Figma Prototype workaround: How I fixed After Delay not triggering on the first frame 

I ran into a common Figma Prototype issue:
when the first animation uses After Delay (e.g. 10s auto-play for a hero carousel), it doesn’t start in Present mode unless the page is refreshed.

Small preview works. Full Present mode doesn’t.
The delay never starts, and progress indicators stay frozen.

After some testing, I realized this is because the starting frame doesn’t reliably trigger initialization, so After Delay has no real “entry point”.

My workaround

Instead of relying on time-based logic on the starting frame, I switched to event-driven triggering:

1. On Mouse Enter (or any explicit interaction)

2. Immediately navigate to a transition frame

3. From that transition frame, start After Delay (10000ms)

4. Then move to the next carousel slide

This transition frame acts as a forced “mount”, similar to a lifecycle hook.

Why this works

• Navigate to always re-initializes the frame

• After Delay finally gets a reliable start point

• No manual refresh needed before demos

It’s not meant to simulate production logic, but it makes client demos smooth and predictable.

Sharing in case this saves someone else time.
Curious if others are using similar workarounds.