, 0)]} cutoutPathParserInfo={CutoutPathParserInfo{displayWidth=1080 displayHeight=2340 physicalDisplayWidth=1080 physicalDisplayHeight=2340 density={3.0} cutoutSpec={M 0,0 M 0,29 a 35,35 0 1,0 0,70 a 35,35 0 1,0 0,-70 Z} rotation={0} scale={1.0} physicalPixelDisplaySizeRatio={1.0}}} sideOverrides={}}, mRoundedCorners=RoundedCorners{[RoundedCorner{position=TopLeft, radius=108, center=Point(108, 108)}, RoundedCorner{position=TopRight, radius=108, center=Point(972, 108)}, RoundedCorner{position=BottomRight, radius=108, center=Point(972, 2232)}, RoundedCorner{position=BottomLeft, radius=108, center=Point(108, 2232)}]} mRoundedCornerFrame=Rect(0, 0 - 1080, 2340), mPrivacyIndicatorBounds=PrivacyIndicatorBounds {static bounds=Rect(948, 0 - 1080, 99) rotation=0}, mDisplayShape=DisplayShape{ spec=-311912193 displayWidth=1080 displayHeight=2340 physicalPixelDisplaySizeRatio=1.0 rotation=0 offsetX=0 offsetY=0 scale=1.0}, mSources= { InsetsSource: {f2070001 mType=navigationBars mFrame=[0,2196][1080,2340] mVisible=true mFlags= mSideHint=BOTTOM mBoundingRects=null}, InsetsSource: {f2070004 mType=systemGestures mFrame=[0,0][0,0] mVisible=true mFlags= mSideHint=NONE mBoundingRects=null}, InsetsSource: {f2070005 mType=mandatorySystemGestures mFrame=[0,2196][1080,2340] mVisible=true mFlags= mSideHint=BOTTOM mBoundingRects=null}, InsetsSource: {f2070006 mType=tappableElement mFrame=[0,2196][1080,2340] mVisible=true mFlags= mSideHint=BOTTOM mBoundingRects=null}, InsetsSource: {f2070024 mType=systemGestures mFrame=[0,0][0,0] mVisible=true mFlags= mSideHint=NONE mBoundingRects=null}, InsetsSource: {3 mType=ime mFrame=[0,0][0,0] mVisible=false mFlags= mSideHint=NONE mBoundingRects=null}, InsetsSource: {27 mType=displayCutout mFrame=[0,0][1080,99] mVisible=true mFlags= mSideHint=TOP mBoundingRects=null}, InsetsSource: {4d8d0000 mType=statusBars mFrame=[0,0][1080,99] mVisible=false mFlags= mSideHint=TOP mBoundingRects=null}, InsetsSource: {4d8d0005 mType=mandatorySystemGestures mFrame=[0,0][1080,135] mVisible=true mFlags= mSideHint=TOP mBoundingRects=null}, InsetsSource: {4d8d0006 mType=tappableElement mFrame=[0,0][1080,99] mVisible=true mFlags= mSideHint=TOP mBoundingRects=null} }
2026-03-22 12:36:17.021 20595-20595 VRI[MainAc...y]@c8136d9 eu.asho.shareexpenses I Relayout returned: old=(0,0,1080,2340) new=(0,0,1080,2340) relayoutAsync=false req=(1080,2340)8 dur=24 res=0x2 s={false 0x0} ch=true seqId=0
2026-03-22 12:36:17.041 20595-20595 VRI[MainAc...y]@c8136d9 eu.asho.shareexpenses D Not drawing due to not visible. Reason=!mAppVisible && !mForceDecorViewVisibility
2026-03-22 12:36:17.043 20595-20649 HWUI eu.asho.shareexpenses D CacheManager::trimMemory(20)
2026-03-22 12:36:17.048 20595-20595 VRI[MainAc...y]@c8136d9 eu.asho.shareexpenses I stopped(true) old = false
2026-03-22 12:36:17.048 20595-20595 VRI[MainAc...y]@c8136d9 eu.asho.shareexpenses D WindowStopped on eu.asho.shareexpenses/eu.asho.shareexpenses.MainActivity set to true
2026-03-22 12:36:17.049 20595-20649 HWUI eu.asho.shareexpenses D CacheManager::trimMemory(20)
2026-03-22 12:36:17.059 20595-20595 AutofillManager eu.asho.shareexpenses I onInvisibleForAutofill(): expiringResponse
2026-03-22 12:36:17.062 20595-20595 CordovaActivity eu.asho.shareexpenses D Stopped the activity.
2026-03-22 12:36:17.089 1932-7577 WindowManager system_server E win=Window{5a7044 u0 eu.asho.shareexpenses/eu.asho.shareexpenses.MainActivity} destroySurfaces: appStopped=true cleanupOnResume=false win.mWindowRemovalAllowed=false win.mRemoveOnExit=false win.mViewVisibility=8 caller=com.android.server.wm.ActivityRecord.destroySurfaces:25 com.android.server.wm.ActivityRecord.activityStopped:192 com.android.server.wm.ActivityClientController.activityStopped:97 android.app.IActivityClientController$Stub.onTransact:740 com.android.server.wm.ActivityClientController.onTransact:1 android.os.Binder.execTransactInternal:1462 android.os.Binder.execTransact:1401
2026-03-22 12:36:17.105 20595-20595 BBA2 eu.asho.shareexpenses D setIsFg isFg = false; delayValue 3999ms
2026-03-22 12:36:23.420 20595-20662 cr_ChildProcessConn eu.asho.shareexpenses W onServiceDisconnected (crash or killed by oom): pid=20665 bindings:W S
2026-03-22 12:36:23.501 20595-20595 chromium eu.asho.shareexpenses E [ERROR:android_webview/browser/aw_browser_terminator.cc:175] Renderer process (20665) crash detected (code -1).
2026-03-22 12:36:23.520 20595-20595 chromium eu.asho.shareexpenses E [ERROR:android_webview/browser/aw_browser_terminator.cc:122] Render process (20665) kill (OOM or update) wasn't handed by all associated webviews, killing application.
---------------------------- PROCESS STARTED (30429) for package eu.asho.shareexpenses ----------------------------

