diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/views/textinput/ReactEditText.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/views/textinput/ReactEditText.java
index 51deec2f262075..4847b9b5d86e7d 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/views/textinput/ReactEditText.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/views/textinput/ReactEditText.java
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ public class ReactEditText extends AppCompatEditText
   private @Nullable SelectionWatcher mSelectionWatcher;
   private @Nullable ContentSizeWatcher mContentSizeWatcher;
   private @Nullable ScrollWatcher mScrollWatcher;
-  private final InternalKeyListener mKeyListener;
+  private InternalKeyListener mKeyListener;
   private boolean mDetectScrollMovement = false;
   private boolean mOnKeyPress = false;
   private TextAttributes mTextAttributes;
@@ -140,7 +140,9 @@ public ReactEditText(Context context) {
     mListeners = null;
     mTextWatcherDelegator = null;
     mStagedInputType = getInputType();
-    mKeyListener = new InternalKeyListener();
+    if (mKeyListener == null) {
+      mKeyListener = new InternalKeyListener();
+    }
     mScrollWatcher = null;
     mTextAttributes = new TextAttributes();
 
@@ -451,6 +453,10 @@ public void setInputType(int type) {
     // We override the KeyListener so that all keys on the soft input keyboard as well as hardware
     // keyboards work. Some KeyListeners like DigitsKeyListener will display the keyboard but not
     // accept all input from it
+    if (mKeyListener == null) {
+      mKeyListener = new InternalKeyListener();
+    }
+
     mKeyListener.setInputType(type);
     setKeyListener(mKeyListener);
   }