diff --git a/packages/react-native/React/Base/RCTRootView.m b/packages/react-native/React/Base/RCTRootView.m
index c7c142075bbc6a..5acd5f03c4c951 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/React/Base/RCTRootView.m
+++ b/packages/react-native/React/Base/RCTRootView.m
@@ -368,6 +368,9 @@ - (void)contentViewInvalidated
 - (void)traitCollectionDidChange:(UITraitCollection *)previousTraitCollection
 {
   [super traitCollectionDidChange:previousTraitCollection];
+  if (RCTSharedApplication().applicationState == UIApplicationStateBackground) {
+    return;
+  }
 
   [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter]
       postNotificationName:RCTUserInterfaceStyleDidChangeNotification
diff --git a/packages/react-native/React/CoreModules/RCTAppearance.h b/packages/react-native/React/CoreModules/RCTAppearance.h
index caa842d72f6a1b..9909ca9e741d7d 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/React/CoreModules/RCTAppearance.h
+++ b/packages/react-native/React/CoreModules/RCTAppearance.h
@@ -17,4 +17,5 @@ RCT_EXTERN NSString *RCTCurrentOverrideAppearancePreference();
 RCT_EXTERN NSString *RCTColorSchemePreference(UITraitCollection *traitCollection);
 
 @interface RCTAppearance : RCTEventEmitter <RCTBridgeModule>
+- (instancetype)init;
 @end
diff --git a/packages/react-native/React/CoreModules/RCTAppearance.mm b/packages/react-native/React/CoreModules/RCTAppearance.mm
index 2930401fc98f6e..449ff0396be889 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/React/CoreModules/RCTAppearance.mm
+++ b/packages/react-native/React/CoreModules/RCTAppearance.mm
@@ -57,11 +57,7 @@ void RCTOverrideAppearancePreference(NSString *const colorSchemeOverride)
     return RCTAppearanceColorSchemeLight;
   }
 
-  traitCollection = traitCollection ?: [UITraitCollection currentTraitCollection];
   return appearances[@(traitCollection.userInterfaceStyle)] ?: RCTAppearanceColorSchemeLight;
-
-  // Default to light on older OS version - same behavior as Android.
-  return RCTAppearanceColorSchemeLight;
 }
 
 @interface RCTAppearance () <NativeAppearanceSpec>
@@ -71,6 +67,19 @@ @implementation RCTAppearance {
   NSString *_currentColorScheme;
 }
 
+- (instancetype)init
+{
+  if ((self = [super init])) {
+    UITraitCollection *traitCollection = RCTSharedApplication().delegate.window.traitCollection;
+    _currentColorScheme = RCTColorSchemePreference(traitCollection);
+    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
+                                             selector:@selector(appearanceChanged:)
+                                                 name:RCTUserInterfaceStyleDidChangeNotification
+                                               object:nil];
+  }
+  return self;
+}
+
 RCT_EXPORT_MODULE(Appearance)
 
 + (BOOL)requiresMainQueueSetup
@@ -100,9 +109,6 @@ - (dispatch_queue_t)methodQueue
 
 RCT_EXPORT_SYNCHRONOUS_TYPED_METHOD(NSString *, getColorScheme)
 {
-  if (_currentColorScheme == nil) {
-    _currentColorScheme = RCTColorSchemePreference(nil);
-  }
   return _currentColorScheme;
 }
 
@@ -129,14 +135,15 @@ - (void)appearanceChanged:(NSNotification *)notification
 
 - (void)startObserving
 {
-  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
-                                           selector:@selector(appearanceChanged:)
-                                               name:RCTUserInterfaceStyleDidChangeNotification
-                                             object:nil];
 }
 
 - (void)stopObserving
 {
+}
+
+- (void)invalidate
+{
+  [super invalidate];
   [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self];
 }