Command or Code

Take a photo in landscape mode with quality mentioned above or higher of the Mac desktop wallpaper on Sequoia version.

Environment, Platform, Device

Samsung S21FE running on Android 16

Version information

Ionic 6.4.1
Cordova Android ^14.0.1
Cordova Camera 8.0.0

Checklist

• I searched for existing GitHub issues
• I updated all Cordova tooling to most recent version
• I included all the necessary information above

[breautek]

erminator.cc:122] Render process (20665) kill (OOM or update) wasn't handed by all associated webviews, killing application.

Out of Memory (OOM) is very likely if you're using data uris instead of file uris.

There isn't enough information provided to know if this is actually what is happened. If you can show us how you're using the camera api, then we can probably tell you if that usage has a high risk of memory issues.

From cordova docs:

NOTE: Photo resolution on newer devices is quite good. Photos selected from the device's gallery are not downscaled to a lower quality, even if a quality parameter is specified. To avoid common memory problems, set Camera.destinationType to FILE_URI rather than DATA_URL.

[canaver]

Hi @breautek , yes, I knew this; here is the full list of parameters used below. I played with the first 3 but as I said, even with reduced quality and size, it didn't prevent to crash my app. I also played with the last 2 but same.
option = {
quality: 30,
targetWidth: 600,
targetHeight: 600,
destinationType: camera.DestinationType.FILE_URI,
encodingType: camera.EncodingType.JPEG,
saveToPhotoAlbum: false,
correctOrientation: false,
storeToFile: true
};

[breautek]

thanks for confirming... That rules out the most common source of OOMs.

quality: 30,
targetWidth: 600,
targetHeight: 600,

These are likely the cause in your case tbh.. because I know the resize logic is pretty dumb and in order to manipulate the image to shrink the resolution it first needs to load the original image in memory and it does it via a bitmap which is not very conservative to memory consumption, as it basically decodes the image into pixel byte array where each pixel consumes 4 bytes (int32).

This worked fine 10 years ago when phones produced small images naturally but a modern device with a 50mp resolution, you can get a picture anywheres between 4000x3000 to 8000x6000 resolution images. Sometimes even higher on flagship device with full resolution settings enabled.

While encoded as jpeg or png they may be relatively large, but still tiny compared to raw int32 which would consume between 45mb to 183mb

And that data sizes might not sound like much but the per-app memory heaps are still typically limited to 128-256mb in Android, even if the device has several GB of memory available. Android has a largeHeap setting that can be enabled -- not 100% sure how much memory that allows the app to allocate in the Dalvik VM but it's typically not a great solution because if the dalvik (java) vm is processing that much memory it tends to get extremely slow, but it might be solution for you for the short term.

For proof... you can try temporarily omitting the quality and target dimension settings. Also don't use correctOrientation. All of these settings makes it load the image as a bitmap to do image manipulation, which is likely the source of the issue. Without these settings, the file should simply get saved to disk without the bitmap load step. I'd expect that you'll find the OOM issues will stop.

Of course, now you would have full resolution images instead of smaller images... so if resizing is very important, finding an alternate library to do the resizing will likely be your best solution. If the resizing logic occurs outside of the dalvik VM, as in via native C library then it isn't subjected to that 128mb heap memory restriction since it has raw memory access. It can use as much memory as the device has physically available.