[$250] Group split - New chats do not appear in LHN after offline split without a refresh

[lanitochka17]

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Version Number: 9.3.5-0
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/folder/13176944/test-cases/41237733
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): N/A
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: MacBook Air 15.7.3 Chrome
App Component: Left Hand Navigation (LHN)

Action Performed:

1. Sign in to ND
2. Go offline
3. Click Start chat, add two other accounts to the group, with whom you've never interacted before
4. Click Next, then Start group
5. Send a message in the group chat
6. Create a split, select scan and upload a valid receipt
7. Refresh the page and go online
8. Wait for the scan to finish, navigate to another conversation and back to group if it takes too long
9. Observe the LHN in the Inbox

Expected Result:

Two new chats with the split participants are created and shown in LHN for the split creator

Actual Result:

The chats with the split participants do not appear in the LHN after splitting expense offline and going online. They are shown only after refreshing the page

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7054260_1768936058105.Split_chats.mp4

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022013756931927761614
• Upwork Job ID: 2013756931927761614
• Last Price Increase: 2026-02-17

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @jayeshmangwani

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @twisterdotcom (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.

[annaweber830]

🚨 Edited by proposal-police: This proposal was edited at 2026-01-21 12:11:51 UTC.

Proposal

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

When a user creates a group split while offline (with a receipt/scan flow) and then goes back online, the app creates the underlying 1:1 chats for each split participant on the backend, but those new chats don’t show up in the LHN until the user manually refreshes.

What is the root cause of that problem?

In the scan split flow, the split is started with partial/optimistic participant data. When the split is later completed (after reconnect / scan finishes), the completion logic may not write optimistic Onyx data for the 1:1 DM reports (and related report actions) when a participant’s personal details are missing/optimistic and/or when the participant accountID isn’t available locally yet. As a result, the local REPORT collection doesn’t get the new DM report entries, so the LHN has nothing new to render until a full refresh rehydrates state from the server.

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

• Update the “complete split” path to not bail out when participant personal details are missing/optimistic.
• Ensure we can create/find the 1:1 DM report using accountIDs from split data; when a real accountID is not available locally yet, derive a local optimistic accountID from the participant login for local Onyx/UI only.
• When personal details are missing, merge a minimal optimistic personal-details entry so the UI can render the new chats immediately.
• Keep the existing money-request optimistic Onyx pipeline (report/reportActions/preview updates) so the LHN updates naturally from local report writes without requiring a refresh.
  

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

  Lines 8034 to 8099 in e54cfd4

  	for (const participant of splitParticipants) {
  	// Skip creating the transaction for the current user
  	if (participant.email === currentUserEmailForIOUSplit) {
  	continue;
  	}
  	const isPolicyExpenseChat = !!participant.policyID;
  	if (!isPolicyExpenseChat) {
  	// In case this is still the optimistic accountID saved in the splits array, return early as we cannot know
  	// if there is an existing chat between the split creator and this participant
  	// Instead, we will rely on Auth generating the report IDs and the user won't see any optimistic chats or reports created
  	const participantPersonalDetails: OnyxTypes.PersonalDetails | null = allPersonalDetails[participant?.accountID ?? CONST.DEFAULT_NUMBER_ID];
  	if (!participantPersonalDetails || participantPersonalDetails.isOptimisticPersonalDetail) {
  	splits.push({
  	email: participant.email,
  	});
  	continue;
  	}
  	}
  	let oneOnOneChatReport: OnyxEntry<OnyxTypes.Report>;
  	let isNewOneOnOneChatReport = false;
  	if (isPolicyExpenseChat) {
  	// The expense chat reportID is saved in the splits array when starting a split expense with a workspace
  	oneOnOneChatReport = allReports?.[`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT}${participant.chatReportID}`];
  	} else {
  	const existingChatReport = getChatByParticipants(participant.accountID ? [participant.accountID, sessionAccountID] : []);
  	isNewOneOnOneChatReport = !existingChatReport;
  	oneOnOneChatReport =
  	existingChatReport ??
  	buildOptimisticChatReport({
  	participantList: participant.accountID ? [participant.accountID, sessionAccountID] : [],
  	});
  	}
  	let oneOnOneIOUReport: OneOnOneIOUReport = oneOnOneChatReport?.iouReportID ? allReports?.[`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT}${oneOnOneChatReport.iouReportID}`] : null;
  	const shouldCreateNewOneOnOneIOUReport = shouldCreateNewMoneyRequestReportReportUtils(oneOnOneIOUReport, oneOnOneChatReport, false);
  	// Generate IDs upfront so we can pass them to buildOptimisticExpenseReport for formula computation
  	const optimisticTransactionID = NumberUtils.rand64();
  	const optimisticExpenseReportID = generateReportID();
  	if (!oneOnOneIOUReport || shouldCreateNewOneOnOneIOUReport) {
  	const reportTransactions = buildMinimalTransactionForFormula(
  	optimisticTransactionID,
  	optimisticExpenseReportID,
  	updatedTransaction?.modifiedCreated,
  	splitAmount,
  	currency ?? '',
  	updatedTransaction?.modifiedMerchant,
  	);
  	oneOnOneIOUReport = isPolicyExpenseChat
  	? buildOptimisticExpenseReport(
  	oneOnOneChatReport?.reportID,
  	participant.policyID,
  	sessionAccountID,
  	splitAmount,
  	currency ?? '',
  	undefined,
  	undefined,
  	optimisticExpenseReportID,
  	reportTransactions,
  	)
  	: buildOptimisticIOUReport(sessionAccountID, participant.accountID ?? CONST.DEFAULT_NUMBER_ID, splitAmount, oneOnOneChatReport?.reportID, currency ?? '');
  	} else if (isPolicyExpenseChat) {

