[$250] Distance - Split amounts do not auto redistribute when adding distance split

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.3.26-8
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #82257
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): osidnjodjosijsoji@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.2 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace chat.
3. Create a manual expense.
4. Open the expense.
5. Click More > Split.
6. Click Add split.
   → All split amounts auto redistribute.
7. Create a manual distance expense.
8. Open the expense.
9. Click More > Split.
10. Click Add split.

Expected Result:

Split amounts will auto redistribute when adding distance split.

Actual Result:

Split amounts do not auto redistribute when adding distance split.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

1.mp4

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @jjcoffee

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022027384280847457211
• Upwork Job ID: 2027384280847457211
• Last Price Increase: 2026-02-27

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #82257

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @sonialiap (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.

[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: #82257 - "feat: handle the Distance and Rate fields for splits" by @ZhenjaHorbach (High confidence)
Related Issues: None

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #82257 should be reverted. The PR introduced inconsistent behavior between manual and distance expense splits. When adding a new split to a manual expense, amounts auto-redistribute across all splits. However, for distance expenses, this auto-redistribution was intentionally disabled, creating a confusing user experience.

Labels: No changes needed. Keeping DeployBlockerCash (frontend bug blocking App deploy). This issue is not reproducible on production, confirming it was introduced by a PR currently on staging.

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

The issue states that split amounts auto-redistribute when adding a split to a manual expense, but NOT when adding a split to a distance expense. This inconsistency was introduced by PR #82257.

Verification

In /home/runner/_work/App/App/src/libs/actions/IOU/Split.ts, the addSplitExpenseField function at lines 2091-2094 contains this logic:

// Auto-redistribute amounts for all splits if this is not a distance request
if (!isDistanceRequest) {
    redistributedSplitExpenses = redistributeSplitExpenseAmounts(updatedSplitExpenses, total, currency);
}

This condition explicitly skips auto-redistribution for distance requests. The comment indicates this was intentional, but it creates an inconsistent user experience where:

• Manual expense: Click "Add split" and amounts redistribute automatically
• Distance expense: Click "Add split" and amounts do NOT redistribute

Root Cause

PR #82257 added comprehensive support for distance and rate fields in splits. As part of this work, the author intentionally disabled auto-redistribution for distance expenses (line 2092), likely because distance splits have additional complexity with distance/rate calculations. However, this created a UX inconsistency that users find confusing.

The PR modified 25 files including:

• /home/runner/_work/App/App/src/libs/actions/IOU/Split.ts (added redistribution skip logic)
• /home/runner/_work/App/App/src/pages/iou/SplitExpensePage.tsx
• Multiple distance request step files

Why Revert?

While the PR added valuable functionality for distance splits, the inconsistent behavior is confusing and blocks deployment. A revert allows time to properly address the UX inconsistency - either by enabling auto-redistribution for distance splits or by disabling it for all split types to maintain consistency.