RecyclerView doesn't load items on first start of activity

Question

Everytime we open the activity that bares the recycler adapter it fails to load on the first try. Exiting the activity and re-entering fixes the problem. Here is a gif for e

Answer 1

Replace this:

recyclerView = (RecyclerView)findViewById(R.id.active_chats);
ActiveChatConvo adapter = new ActiveChatConvo(users,this);
recyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);
mLinearLayoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
//mLinearLayoutManager.setStackFromEnd(true);
recyclerView.setLayoutManager(mLinearLayoutManager);

with this:

recyclerView = (RecyclerView)findViewById(R.id.active_chats);
ActiveChatConvo adapter = new ActiveChatConvo(users,this);
mLinearLayoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
//mLinearLayoutManager.setStackFromEnd(true);
recyclerView.setLayoutManager(mLinearLayoutManager);
recyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);

You need to set adapter after you set LayoutManager.