diff --git a/native/ios/Comm/AppDelegate.mm b/native/ios/Comm/AppDelegate.mm
--- a/native/ios/Comm/AppDelegate.mm
+++ b/native/ios/Comm/AppDelegate.mm
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 #import <React/RCTConvert.h>
 #import <React/RCTRootView.h>
 
-#import <ExpoModulesCore/EXModuleRegistryProvider.h>
 #import <React/RCTBridge+Private.h>
 #import <React/RCTCxxBridgeDelegate.h>
 #import <React/RCTJSIExecutorRuntimeInstaller.h>
@@ -15,8 +14,6 @@
 #import <jsireact/JSIExecutor.h>
 #import <reacthermes/HermesExecutorFactory.h>
 
-#import <EXSecureStore/EXSecureStore.h>
-
 #import "CommCoreModule.h"
 #import "CommSecureStore.h"
 #import "CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper.h"
@@ -62,12 +59,14 @@
 }
 @end
 
-@interface CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper ()
-- (void)init:(EXSecureStore *)secureStore;
-@end
-
 @implementation AppDelegate
 
+- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
+    willFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
+  [self attemptDatabaseInitialization];
+  return YES;
+}
+
 - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
     didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
 #ifdef FB_SONARKIT_ENABLED
@@ -103,17 +102,6 @@
   rootView.loadingViewFadeDelay = 0;
   rootView.loadingViewFadeDuration = 0.001;
 
-  EXModuleRegistryProvider *moduleRegistryProvider =
-      [[EXModuleRegistryProvider alloc] init];
-  EXSecureStore *secureStore =
-      (EXSecureStore *)[[moduleRegistryProvider moduleRegistry]
-          getExportedModuleOfClass:EXSecureStore.class];
-  [[CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper sharedInstance] init:secureStore];
-
-  // initialize SQLiteQueryExecutor
-  std::string sqliteFilePath =
-      std::string([[Tools getSQLiteFilePath] UTF8String]);
-  comm::SQLiteQueryExecutor::initialize(sqliteFilePath);
   return YES;
 }
 
@@ -243,6 +231,13 @@
       makeRuntimeConfig(3072));
 }
 
+- (void)attemptDatabaseInitialization {
+  [[CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper sharedInstance] initialize];
+  std::string sqliteFilePath =
+      std::string([[Tools getSQLiteFilePath] UTF8String]);
+  comm::SQLiteQueryExecutor::initialize(sqliteFilePath);
+}
+
 // Copied from
 // ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/hermes/reactexecutor/OnLoad.cpp
 static ::hermes::vm::RuntimeConfig
diff --git a/native/ios/Comm/CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper.h b/native/ios/Comm/CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper.h
--- a/native/ios/Comm/CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper.h
+++ b/native/ios/Comm/CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper.h
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 #pragma once
-
 #import <EXSecureStore/EXSecureStore.h>
+#import <ExpoModulesCore/EXModuleRegistryProvider.h>
 
 #import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
 
 @interface CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper : NSObject
 + (id)sharedInstance;
 
+- (void)initialize;
 - (void)set:(NSString *)key value:(NSString *)value;
 - (NSString *)get:(NSString *)key;
 @end
diff --git a/native/ios/Comm/CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper.mm b/native/ios/Comm/CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper.mm
--- a/native/ios/Comm/CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper.mm
+++ b/native/ios/Comm/CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper.mm
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #import "CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper.h"
 
 @interface CommSecureStoreIOSWrapper ()
-@property(nonatomic, assign) EXSecureStore *secureStore;
+@property(nonatomic, strong) EXSecureStore *secureStore;
 @property(nonatomic, strong) NSDictionary *options;
 @end
 
@@ -30,8 +30,17 @@
   return shared;
 }
 
-- (void)init:(EXSecureStore *)secureStore {
-  _secureStore = secureStore;
+- (void)initialize {
+  if ([self secureStore] != nil) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  EXModuleRegistryProvider *moduleRegistryProvider =
+      [[EXModuleRegistryProvider alloc] init];
+  EXSecureStore *secureStore =
+      (EXSecureStore *)[[moduleRegistryProvider moduleRegistry]
+          getExportedModuleOfClass:EXSecureStore.class];
+  self.secureStore = secureStore;
 }
 
 - (void)set:(NSString *)key value:(NSString *)value {