diff --git a/packages/react-native-gesture-handler/apple/RNGestureHandler.mm b/packages/react-native-gesture-handler/apple/RNGestureHandler.mm
index 12e64fe14f..065090a82a 100644
--- a/packages/react-native-gesture-handler/apple/RNGestureHandler.mm
+++ b/packages/react-native-gesture-handler/apple/RNGestureHandler.mm
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ - (void)sendEvent:(RNGestureHandlerStateChange *)event
 
 - (void)sendTouchEventInState:(RNGestureHandlerState)state forViewWithTag:(NSNumber *)reactTag
 {
-  if (_actionType == RNGestureHandlerActionTypeNativeDetector) {
+  if ([self usesNativeOrVirtualDetector]) {
     [self.emitter sendNativeTouchEventForGestureHandler:self
                                         withPointerType:_pointerType
                                          forHandlerType:[self eventHandlerType]];
diff --git a/packages/react-native-gesture-handler/apple/RNGestureHandlerPointerTracker.mm b/packages/react-native-gesture-handler/apple/RNGestureHandlerPointerTracker.mm
index cd0d70155a..b2cb301fa1 100644
--- a/packages/react-native-gesture-handler/apple/RNGestureHandlerPointerTracker.mm
+++ b/packages/react-native-gesture-handler/apple/RNGestureHandlerPointerTracker.mm
@@ -296,10 +296,12 @@ - (void)sendEvent
   }
 
   // it may happen that the gesture recognizer is reset after it's been unbound from the view,
-  // it that recognizer tried to send event, the app would crash because the target of the event
-  // would be nil.
-  if (_gestureHandler.recognizer.view.reactTag == nil &&
-      _gestureHandler.actionType != RNGestureHandlerActionTypeNativeDetector) {
+  // if that recognizer tried to send an event, the app would crash because the target of the event
+  // would be nil. Detector-attached handlers (native and virtual alike) don't route events by
+  // the view's reactTag — they dispatch through the detector view — so a nil tag is not an
+  // obstacle for them. The virtual recognizer's view has no reactTag at all, so without this
+  // exemption virtual handlers would never deliver touch events.
+  if (_gestureHandler.recognizer.view.reactTag == nil && ![_gestureHandler usesNativeOrVirtualDetector]) {
     return;
   }