App crashes on splash screen after upgrading to Cordova 11.0.0 on any API level less than 30. 31 + work.

[Christy-Kuruvilla-PWS]

Bug Report

Problem

After upgrading to Cordova 11.0.0 from 8.0.0, the app is crashing on the splash screen. Before this error I hadn't changed the config.xml to handle the new splash screen for API level 31 and up. Even without doing anything API levels 31 and up work without crashing and show the icon during the splash.

What is expected to happen?

Launch normally in api level 30 and below after splash, just like api 31 and up.

What does actually happen?

it crashes on this line for splash_screen_view .MainActivity}: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #24 layout/splash_screen_view

Information

I saw this ticket number 1534 that had a similar issue. I tried what was suggested and it didn't work for me. This ticket also mentioned 1479, I also tied what was mentioned here which didn't work either.

The following Cordova 11 Doc mentions that the old tags are to be removed from the config.xml file and replaced with 'AndroidWindowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon'. I removed all my splash tags and added the new preference. The following is a copy of my Android platform config

<platform name="android">
        <icon density="ldpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-ldpi-icon.png" />
        <icon density="mdpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-mdpi-icon.png" />
        <icon density="hdpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-hdpi-icon.png" />
        <icon density="xhdpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-xhdpi-icon.png" />
        <icon density="xxhdpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-xxhdpi-icon.png" />
        <icon density="xxxhdpi" src="resources/android/icon/drawable-xxxhdpi-icon.png" />
        <preference name="AndroidWindowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon" value="resources/splash.xml" />
        <preference name="AndroidWindowSplashScreenBackground" value="#6F7378" />
        <custom-config-file parent="/*" target="AndroidManifest.xml">
            <application android:allowBackup="false" android:hardwareAccelerated="true" android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher" android:label="@string/app_name" android:supportsRtl="true">
                <activity android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|keyboard|screenSize|locale" android:exported="true" android:label="@string/activity_name" android:launchMode="singleTop" android:name="MainActivity" android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar" android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize">
                    <intent-filter android:label="@string/launcher_name">
                        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
                    </intent-filter>
                </activity>
                <meta-data android:name="io.fabric.ApiKey" android:value="xxxxxxx" />
            </application>
        </custom-config-file>
    </platform>

I crated the xml file by converting a png to an svg and then using the svg in the Android Asset studio for Images to create the xml. I used a new temp project to do this and copied just the ic_launcher_foreground.xml. Is this wrong way to go about it? The Cordova doc suggests that this is all that is needed for backward compatibility.

