Android - Chat does not open after closing chat and opening another chat from FAB

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.3.40-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #83899
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdjsdjosijnsodiosd@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Samsung Galaxy S25 FE / Android 16
App Component: Chat Report View

Action Performed:

1. Launch Expensify app.
2. Open FAB > Start chat.
3. Select any user from Recents or Contacts list.
4. Tap app back button.
5. Open FAB > Start chat.
6. Select any user from Recents or Contacts list.

Expected Result:

Chat report will open.

Actual Result:

Chat report does not open after closing chat report and opening another chat from FAB.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Video.mp4

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[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #83899

[melvin-bot]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[github-actions]

👋 Friendly reminder that deploy blockers are time-sensitive ⏱ issues! Check out the open `StagingDeployCash` deploy checklist to see the list of PRs included in this release, then work quickly to do one of the following:

1. Identify the pull request that introduced this issue and revert it.
2. Find someone who can quickly fix the issue.
3. Fix the issue yourself.

[OSBotify]

🔍 Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: #83899 - "Migration navigation from InteractionManager to TransitionTracker V2" by @collectioneur (High confidence)
Related Issues: Part of #71913 (TransitionTracker migration parent issue)

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #83899 introduces the TransitionTracker system to replace InteractionManager for handling navigation transitions. The bug occurs specifically when:

1. Opening FAB > Start chat
2. Selecting a user
3. Going back (Android back button)
4. Opening FAB > Start chat again
5. Selecting another user
6. The chat report fails to open

This matches test case #4 from the PR description: "Navigate to a chat from FAB (RHP)".

Labels: No changes needed. DeployBlockerCash is correctly applied (blocks App deploy). DeployBlocker is not present, which is correct since this is a frontend bug requiring an App revert, not a backend fix.

📋 Detailed Analysis

Evidence

• The issue is only reproducible on staging, not production, confirming it was introduced in the current deploy
• PR Migration navigation from InteractionManager to TransitionTracker V2 #83899 was explicitly mentioned in the issue by melvin-bot as the suspected cause
• The bug affects Android-specific navigation behavior
• The symptom (chat not opening after dismissing and reopening from FAB) directly relates to the modal dismissal and navigation changes in the PR

Verification

The PR modifies src/pages/NewChatPage.tsx lines 386-393:

if (option?.reportID) {
    Navigation.dismissModal({
        afterTransition: () => {
            Navigation.navigate(ROUTES.REPORT_WITH_ID.getRoute(option?.reportID));
        },
    });
    return;
}

The PR changed from the old callback pattern to the new afterTransition pattern. The dismissModal function now wraps the modal dismissal in TransitionTracker.runAfterTransitions, and then the afterTransition callback is scheduled with waitForUpcomingTransition: true.

Root Cause

The TransitionTracker system relies on transitionStart and transitionEnd events from React Navigation to properly track transitions. On Android (React Navigation Native Stack), these events may not be firing reliably, or there is a race condition where:

1. The first modal dismissal starts a transition
2. The afterTransition callback is queued with waitForUpcomingTransition: true, waiting for the next transition to start
3. On the second attempt to open a chat, the transition tracking state is corrupted or the callback queue is not properly handled
4. The navigation to the report never executes

The issue is specific to Android because the native stack navigator on Android may have different timing characteristics than iOS or web.