[$250] Chat - Chat from new user does not become un-bold in offline mode

[lanitochka17]

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Version Number: 9.3.27-0
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/test-runs/TR-7047/folder/13176910/41237473/1218708618
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): emady.syed1234+500@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Regression TC Execution
Device used: Windows 11 / Chrome
App Component: Left Hand Navigation (LHN)

Action Performed:

Precondition : 2 Users are present
User A on mobile
User B on web

1. As user A create new account and start a chat with user B
2. As user B go to inbox and disable internet connection
3. Click on chat from user A
4. Navigate away to any other chat

Expected Result:

The chat should become un-bold when viewed in offline mode, as per the test case instructions.

Actual Result:

Chat does not become un-bold when viewed in offline mode when the sender is a new user.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7090195_1772208247105.new_user.mp4

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• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022027461232641751213
• Upwork Job ID: 2027461232641751213
• Last Price Increase: 2026-03-06

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @joekaufmanexpensify (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.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022027461232641751213

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

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

When User B receives a chat from a brand-new User A and then goes offline, opening the chat does not mark it as read — the chat remains bold (unread) in the LHN even after viewing it. For chats from existing/known users, viewing offline correctly un-bolds them.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The mark-as-read function readNewestAction() in src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts:2169 has an early-exit guard:

if (!hasOnceLoadedReportActions) {
    return;
}

This hasOnceLoadedReportActions flag is only set to true in the successData of openReport (at line 1246 and line 1644), which requires a successful server response. It is not set in optimisticData or failureData.

When a brand-new chat arrives via Pusher, no reportMetadata exists for it — hasOnceLoadedReportActions defaults to false (ReportScreen.tsx:123). When offline, openReport queues but never completes, so hasOnceLoadedReportActions stays false. Every call to readNewestAction from ReportActionsList (line 393) passes !!reportMetadata?.hasOnceLoadedReportActions which is false, causing readNewestAction to bail out before applying its optimistic lastReadTime update. Without lastReadTime being set, isUnread() at ReportUtils.ts:8893 returns true, keeping the chat bold.

For existing users, hasOnceLoadedReportActions was already set to true during a previous online session and persisted in Onyx — so even offline, readNewestAction proceeds and un-bolds the chat.

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

In readNewestAction at src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts, relax the hasOnceLoadedReportActions guard so that it also allows marking as read when the report already has actions loaded in Onyx (i.e., the report actions collection for this reportID is non-empty). The guard's purpose is to prevent 401 errors from trying to read reports not yet shared with the user — but if report actions already exist in Onyx (delivered via Pusher), the report is clearly shared and the guard is unnecessary.

Specifically: check if report actions for the given reportID already exist in ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT_ACTIONS as a fallback when hasOnceLoadedReportActions is false. If actions exist, allow readNewestAction to proceed with its optimistic lastReadTime update.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

1. Move hasOnceLoadedReportActions: true to optimisticData in openReport — this would be simpler but changes the semantics of the flag. The flag was designed to mean "server confirmed this report is shared with the user." Setting it optimistically could cause 401 errors if the user navigates to a report that hasn't been shared yet.

2. Set hasOnceLoadedReportActions: true when Pusher delivers report actions — this is conceptually clean (if we received actions via Pusher, they are "loaded") but would require modifying the Pusher event handler in User.ts to also update REPORT_METADATA, which is currently a client-only concern.

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

[abbasifaizan70]

Proposal

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

When User B is offline and opens a chat sent by User A (where User A is a newly created account), that chat remains bold in LHN instead of being marked read.

Expected behavior: once User B opens the chat offline, it should immediately become un-bold (read), same as other offline read scenarios.

What is the root cause of that problem?

ReportActionsList correctly tries to mark the report as read when the report is opened and visible, but it passes hasOnceLoadedReportActions into readNewestAction().

App/src/pages/inbox/report/ReportActionsList.tsx

Lines 387 to 394 in ae3d89f

	if (isUnread(report, transactionThreadReport, isReportArchived) || (lastAction && isCurrentActionUnread(report, lastAction, sortedVisibleReportActions))) {
	// On desktop, when the notification center is displayed, isVisible will return false.
	// Currently, there's no programmatic way to dismiss the notification center panel.
	// To handle this, we use the 'referrer' parameter to check if the current navigation is triggered from a notification.
	const isFromNotification = route?.params?.referrer === CONST.REFERRER.NOTIFICATION;
	if ((isVisible || isFromNotification) && scrollOffsetRef.current < CONST.REPORT.ACTIONS.ACTION_VISIBLE_THRESHOLD) {
	readNewestAction(report.reportID, !!reportMetadata?.hasOnceLoadedReportActions);
	if (isFromNotification) {

In readNewestAction(), there is an early return when hasOnceLoadedReportActions is false.