Crash Report

D/PluginManager: startupPlugins: put - CoreAndroid D/PluginManager: postMessage: setupSplashScreen D/AndroidRuntime: Shutting down VM E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main Process: com.company.app, PID: 1832 java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.company.app/com.company.app.MainActivity}: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #24 in com.company.app:layout/splash_screen_view: Failed to resolve attribute at index 0: TypedValue{t=0x2/d=0x7f0300df a=-1} at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3449) at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3601) at android.app.servertransaction.LaunchActivityItem.execute(LaunchActivityItem.java:85) at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeCallbacks(TransactionExecutor.java:135) at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.execute(TransactionExecutor.java:95) at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2066) at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106) at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:223) at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7656) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:592) at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:947) Caused by: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #24 in com.company.app:layout/splash_screen_view: Failed to resolve attribute at index 0: TypedValue{t=0x2/d=0x7f0300df a=-1} Caused by: java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Failed to resolve attribute at index 0: TypedValue{t=0x2/d=0x7f0300df a=-1} at android.content.res.TypedArray.getLayoutDimension(TypedArray.java:826) at android.view.ViewGroup$LayoutParams.setBaseAttributes(ViewGroup.java:8231) at android.view.ViewGroup$MarginLayoutParams.<init>(ViewGroup.java:8429) at android.widget.FrameLayout$LayoutParams.<init>(FrameLayout.java:452) at android.widget.FrameLayout.generateLayoutParams(FrameLayout.java:380) at android.widget.FrameLayout.generateLayoutParams(FrameLayout.java:58) at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:1123) at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflateChildren(LayoutInflater.java:1082) at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:680) at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:532) at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:479) at android.view.View.inflate(View.java:26707) at androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreenViewProvider$ViewImpl$_splashScreenView$2.invoke(SplashScreenViewProvider.kt:94) at androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreenViewProvider$ViewImpl$_splashScreenView$2.invoke(SplashScreenViewProvider.kt:93) at kotlin.SynchronizedLazyImpl.getValue(LazyJVM.kt:74) at androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreenViewProvider$ViewImpl.get_splashScreenView(SplashScreenViewProvider.kt:93) at androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreenViewProvider$ViewImpl.createSplashScreenView(SplashScreenViewProvider.kt:103) at androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreenViewProvider.<init>(SplashScreenViewProvider.kt:52) at androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreen$Impl.setOnExitAnimationListener(SplashScreen.kt:305) at androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreen.setOnExitAnimationListener(SplashScreen.kt:185) at org.apache.cordova.SplashScreenPlugin.setupSplashScreen(SplashScreenPlugin.java:141) at org.apache.cordova.SplashScreenPlugin.onMessage(SplashScreenPlugin.java:113) at org.apache.cordova.PluginManager.lambda$postMessage$0(PluginManager.java:345) at org.apache.cordova.PluginManager$$ExternalSyntheticLambda0.accept(Unknown Source:8) at java.util.LinkedHashMap.forEach(LinkedHashMap.java:721) at java.util.Collections$SynchronizedMap.forEach(Collections.java:2698) at org.apache.cordova.PluginManager.postMessage(PluginManager.java:343) at org.apache.cordova.CordovaActivity.init(CordovaActivity.java:161) at org.apache.cordova.CordovaActivity.loadUrl(CordovaActivity.java:234) at com.company.app.MainActivity.onCreate(MainActivity.java:40) at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:8000) E/AndroidRuntime: at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:7984) at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1309) at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3422) at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3601) at android.app.servertransaction.LaunchActivityItem.execute(LaunchActivityItem.java:85) at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeCallbacks(TransactionExecutor.java:135) at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.execute(TransactionExecutor.java:95) at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2066) at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106) at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:223) at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7656) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:592) at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:947)

Command or Code

cordova prepare

grunt init

cordova build android --debug

Environment, Platform, Device

Android API level <= 30

Version information

Mac OS Bug Sur 11.7.1

Android Studio Electric Eel | 2022.1.1

Cordova Android 11.0.0

Checklist

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

[prabusharan]

Fatal Exception: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.baniyan.travels/com.baniyan.MainActivity}: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #24 in com.baniyan.layout/splash_screen_view: Failed to resolve attribute at index 0: TypedValue{t=0x2/d=0x7f030243 a=-1} at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3606) at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3778) at android.app.servertransaction.LaunchActivityItem.execute(LaunchActivityItem.java:85) at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeCallbacks(TransactionExecutor.java:135) at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.execute(TransactionExecutor.java:95) at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2210) at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106) at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:236) at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8097) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java) at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:620) at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1011)

Android 13 is working fine but lower android versions like 11, 10, and 9 have this same issue occurred

[prabusharan]

@breautek Cloud you please help me to resolve above the issue Android 12 & 13 is working fine but lower android versions like 11, 10, 9, 8 & below have this same issue occurred

[Christy-Kuruvilla-PWS]

@breautek I noticed you mentioned an 'ic_cdv_splashscreen.xml' file in a similar issue. I verified this for my project and I do have the resource mentioned in the proper path and I still seem to get this crash. Any thoughts on what else I could try?

[breautek]

@breautek I noticed you mentioned an 'ic_cdv_splashscreen.xml' file in a similar issue. I verified this for my project and I do have the resource mentioned in the proper path and I still seem to get this crash. Any thoughts on what else I could try?

