diff --git a/lib/controllers/prepare-controller.ts b/lib/controllers/prepare-controller.ts
index 4fe1c87582..2e26df5e8c 100644
--- a/lib/controllers/prepare-controller.ts
+++ b/lib/controllers/prepare-controller.ts
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ export class PrepareController extends EventEmitter {
 		this.isInitialPrepareReady = true;
 
 		if (this.persistedData && this.persistedData.length) {
-			this.emitPrepareEvent({ files: [], hasNativeChanges: result.hasNativeChanges, hmrData: null, platform: platformData.platformNameLowerCase });
+			this.emitPrepareEvent({ files: [], hasOnlyHotUpdateFiles: false, hasNativeChanges: result.hasNativeChanges, hmrData: null, platform: platformData.platformNameLowerCase });
 		}
 
 		return result;
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ export class PrepareController extends EventEmitter {
 			.on("all", async (event: string, filePath: string) => {
 				filePath = path.join(projectData.projectDir, filePath);
 				this.$logger.trace(`Chokidar raised event ${event} for ${filePath}.`);
-				this.emitPrepareEvent({ files: [], hmrData: null, hasNativeChanges: true, platform: platformData.platformNameLowerCase });
+				this.emitPrepareEvent({ files: [], hasOnlyHotUpdateFiles: false, hmrData: null, hasNativeChanges: true, platform: platformData.platformNameLowerCase });
 			});
 
 		this.watchersData[projectData.projectDir][platformData.platformNameLowerCase].nativeFilesWatcher = watcher;
diff --git a/lib/controllers/run-controller.ts b/lib/controllers/run-controller.ts
index df5ec94d47..fad79b8705 100644
--- a/lib/controllers/run-controller.ts
+++ b/lib/controllers/run-controller.ts
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ export class RunController extends EventEmitter implements IRunController {
 		const platformLiveSyncService = this.$liveSyncServiceResolver.resolveLiveSyncService(platform);
 
 		try {
-			let shouldRestart = filesChangeEventData && filesChangeEventData.hasNativeChanges;
+			let shouldRestart = filesChangeEventData && (filesChangeEventData.hasNativeChanges || !filesChangeEventData.hasOnlyHotUpdateFiles);
 			if (!shouldRestart) {
 				shouldRestart = await platformLiveSyncService.shouldRestart(projectData, liveSyncResultInfo);
 			}
diff --git a/lib/services/webpack/webpack-compiler-service.ts b/lib/services/webpack/webpack-compiler-service.ts
index 693345ae84..d66974a7d4 100644
--- a/lib/services/webpack/webpack-compiler-service.ts
+++ b/lib/services/webpack/webpack-compiler-service.ts
@@ -28,19 +28,26 @@ export class WebpackCompilerService extends EventEmitter implements IWebpackComp
 			prepareData.watch = true;
 			const childProcess = await this.startWebpackProcess(platformData, projectData, prepareData);
 
-			childProcess.on("message", (message: any) => {
+			childProcess.on("message", (message: string | IWebpackEmitMessage) => {
 				if (message === "Webpack compilation complete.") {
 					this.$logger.info("Webpack build done!");
 					resolve(childProcess);
 				}
 
+				message = message as IWebpackEmitMessage;
 				if (message.emittedFiles) {
 					if (isFirstWebpackWatchCompilation) {
 						isFirstWebpackWatchCompilation = false;
 						return;
 					}
 
-					const result = this.getUpdatedEmittedFiles(message.emittedFiles, message.webpackRuntimeFiles, message.entryPointFiles);
+					let result;
+
+					if (prepareData.hmr) {
+						result = this.getUpdatedEmittedFiles(message.emittedFiles, message.webpackRuntimeFiles, message.entryPointFiles);
+					} else {
+						result = { emittedFiles: message.emittedFiles, fallbackFiles: <string[]>[], hash: "" };
+					}
 
 					const files = result.emittedFiles
 						.map((file: string) => path.join(platformData.appDestinationDirectoryPath, "app", file));
@@ -49,13 +56,16 @@ export class WebpackCompilerService extends EventEmitter implements IWebpackComp
 
 					const data = {
 						files,
+						hasOnlyHotUpdateFiles: files.every(f => f.indexOf("hot-update") > -1),
 						hmrData: {
 							hash: result.hash,
 							fallbackFiles
 						}
 					};
 
-					this.emit(WEBPACK_COMPILATION_COMPLETE, data);
+					if (data.files.length) {
+						this.emit(WEBPACK_COMPILATION_COMPLETE, data);
+					}
 				}
 			});
 
