diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b1fdfe8..c9ada3c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## Unreleased
+
+- Background image: the image loads on React Native. React Native's `Blob` cannot wrap an `ArrayBuffer`, so decoding threw and the effect silently stayed a passthrough; the bytes now go to `createImageBitmap` directly there.
+- Background image: a failure to load the image is reported through `onStatus` as `"error"` instead of being swallowed.
+
 ## 0.1.3
 
 - `createCameraEffectMiddleware(effect)` for React Native: a camera-track middleware for `useCamera().setCameraTrackMiddleware`, so an effect can be switched on from any screen without a provider or a hook.
diff --git a/src/core/backgroundSessions.ts b/src/core/backgroundSessions.ts
index 9bc371a..9a73979 100644
--- a/src/core/backgroundSessions.ts
+++ b/src/core/backgroundSessions.ts
@@ -572,6 +572,8 @@ export async function createBackgroundImageSession(
   // which a worklet runtime holding its own copy will not observe.
   let imageSource: BackgroundImageOptions["image"] | null = null;
   let loadingImage: Promise<void> | null = null;
+  let imageError: Error | null = null;
+  let isPrepared = false;
   const ensureImage = (
     source: BackgroundImageOptions["image"],
   ): Promise<void> => {
@@ -591,8 +593,11 @@ export async function createBackgroundImageSession(
         );
         previous?.texture.destroy();
       })
-      .catch(() => {
-        // The effect remains a passthrough until the caller supplies a valid image.
+      .catch((cause: unknown) => {
+        // The effect remains a passthrough until the caller supplies a valid image. Report the
+        // failure, but not before the segmentation status settles, or its "ready" would hide it.
+        imageError = asError(cause);
+        if (isPrepared) context.onStatus?.("error", imageError);
       })
       .finally(() => {
         loadingImage = null;
@@ -604,6 +609,8 @@ export async function createBackgroundImageSession(
     prepareSegmentation(state, context, getOptions().segmentation),
     ensureImage(getOptions().image),
   ]);
+  isPrepared = true;
+  if (imageError != null) context.onStatus?.("error", imageError);
   const frameKernel: VideoEffectFrameKernel<BackgroundImageFrameOptions> = {
     state,
     offer: offerToSegmentation,
diff --git a/src/core/image.ts b/src/core/image.ts
index f42f223..ea69fa2 100644
--- a/src/core/image.ts
+++ b/src/core/image.ts
@@ -28,12 +28,19 @@ async function decodeImage(
   const createBitmap = globalThis.createImageBitmap as unknown as (
     value: Blob | ArrayBuffer,
   ) => Promise<ImageBitmap>;
-  if (typeof Blob !== "undefined") {
-    return createBitmap(
-      new Blob([bytes], { type: source.mimeType ?? "image/*" }),
-    );
+  const blob = toBlob(bytes, source.mimeType);
+  return createBitmap(blob ?? bytes);
+}
+
+// Browsers decode a Blob. React Native has a Blob global too, but it cannot wrap an
+// ArrayBuffer (it throws), and react-native-webgpu's createImageBitmap takes the bytes directly.
+function toBlob(bytes: ArrayBuffer, mimeType: string | undefined): Blob | null {
+  if (typeof Blob === "undefined") return null;
+  try {
+    return new Blob([bytes], { type: mimeType ?? "image/*" });
+  } catch {
+    return null;
   }
-  return createBitmap(bytes);
 }
 
 function fetchRequired(uri: string | undefined): Promise<Response> {