Personally I don't use xml/vectors, instead I used a rasterized PNG. It's not the recommended approach, but it seems to be easier to support/maintain. This has the limitation of not being animatable, but if that's not a problem then it's something you can try. When using PNGs, you'll need to render it at the highest resolution you intend to support (so for xxxhdpi, you need scale the image x4 of the recommended DP value). The smaller devices will scale down rastered images appropriately assuming the aspect ratio is correct, but if a device needs to upscale, it's not going to look right.

@breautek Cloud you please help me to resolve above the issue Android 12 & 13 is working fine but lower android versions like 11, 10, 9, 8 & below have this same issue occurred

One reason XML vectors may not work, particularly if the XML resource is an SVG is Android doesn't support the full SVG spec.

In fact, I believe you're really suppose to use the Vector Asset Studio (a tool inside Android Studio... see gif) to convert an SVG to to an Android Vector Drawable (AVD).

Screencast from 2023-03-13 07:52:08 PM.webm

If you can provide me a sample reproduction repo or provide me the assets used then I can take deeper look.

[Christy-Kuruvilla-PWS]

@breautek I tried just now with this png. I took the largest version of the png I had and used the Android Vector Asset studio you mentioned. In the previous build I had taken the original png, and converted that to an svg and then used the Asset studio to convert the svg to and xml. neither of these approaches worked for me. I should mention, that in both cases, I used the Asset Studio and took the resulting '_foreground.' file and placed in the my resources folder and referenced it in the config as the value for "AndroidWindowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon".

[breautek]

@Christy-Kuruvilla-PWS Thanks. Later tonight after my work day (about 8 hours from now) I'll try to experiment and see if I can reproduce any issues on my end, if I can I'll dig deeper to see if I can find a solution, or at the very least an explanation on why it doesn't work.

[Christy-Kuruvilla-PWS]

Thank you so much @breautek ! Let me know.

[breautek]

Alright to start off, I'm testing using the API 29 emulator.

The image works with a simple cordova project (specifying just the icon and autohide false so I can screen capture easily)

Screen Capture


So I then started to add more of your custom configuration. I'm not sure which custom configuration plugin in you're using, I tried cordova-custom-config but for some reason it doesn't appear to be working and it's not overwriting the AndroidManifest.xml which I suspect it should be.

So I applied the changes manually, starting with the most interesting override:

<activity ... android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar">

This is overriding the default theme, which for splashscreen compatibility layer, it needs to be kept as @style/Theme.App.SplashScreen

If you want to change the theme for the app, you can use the AndroidPostSplashScreenTheme preference which cordova will read and set the theme after the splashscreen is dismissed.

So scratch out android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar" from your <custom-config-file> entry and add <preference name="AndroidPostSplashScreenTheme" value="@style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar" /> and let me know if this does what you want in your real app.

I think most people having this problem is probably related to a plugin or something overriding the default theme, which to my understanding, Must be the splashscreen theme for Google's compatibility library to work. Due to volume of people raising similar issues, it will be worth documenting the error and the solution under the Quirks section and I'll create a separate issue in our docs repo for this.

[breautek]

Also, I want to add that @style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar is the default theme cordova uses after the splashscreen, so it's possible that you can simply scratch out android:theme in your custom-config entry without explicitly declaring the post splashscreen theme.

[Christy-Kuruvilla-PWS]

@breautek So I tried both just removing the AppCompat theme from the item in the config file as well as adding it as an AndroidPostSplashScreenTheme in . In both cases I'm getting this error.

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.company/com.company.MainActivity}: java.lang.IllegalStateException: You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with this activity.

Could it be something else interfering ? Is your intent filter section different ?

[breautek]

@breautek So I tried both just removing the AppCompat theme from the item in the config file as well as adding it as an AndroidPostSplashScreenTheme in . In both cases I'm getting this error.

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.company/com.company.MainActivity}: java.lang.IllegalStateException: You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with this activity.

Could it be something else interfering ? Is your intent filter section different ?

