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iPad - Main menu in Liquid Glass UI on iPad (iPadOS 27) is located at the top and small #104423
Description
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Version Number: 9.5.14-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: N/A - new feature, doesn't exist in prod
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: Exp
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: iPad 9th Gen 10" / iPadOS 27.0.1
App Component: Other
Action Performed:
- Open Expensify App on iPad with iPadOS 27
- Login with any account
- Check what the main menu looks like and where it is located
Expected Result:
The main menu is located at the bottom of the screen and is of a standard size for Liquid Glass UI
Actual Result:
The main menu is located at the top of the screen and is small in size which differs from the Liquid Glass UI standards.
Workaround:
Unknown
Platforms:
- Android: App
- Android: mWeb Chrome
- iOS: iPad (iPadOS 27)
- iOS: mWeb Safari
- iOS: mWeb Chrome
- Windows: Chrome
- MacOS: Chrome Safari
Screenshots/Videos
Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Svetlana Lazutkina
Bug ID: 7290614
Issue Owner
Current Issue Owner: @ZhenjaHorbachMetadata
Metadata
Assignees
Type
Projects
- Status
Activity
applause-bot commentedon Oct 19, 2026
While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/c3a1322288c1e7088dae42e5471446430a36e5f9e17a4286227888c9588e925f
https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/f0d6af3ff48c53929adcc9aa3e885de434d0a21b039a6b30492acf0f2e3f327a
melvin-bot commentedon Oct 19, 2026
Triggered auto assignment to @stitesExpensify (
DeployBlockerCash), see https://stackoverflowteams.com/c/expensify/questions/9980/ for more details.melvin-bot commentedon Oct 19, 2026
💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source
github-actions commentedon Oct 19, 2026
👋 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:
MelvinBot commentedon Oct 19, 2026
Deploy Blocker Analysis
Causing PR: Add liquid glass bottom tab bar to iOS, Android and mWeb, which is not part of 9.5.14. It merged on 2026-10-15. It shipped in Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-10-16, and that release went to production today. So this bug should already reproduce on production (9.5.13-6) on iPadOS 26+. The issue's "N/A - new feature" note is out of date.
Recommendation: demote and fix forward. Don't revert anything. No PR in the current Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-10-19 changes where the tab bar sits. Every tab still works; the bar is only small and its labels are cut off. Confirm the bug reproduces on production 9.5.13-6, then remove
DeployBlockerCash.Confidence: High.
Root cause
UITabBarControllerin a regular-width layout draws a small floating tab bar at the top. This is the default UIKit behavior.tabBarControllerMode: 'tabBar'. That setting only turns off the sidebar. It doesn't move the bar to the bottom. Moving it needs a compacthorizontalSizeClasstrait override. Neither react-native-screens 4.28.0 nor the App's patches set one.useResponsiveLayouthardcodesisSmallScreenWidth = true. As a result,NativeTabLayoutalways uses the native bar on iPad.Ruled out: Fix bottom tab appears on non-root paths after killing and relaunching the app is the only 9.5.14 PR that touches this navigator. It only controls whether the bar is visible, not where it sits.
Fix options
traitOverrides.horizontalSizeClass = .compacton the tab bar controller, and set it back to regular on the child view controllers.Possible owners:
sumo-slonik(PR author), plusgrgiaandZhenjaHorbach(reviewers). Related follow-up: [Liquid Glass Follow Up] Fix native tab bar issues when theInsightsbeta is on.I didn't test this, because iPadOS 27 can't be reproduced on web.
Next Steps: Reply with
@MelvinBot <your feedback>to refine this analysis.war-in commentedon Oct 20, 2026
I agree we should at least fix the labels and icon size but according to apple this is how the tabs should look on ipad
https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/tab-bars#iPadOS
@expensify/design are we fine with that placement on iPad or do we want to move it? (I'm not sure if this is possible)
shawnborton commentedon Oct 20, 2026
Wow, who knew. I think it's fine to go fully native here, whatever the platform decides is best with them. Can we get some video walkthroughs of how it works with the rest of the app pages though?
war-in commentedon Oct 20, 2026
I don't have an iPad around but I'll try to build the dev version
war-in commentedon Oct 20, 2026
Labels are definitely broken and maybe we could show them the same way we do on iOS in horizontal mode? I'm not sure if it's possible but we can try
Screen.Recording.iPad.Pro.11-inch.M5.20-10-2026.at.12.29.09.mp4
shawnborton commentedon Oct 20, 2026
Definitely down with that. Also, cc @chuckdries as this kinda relates to some of the changes you were working on with tablet sizes.
melvin-bot commentedon Oct 23, 2026
@ZhenjaHorbach Uh oh! This issue is overdue by 2 days. Don't forget to update your issues!
melvin-bot commentedon Oct 27, 2026
@ZhenjaHorbach Still overdue 6 days?! Let's take care of this!
melvin-bot commentedon Oct 29, 2026
@ZhenjaHorbach Now this issue is 8 days overdue. Are you sure this should be a Daily? Feel free to change it!