diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/flat/FlatTextShadowNode.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/flat/FlatTextShadowNode.java
index 4432a78d5..883c667a9 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/flat/FlatTextShadowNode.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/flat/FlatTextShadowNode.java
@@ -52,12 +52,24 @@ import com.facebook.react.uimanager.ReactShadowNode;
     mTextEnd = builder.length();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Whether or not to allow empty spans to be set
+   * This is used to bypass an optimization in {@code applySpans} that skips applying spans if
+   * there is no text (since, for TextInput, for example, we want to apply the span even if there
+   * is no text so that newly typed text gets styled properly).
+   *
+   * @return a boolean representing whether or not we should allow empty spans
+   */
+  /* package */ boolean shouldAllowEmptySpans() {
+    return false;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Recursively visits FlatTextShadowNode and its children,
    * applying spans to SpannableStringBuilder.
    */
   /* package */ final void applySpans(SpannableStringBuilder builder) {
-    if (mTextBegin != mTextEnd) {
+    if (mTextBegin != mTextEnd || shouldAllowEmptySpans()) {
       performApplySpans(builder, mTextBegin, mTextEnd);
     }
   }
diff --git a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/flat/RCTTextInput.java b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/flat/RCTTextInput.java
index 6050a0c4f..67e1d4772 100644
--- a/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/flat/RCTTextInput.java
+++ b/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/flat/RCTTextInput.java
@@ -140,6 +140,11 @@ public class RCTTextInput extends RCTVirtualText implements AndroidView, CSSNode
     mPaddingChanged = false;
   }
 
+  @Override
+  boolean shouldAllowEmptySpans() {
+    return true;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Returns a new CharSequence that includes all the text and styling information to create Layout.
    */