Something else could be interfering. The cordova CLI sets up the native project, and you can view the AndroidManifest at <cordovaProject>/platforms/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml. It should have android:theme="@style/Theme.App.SplashScreen" on the activity element. If it doesn't, you'll have problems.

Although the error seems like it's actually passing the splashscreen stage is now trying to render the main activity. CordovaActvity extends AppCompatActivity, which is why I think it reqiures a Theme.AppCompat theme (like Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar)

You can check <cordovaProject/platforms/android/app/src/main/res/values/themes.xml.

It should contain:

<item name="postSplashScreenTheme">@style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar</item>

Where the assigned theme is controlled by the AndroidPostSplashScreenTheme preference, but it defaults to @style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar. If this is set to a non AppCompat theme, then I expect it's the source of your current year.

If you have a plugin or something overriding the themes.xml file, it must produce something that has the following:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<resources>
    <style name="Theme.App.SplashScreen" parent="Theme.SplashScreen.IconBackground">
        <item name="windowSplashScreenBackground">@color/cdv_splashscreen_background</item>
        <item name="windowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon">@drawable/ic_cdv_splashscreen</item>
        <item name="windowSplashScreenAnimationDuration">200</item>
        <item name="postSplashScreenTheme">@style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar</item>
    </style>
</resources>

The postSplashScreenTheme resource is read by Google's splashscreen library to set the theme of the app activity when the splashscreen is dismissed.

[Christy-Kuruvilla-PWS]

@breautek

So the AndroidManifest.xml file doesn't have android:theme at all when I build without it set in the config.xml file. The themes.xml in res/values looks exactly like your copy.

[breautek]

@breautek

So the AndroidManifest.xml file doesn't have android:theme at all when I build without it set in the config.xml file. The themes.xml in res/values looks exactly like your copy.

Then something must be overwriting it...

I'm guessing the custom-config-file is overwriting the entire tag.

So perhaps you still need to explicitly configure it when you use the custom-config-file plugin to change the <activity> tag.

<custom-config-file parent="/*" target="AndroidManifest.xml">
            <application android:allowBackup="false" android:hardwareAccelerated="true" android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher" android:label="@string/app_name" android:supportsRtl="true">
                <activity android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|keyboard|screenSize|locale" android:exported="true" android:label="@string/activity_name" android:launchMode="singleTop" android:name="MainActivity" android:theme="@style/Theme.App.SplashScreen" android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize">
                    <intent-filter android:label="@string/launcher_name">
                        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
                    </intent-filter>
                </activity>
                <meta-data android:name="io.fabric.ApiKey" android:value="xxxxxxx" />
            </application>
        </custom-config-file>

If that works, you may also want to compare against the cordova default AndroidManifest.xml and to see if there is anything else that you're missing...

[Christy-Kuruvilla-PWS]

@breautek This worked! I wanted to unit test a bit before I confirmed with you. As you suspected, the theme was the issue. When I got the error stating that I needed a theme that is a descendent of Theme.AppCompat, I set android:theme=@style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar. This got rid of the build error, and when I tested on API level 31 and above it worked properly. I assumed it must be something else causing the older API levels to not work.

The correct value for 'android:theme' in my case specifically is '@style/Theme.App.SplashScreen'. Setting AndroidPostSplashScreenTheme in config.xml was not necessary in my case like you said since that is already the default. I also tested with the AndroidWindowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon line removed in the config file, and the app just defaulted to the cordova icon, didn't crash and continued to work.

Thanks again for helping out with this bug.

[prabusharan]

@breautek This worked! I wanted to unit test a bit before I confirmed with you. As you suspected, the theme was the issue. When I got the error stating that I needed a theme that is a descendent of Theme.AppCompat, I set android:theme=@style/Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar. This got rid of the build error, and when I tested on API level 31 and above it worked properly. I assumed it must be something else causing the older API levels to not work.

