[$250] Workspace - One of the approver still appears in employe's WS chat after removing it in OD

[nlemma]

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Version Number: v9.2.99-8
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/test-runs/TR-2769/folder/13176709/41236921/1119954416?sort=%2Bidentifier
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): poipio514+owner2@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Regression TC Execution
Device used: Windows 11 / Chrome
App Component: Workspace Settings

Action Performed:

Preconditions:
Prepare 4 accounts:

• Workspace Owner
• Employee
• Approver 1
• Approver 2

The Owner has a controlled workspace with an advanced approval workflow:

• Employee submits to Approver 1
• Approver 2 is the final approver

Steps:

1. Log in as the Employee.
2. Create an expense in the workspace and submit it for approval.
3. Log in as the Owner.
4. Navigate to OldDot (OD).
5. Remove Approver 1 and Approver 2 from the approval workflow so they are no longer approvers, and set all approval steps to the Owner.
6. Navigate back to NewDot (ND).
7. Go to the employee’s workspace chat and open the expense created in step 2.

Expected Result:

• Approver 1 has been removed from the chat member list.
• The next approver shown is the workspace Owner.

Actual Result:

• Approver 1 is still displayed in the chat member list.
• The next approver shown is Approver 1.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7047710_1768292138677.remove_approver.mp4

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• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022013264868881335802
• Upwork Job ID: 2013264868881335802
• Last Price Increase: 2026-02-16

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @huult

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @CortneyOfstad (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details. Please add this bug to a GH project, as outlined in the SO.

[melvin-bot]

@CortneyOfstad Uh oh! This issue is overdue by 2 days. Don't forget to update your issues!

[CortneyOfstad]

Getting eyes on this!

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022013264868881335802

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @huult (External)

[annaweber830]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

After an owner edits a workspace’s advanced approval workflow in OldDot (removing approvers and setting approvals to the owner), NewDot does not immediately reflect those changes. In the employee’s workspace chat, one removed approver still appears in the Members list, and the “next approver” shown in next steps remains the old approver instead of the owner.

What is the root cause of that problem?

When switching back from OldDot → NewDot, the NewDot client can continue using stale Onyx state (policy employeeList/approval chain and/or report participants) because we don’t reliably refresh/fetch incremental updates on transition. As a result, UI logic that derives:

• room members from report.participants, and
• next approver from the policy’s approval chain / submit-to rules
  keeps showing outdated approver data until some later refresh occurs.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

• Trigger an automatic reconnectApp after an OldDot → NewDot transition (both web transition route and HybridApp return), using the latest applied update ID so the server returns incremental Onyx updates.
• This forces NewDot to pull the newest policy/workflow + report participant data right after the transition, so:
  removed approvers are no longer listed as workspace chat members, and
  “next approver” updates to the owner as expected.
  

  App/src/libs/actions/Session/index.ts

  Lines 79 to 81 in e54cfd4

  	let isHybridAppSetupFinished = false;
  	let hasSwitchedAccountInHybridMode = false;

let isHybridAppSetupFinished = false;
let hasSwitchedAccountInHybridMode = false;

let lastUpdateIDAppliedToClient: number | undefined;
Onyx.connectWithoutView({
    key: ONYXKEYS.ONYX_UPDATES_LAST_UPDATE_ID_APPLIED_TO_CLIENT,
    callback: (value) => {
        lastUpdateIDAppliedToClient = value;
    },
});

App/src/libs/actions/Session/index.ts

Lines 655 to 668 in e54cfd4

	.then(() =>
	Promise.all([
	HybridAppActions.prepareHybridAppAfterTransitionToNewDot({
	...hybridApp,
	closingReactNativeApp: false,
	}),
	...Object.entries(newDotOnyxValues).map(([key, value]) => Onyx.merge(key as OnyxKey, value ?? {})),
	]),
	)
	.then(() => {
	Log.info('[HybridApp] Setup after transition from OldDot finished');
	isHybridAppSetupFinished = true;
	return Promise.resolve();
	})

.then(() =>
            Promise.all([
                HybridAppActions.prepareHybridAppAfterTransitionToNewDot({
                    ...hybridApp,
                    closingReactNativeApp: false,
                }),
                ...Object.entries(newDotOnyxValues).map(([key, value]) => Onyx.merge(key as OnyxKey, value ?? {})),
            ]),
        )
        .then(() => {
            reconnectApp(lastUpdateIDAppliedToClient ?? 0);
        })
        .then(() => {
            Log.info('[HybridApp] Setup after transition from OldDot finished');
            isHybridAppSetupFinished = true;
            return Promise.resolve();
        })

App/src/libs/actions/App.ts

Lines 81 to 88 in e54cfd4

	let hasLoadedApp: boolean | undefined;
	Onyx.connectWithoutView({
	key: ONYXKEYS.HAS_LOADED_APP,
	callback: (value) => {
	hasLoadedApp = value;
	resolveHasLoadedAppPromise?.();
	},
	});

let hasLoadedApp: boolean | undefined;
Onyx.connectWithoutView({
    key: ONYXKEYS.HAS_LOADED_APP,
    callback: (value) => {
        hasLoadedApp = value;
        resolveHasLoadedAppPromise?.();
    },
});

let lastUpdateIDAppliedToClient: number | undefined;
Onyx.connectWithoutView({
    key: ONYXKEYS.ONYX_UPDATES_LAST_UPDATE_ID_APPLIED_TO_CLIENT,
    callback: (value) => {
        lastUpdateIDAppliedToClient = value;
    },
});

App/src/libs/actions/App.ts

Lines 586 to 588 in e54cfd4

	const isTransitioning = Str.startsWith(url.pathname, Str.normalizeUrl(ROUTES.TRANSITION_BETWEEN_APPS));
	const shouldCreateFreePolicy = !isLoggingInAsNewUser && isTransitioning && exitTo === ROUTES.WORKSPACE_NEW;

const isTransitioning = Str.startsWith(url.pathname, Str.normalizeUrl(ROUTES.TRANSITION_BETWEEN_APPS));

    if (isTransitioning) {
        reconnectApp(lastUpdateIDAppliedToClient ?? 0);
    }

    const shouldCreateFreePolicy = !isLoggingInAsNewUser && isTransitioning && exitTo === ROUTES.WORKSPACE_NEW;
    

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)