diff --git a/CordovaLib/Classes/Public/CDVViewController.m b/CordovaLib/Classes/Public/CDVViewController.m
index af4944d4d..1a8d63841 100644
--- a/CordovaLib/Classes/Public/CDVViewController.m
+++ b/CordovaLib/Classes/Public/CDVViewController.m
@@ -295,6 +295,17 @@ - (void)viewDidLoad
 {
     [super viewDidLoad];
 
+    // TODO: Remove in Cordova iOS 9
+    if ([UIApplication.sharedApplication.delegate isKindOfClass:[CDVAppDelegate class]]) {
+        CDVAppDelegate *appDelegate = (CDVAppDelegate *)UIApplication.sharedApplication.delegate;
+#pragma clang diagnostic push
+#pragma clang diagnostic ignored "-Wdeprecated-declarations"
+        if (appDelegate.viewController == nil) {
+            appDelegate.viewController = self;
+        }
+#pragma clang diagnostic pop
+    }
+
     // Load settings
     [self loadSettings];
 
diff --git a/CordovaLib/include/Cordova/CDVAppDelegate.h b/CordovaLib/include/Cordova/CDVAppDelegate.h
index 6b2670435..162b93791 100644
--- a/CordovaLib/include/Cordova/CDVAppDelegate.h
+++ b/CordovaLib/include/Cordova/CDVAppDelegate.h
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_BEGIN
 @property (nullable, nonatomic, strong) IBOutlet UIWindow *window API_DEPRECATED_WITH_REPLACEMENT("SceneDelegate:window", ios(2.0, 13.0));
 
 // TODO: Remove in Cordova iOS 9
-@property (nullable, nonatomic, strong) IBOutlet CDVViewController *viewController CDV_DEPRECATED(8, "This will always be nil.");
+@property (nullable, nonatomic, strong) IBOutlet CDVViewController *viewController CDV_DEPRECATED(8, "");
 
 @end