for (const participant of splitParticipants) {
       // Skip creating the transaction for the current user
       if (participant.email === currentUserEmailForIOUSplit) {
           continue;
       }
       const isPolicyExpenseChat = !!participant.policyID;
       const participantLogin = addSMSDomainIfPhoneNumber(participant.email) ?? '';
       const participantAccountID = Number(participant?.accountID);
       const localParticipantAccountID = participantAccountID || getAccountIDsByLogins([participantLogin]).at(0);

       if (!isPolicyExpenseChat) {
           if (!localParticipantAccountID) {
               splits.push({
                   email: participant.email,
               });
               continue;
           }

           const participantPersonalDetails: OnyxTypes.PersonalDetails | null = allPersonalDetails[localParticipantAccountID] ?? null;
           if (!participantPersonalDetails) {
               optimisticData.push({
                   onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
                   key: ONYXKEYS.PERSONAL_DETAILS_LIST,
                   value: {
                       [localParticipantAccountID]: {
                           accountID: localParticipantAccountID,
                           displayName: formatPhoneNumber(participantLogin),
                           login: participantLogin,
                           isOptimisticPersonalDetail: true,
                       },
                   },
               });
           }
       }

       let oneOnOneChatReport: OnyxEntry<OnyxTypes.Report>;
       let isNewOneOnOneChatReport = false;
       if (isPolicyExpenseChat) {
           // The expense chat reportID is saved in the splits array when starting a split expense with a workspace
           oneOnOneChatReport = allReports?.[`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT}${participant.chatReportID}`];
       } else {
           const existingChatReport = getChatByParticipants(localParticipantAccountID ? [localParticipantAccountID, sessionAccountID] : []);
           isNewOneOnOneChatReport = !existingChatReport;
           oneOnOneChatReport =
               existingChatReport ??
               buildOptimisticChatReport({
                   participantList: localParticipantAccountID ? [localParticipantAccountID, sessionAccountID] : [],
               });
       }

       let oneOnOneIOUReport: OneOnOneIOUReport = oneOnOneChatReport?.iouReportID ? allReports?.[`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT}${oneOnOneChatReport.iouReportID}`] : null;
       const shouldCreateNewOneOnOneIOUReport = shouldCreateNewMoneyRequestReportReportUtils(oneOnOneIOUReport, oneOnOneChatReport, false);

       // Generate IDs upfront so we can pass them to buildOptimisticExpenseReport for formula computation
       const optimisticTransactionID = NumberUtils.rand64();
       const optimisticExpenseReportID = generateReportID();

       if (!oneOnOneIOUReport || shouldCreateNewOneOnOneIOUReport) {
           const reportTransactions = buildMinimalTransactionForFormula(
               optimisticTransactionID,
               optimisticExpenseReportID,
               updatedTransaction?.modifiedCreated,
               splitAmount,
               currency ?? '',
               updatedTransaction?.modifiedMerchant,
           );

           oneOnOneIOUReport = isPolicyExpenseChat
               ? buildOptimisticExpenseReport(
                     oneOnOneChatReport?.reportID,
                     participant.policyID,
                     sessionAccountID,
                     splitAmount,
                     currency ?? '',
                     undefined,
                     undefined,
                     optimisticExpenseReportID,
                     reportTransactions,
                 )
               : buildOptimisticIOUReport(sessionAccountID, localParticipantAccountID || CONST.DEFAULT_NUMBER_ID, splitAmount, oneOnOneChatReport?.reportID, currency ?? '');
       }

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022013756931927761614

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

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

[jayeshmangwani]

I’m able to reproduce the issue. @annaweber830, from your proposal, can you help me understand the RCA? When we go from offline to online, which API fails to send the correct data?