iOS - Bottom tab bar appears after delay after swiping back from workspace settings

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Version Number: 9.5.13-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #101339
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): [email protected]
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: iPhone 17 Pro Max / iOS 27.0.1
App Component: Workspace Settings

Action Performed:

Launch Expensify app.
Go to Workspaces.
Open any workspace.
Open any settings.
Swipe back to previous page.

Expected Result:

Bottom tab bar will be shown immediately after swiping back from workspace settings.

Actual Result:

Bottom tab bar appears after delay after swiping back from workspace settings.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

To be added by Applause Leads

Bug7288098_1792153567793.ScreenRecording_10-16-2026_20-23-19_1.1.mp4

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Chandana Kiran
Bug ID: 7288098

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/e9dba6b81899cb3b9ed659e6d4e9562e872b94a7fa6bdc6dfb4a670277b01599

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #101339

@grgia

@grgia @ZhenjaHorbach you have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you reviewed the offending PR: #101339

👋 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:

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

@sumo-slonik

@sumo-slonik you have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you authored the offending PR: #101339

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

Deploy Blocker Analysis

Causing PR: Add liquid glass bottom tab bar to iOS, Android and mWeb (high confidence).

Recommendation: Fix forward in a follow-up. Don't revert. This is a cosmetic timing issue on a large feature that already has staging fixes cherry-picked on top. grgia has already removed DeployBlockerCash and closed this issue, and these findings support that.

Why it happens: On iOS, the tab-root pages no longer draw their own tab bar. Only the native tab bar is left, and it shows only after the swipe-back pop is committed to navigation state. A patch then animates it in, which adds more delay.

Investigation details

Why this PR

It replaced the JavaScript tab bar with a native iOS tab bar. Production still has the old bar, which matches "staging yes, production no, iOS only".
None of the other PRs in Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-10-16 touches the tab bar or tab navigator.
[CP Staging] Fix liquid glass bottom tab bar issues merged after the 9.5.13-0 build. It only changes Android touches and tab identity.

Mechanism

Before this PR, each tab-root page drew its own tab bar through bottomContent. When you swiped back, the uncovered page already showed a bar.
Now WorkspaceInitialPage.tsx:261-264 uses useTabRootScreenWrapperProps. On iOS, that hook returns no bottomContent (index.ios.tsx:27-30).
shouldShowNativeTabBar depends on isTabRouteAtRoot(activeTabRoute) (useNativeTabNavigator.ts:62-66). It becomes tabBarStyle.display (index.ios.ts:60). The native stack only commits the pop after the swipe animation ends, so the bar stays hidden during the whole swipe.
The PR's react-native-screens+4.28.0+002+animate-hiding-the-native-tab-bar.patch calls setTabBarHidden:animated:YES. After the pop, UIKit slides the bar in, which adds more delay.

This likely affects swiping back to any tab root, not just Workspaces.

Suggested fix

Add a hook to the tab-root pages that listens to the native stack's transitionStart event. When closing === false, set a shared "tab root appearing" flag. Clear it on closing === true (including a cancelled swipe) or transitionEnd. ScreenLayout.tsx:49-55 already subscribes to these events.
In useNativeTabNavigator, show the bar when isTabRouteAtRoot(activeTabRoute) || isTabRootAppearing.
Cheaper partial fix: in the patch, animate only when hiding (animated:(_tabBarHidden && ...)). This removes the slide-in but not the wait for the pop.

I did not test this on a device, because the bug needs native iOS swipe-back.

Next Steps: Reply with @MelvinBot implement this to create a draft PR, or @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis.

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iOS - Bottom tab bar appears after delay after swiping back from workspace settings #104257

Action Performed:

Expected Result:

Actual Result:

Workaround:

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

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iOS - Bottom tab bar appears after delay after swiping back from workspace settings #104257

Description

Action Performed:

Expected Result:

Actual Result:

Workaround:

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

Activity

applause-bot commented on Oct 16, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Oct 16, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Oct 16, 2026

github-actions commented on Oct 16, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Oct 16, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Oct 16, 2026

MelvinBot commented on Oct 16, 2026

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