diff --git a/packages/expo-router/src/testing-library/index.tsx b/packages/expo-router/src/testing-library/index.tsx
index 15d9f180..b045acea 100644
--- a/packages/expo-router/src/testing-library/index.tsx
+++ b/packages/expo-router/src/testing-library/index.tsx
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import {
   requireContext,
   requireContextWithOverrides,
 } from "./context-stubs";
-import { initialUrlRef } from "./mocks";
+import { setInitialUrl } from "./mocks";
 
 // re-export everything
 export * from "@testing-library/react-native";
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ export function renderRouter(
   let ctx: RequireContext;
 
   // Reset the initial URL
-  initialUrlRef.value = initialUrl as any;
+
+  setInitialUrl(initialUrl);
 
   // Force the render to be synchronous
   process.env.EXPO_ROUTER_IMPORT_MODE_WEB = "sync";
diff --git a/packages/expo-router/src/testing-library/mocks.ts b/packages/expo-router/src/testing-library/mocks.ts
index ce0461e9..0771feaa 100644
--- a/packages/expo-router/src/testing-library/mocks.ts
+++ b/packages/expo-router/src/testing-library/mocks.ts
@@ -14,9 +14,11 @@ jest.mock("react-native-reanimated", () => {
 // Silence the warning: Animated: `useNativeDriver` is not supported because the native animated module is missing
 jest.mock("react-native/Libraries/Animated/NativeAnimatedHelper");
 
-export const initialUrlRef: { value: string | Promise<string> } = {
-  value: "",
-};
+let mockInitialUrl: string | Promise<string> = "";
+
+export function setInitialUrl(value: string) {
+  mockInitialUrl = value;
+}
 
 jest.mock("expo-linking", () => {
   const module: typeof import("expo-linking") = {
@@ -31,7 +33,7 @@ jest.mock("expo-linking", () => {
       return { remove() {} } as any;
     },
     async getInitialURL() {
-      return initialUrlRef.value;
+      return mockInitialUrl;
     },
   };