now, scene is cleared on start, instead on mounting of the component

ARKit.js

@@ -30,10 +30,6 @@ const TRACKING_REASONS = [
 ];
 const TRACKING_STATES_COLOR = ['red', 'orange', 'green'];
 
-// clear scene on start (not on mount)
-// this is only needed if you reload the app (in dev mode)
-let firstMount = false;
-
 class ARKit extends Component {
   state = {
     state: 0,
@@ -43,11 +39,6 @@ class ARKit extends Component {
 
   componentDidMount() {
     ARKitManager.resume();
-    if (!firstMount) {
-      ARKitManager.clearScene();
-    } else {
-      firstMount = true;
-    }
   }
 
   componentWillUnmount() {

index.js

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import ARText from './components/ARText';
 import ARTorus from './components/ARTorus';
 import ARTube from './components/ARTube';
 import DeviceMotion from './DeviceMotion';
+import startup from './startup';
 import withProjectedPosition from './hocs/withProjectedPosition';
 
 ARKit.Box = ARBox;
@@ -40,6 +41,8 @@ ARKit.Group = ARGroup;
 ARKit.Shape = ARShape;
 ARKit.Light = ARLight;
 
+startup();
+
 export {
   ARKit,
   DeviceMotion,

startup.js

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import { NativeModules } from 'react-native';
+
+const ARKitManager = NativeModules.ARKitManager;
+
+export default () => {
+  // when reloading the app, the scene should be cleared.
+  // on prod, this usually does not happen, but you can reload the app in develop mode
+  // without clearing, this would result in inconsistency
+  ARKitManager.clearScene();
+};