@@ -193,27 +203,24 @@ export class WebpackCompilerService extends EventEmitter implements IWebpackComp
 	private getUpdatedEmittedFiles(emittedFiles: string[], webpackRuntimeFiles: string[], entryPointFiles: string[]) {
 		let fallbackFiles: string[] = [];
 		let hotHash;
-		if (emittedFiles.some(x => x.endsWith('.hot-update.json'))) {
-			let result = emittedFiles.slice();
-			const hotUpdateScripts = emittedFiles.filter(x => x.endsWith('.hot-update.js'));
-			if (webpackRuntimeFiles && webpackRuntimeFiles.length) {
-				result = result.filter(file => webpackRuntimeFiles.indexOf(file) === -1);
-			}
-			if (entryPointFiles && entryPointFiles.length) {
-				result = result.filter(file => entryPointFiles.indexOf(file) === -1);
-			}
-			hotUpdateScripts.forEach(hotUpdateScript => {
-				const { name, hash } = this.parseHotUpdateChunkName(hotUpdateScript);
-				hotHash = hash;
-				// remove bundle/vendor.js files if there's a bundle.XXX.hot-update.js or vendor.XXX.hot-update.js
-				result = result.filter(file => file !== `${name}.js`);
-			});
-			// if applying of hot update fails, we must fallback to the full files
-			fallbackFiles = emittedFiles.filter(file => result.indexOf(file) === -1);
-			return { emittedFiles: result, fallbackFiles, hash: hotHash };
+		let result = emittedFiles.slice();
+		const hotUpdateScripts = emittedFiles.filter(x => x.endsWith('.hot-update.js'));
+		if (webpackRuntimeFiles && webpackRuntimeFiles.length) {
+			result = result.filter(file => webpackRuntimeFiles.indexOf(file) === -1);
 		}
+		if (entryPointFiles && entryPointFiles.length) {
+			result = result.filter(file => entryPointFiles.indexOf(file) === -1);
+		}
+		hotUpdateScripts.forEach(hotUpdateScript => {
+			const { name, hash } = this.parseHotUpdateChunkName(hotUpdateScript);
+			hotHash = hash;
+			// remove bundle/vendor.js files if there's a bundle.XXX.hot-update.js or vendor.XXX.hot-update.js
+			result = result.filter(file => file !== `${name}.js`);
+		});
+		// if applying of hot update fails, we must fallback to the full files
+		fallbackFiles = emittedFiles.filter(file => hotUpdateScripts.indexOf(file) === -1);
 
-		return { emittedFiles, fallbackFiles };
+		return { emittedFiles: result, fallbackFiles, hash: hotHash };
 	}
 
 	private parseHotUpdateChunkName(name: string) {
diff --git a/lib/services/webpack/webpack.d.ts b/lib/services/webpack/webpack.d.ts
index 3a597b4ae2..16f232478c 100644
--- a/lib/services/webpack/webpack.d.ts
+++ b/lib/services/webpack/webpack.d.ts
@@ -28,9 +28,16 @@ declare global {
 		platform: string;
 		files: string[];
 		hmrData: IPlatformHmrData;
+		hasOnlyHotUpdateFiles: boolean;
 		hasNativeChanges: boolean;
 	}
 
+	interface IWebpackEmitMessage {
+		emittedFiles: string[];
+		webpackRuntimeFiles: string[];
+		entryPointFiles: string[];
+	}
+
 	interface IPlatformProjectService extends NodeJS.EventEmitter, IPlatformProjectServiceBase {
 		getPlatformData(projectData: IProjectData): IPlatformData;
 		validate(projectData: IProjectData, options: IOptions, notConfiguredEnvOptions?: INotConfiguredEnvOptions): Promise<IValidatePlatformOutput>;
diff --git a/test/controllers/prepare-controller.ts b/test/controllers/prepare-controller.ts
index c730a3f6d5..4f056804ed 100644
--- a/test/controllers/prepare-controller.ts
+++ b/test/controllers/prepare-controller.ts
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ describe("prepareController", () => {
 				assert.lengthOf(emittedEventNames, 1);
 				assert.lengthOf(emittedEventData, 1);
 				assert.deepEqual(emittedEventNames[0], PREPARE_READY_EVENT_NAME);
-				assert.deepEqual(emittedEventData[0], { files: [], hasNativeChanges: true, hmrData: null, platform: platform.toLowerCase() });
+				assert.deepEqual(emittedEventData[0], { files: [], hasNativeChanges: true, hasOnlyHotUpdateFiles: false, hmrData: null, platform: platform.toLowerCase() });
 			});
 		});
 	});