The correct value for 'android:theme' in my case specifically is '@style/Theme.App.SplashScreen'. Setting AndroidPostSplashScreenTheme in config.xml was not necessary in my case like you said since that is already the default. I also tested with the AndroidWindowSplashScreenAnimatedIcon line removed in the config file, and the app just defaulted to the cordova icon, didn't crash and continued to work.

Thanks again for helping out with this bug.

This method not working. Issue happens only in the ionic cordova project

[breautek]

This method not working. Issue happens only in the ionic cordova project

If the issue only happens in an ionic cordova project, then the ionic framework might be overriding something in an incompatible way.

[hejercherbib]

I have barely the same issue my app crashes when launching the app on a device running on Android 11 (only for release apk, debug works fine) knowing that I don't have any reference in my app to any resource called icon_background (and even when I had added one it also doesn't find it) this is the error: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{pssa.ww.parcelscan/pssa.ww.parcelscan.MainActivity}: android.content.res.Resources$NotFoundException: Drawable pssa.ww.parcelscan:drawable/icon_background with resource ID #0x7f070060 at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3450) at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3602) at android.app.servertransaction.LaunchActivityItem.execute(LaunchActivityItem.java:85) at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeCallbacks(TransactionExecutor.java:135) at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.execute(TransactionExecutor.java:95) at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2067) at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106) at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:223) at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7697) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:592) at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:952) Caused by: android.content.res.Resources$NotFoundException: Drawable pssa.ww.parcelscan:drawable/icon_background with resource ID #0x7f070060 Caused by: android.content.res.Resources$NotFoundException: File res/Ln.xml from drawable resource ID #0x7f070060 at android.content.res.ResourcesImpl.loadDrawableForCookie(ResourcesImpl.java:891) at android.content.res.ResourcesImpl.loadDrawable(ResourcesImpl.java:673) at android.content.res.Resources.loadDrawable(Resources.java:996) at android.content.res.Resources.getDrawableForDensity(Resources.java:986) at android.content.res.Resources.getDrawable(Resources.java:925) at android.content.Context.getDrawable(Context.java:693) at androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreen$Impl.displaySplashScreenIcon(SplashScreen.kt:354) at androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreen$Impl.setOnExitAnimationListener(SplashScreen.kt:318) at androidx.core.splashscreen.SplashScreen.setOnExitAnimationListener(SplashScreen.kt:185) at org.apache.cordova.SplashScreenPlugin.setupSplashScreen(SplashScreenPlugin.java:141) at org.apache.cordova.SplashScreenPlugin.onMessage(SplashScreenPlugin.java:113) at org.apache.cordova.PluginManager.lambda$postMessage$0(PluginManager.java:345) at org.apache.cordova.PluginManager$$ExternalSyntheticLambda0.accept(Unknown Source:8) at java.util.LinkedHashMap.forEach(LinkedHashMap.java:721) at java.util.Collections$SynchronizedMap.forEach(Collections.java:2698) at org.apache.cordova.PluginManager.postMessage(PluginManager.java:343) at org.apache.cordova.CordovaActivity.init(CordovaActivity.java:161) at org.apache.cordova.CordovaActivity.loadUrl(CordovaActivity.java:234) at pssa.ww.parcelscan.MainActivity.onCreate(MainActivity.java:40) at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:8000) at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:7984) at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1310) at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3423) at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:3602) at android.app.servertransaction.LaunchActivityItem.execute(LaunchActivityItem.java:85) at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.executeCallbacks(TransactionExecutor.java:135) at android.app.servertransaction.TransactionExecutor.execute(TransactionExecutor.java:95) at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2067) at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106) at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:223) at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7697) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:592) at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:952)

[nicolastinkl]

Running successed.

[andreszs]

For anyone else using vanilla Cordova, the solution is to set the proper theme for AndroidManifest.xml in your config.xml as follows:

<edit-config file="app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml" mode="merge" target="/manifest/application">
    <activity android:theme="@style/Theme.App.SplashScreen"></activity>
</edit-config>

This requires the XML namespace xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" in your <widget> element in config.xml.