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

Lines 2168 to 2171 in ae3d89f

	// Do not try to mark the report as read if the report has not been loaded and shared with the user
	if (!hasOnceLoadedReportActions) {
	return;
	}

For first-time chats from a newly created sender, hasOnceLoadedReportActions can still be false while offline (because we cannot complete a fresh fetch). That prevents even the optimistic lastReadTime update, so unread computation continues to treat the report as unread.

App/src/libs/ReportUtils.ts

Lines 8893 to 8902 in ae3d89f

	if (!report.lastReadTime) {
	return true;
	}
	// lastVisibleActionCreated and lastReadTime are both datetime strings and can be compared directly
	const lastVisibleActionCreated = getReportLastVisibleActionCreated(report, oneTransactionThreadReport);
	const lastReadTime = report.lastReadTime ?? '';
	const lastMentionedTime = report.lastMentionedTime ?? '';
	// If the user was mentioned and the comment got deleted the lastMentionedTime will be more recent than the lastVisibleActionCreated
	return lastReadTime < (lastVisibleActionCreated ?? '') || lastReadTime < lastMentionedTime;

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

diff --git a/src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts b/src/libs/actions/Report/index.ts
@@
 function readNewestAction(reportID: string | undefined, hasOnceLoadedReportActions: boolean, shouldResetUnreadMarker = false) {
     if (!reportID) {
         return;
     }
 
-    // Do not try to mark the report as read if the report has not been loaded and shared with the user
-    if (!hasOnceLoadedReportActions) {
+    // Keep the online safeguard to avoid 401 for reports not yet shared with the user.
+    // But when offline, still allow optimistic read so LHN unbolds immediately.
+    if (!hasOnceLoadedReportActions && !NetworkConnection.isOffline()) {
         return;
     }
@@
-    API.writeWithNoDuplicatesConflictAction(
-        WRITE_COMMANDS.READ_NEWEST_ACTION,
-        parameters,
-        {optimisticData},
-        (request) => request.command === WRITE_COMMANDS.READ_NEWEST_ACTION && request.data?.reportID === parameters.reportID,
-    );
+    API.writeWithNoDuplicatesConflictAction(
+        WRITE_COMMANDS.READ_NEWEST_ACTION,
+        parameters,
+        {optimisticData},
+        (request) => request.command === WRITE_COMMANDS.READ_NEWEST_ACTION && request.data?.reportID === parameters.reportID,
+    );

[lorretheboy]

Proposal

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

Chat - Chat from new user does not become un-bold in offline mode

What is the root cause of that problem?

When User B receives a chat from a brand-new User A and goes offline, the readNewestAction() function fails to mark the chat as read because:

• The guard condition bails out early: readNewestAction checks hasOnceLoadedReportActions and returns immediately if it's false
• hasOnceLoadedReportActions is only set on server success: It's set to true in successData of openReport (lines 1246, 1644), which requires a successful server response
• Offline = no server response: When offline, openReport queues but never completes, so hasOnceLoadedReportActions stays false
  Result: readNewestAction never applies the optimistic lastReadTime update, so isUnread() returns true and the chat stays bold
  For existing users, hasOnceLoadedReportActions was already set to true during a previous online session and persisted in Onyx, so offline reading works.
  

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

  Lines 2163 to 2183 in 2f89e0d

  	function readNewestAction(reportID: string | undefined, hasOnceLoadedReportActions: boolean, shouldResetUnreadMarker = false) {
  	if (!reportID) {
  	return;
  	}
  	// Do not try to mark the report as read if the report has not been loaded and shared with the user
  	if (!hasOnceLoadedReportActions) {
  	return;
  	}
  	const lastReadTime = NetworkConnection.getDBTimeWithSkew();
  	const optimisticData: Array<OnyxUpdate<typeof ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT>> = [
  	{
  	onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
  	key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT}${reportID}`,
  	value: {
  	lastReadTime,
  	},
  	},
  	];

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

Relax the guard in readNewestAction to also allow marking as read when report actions already exist in Onyx (delivered via Pusher). If actions exist, the report is clearly shared with the user

const reportActions = allReportActions?.[reportID];
const hasReportActionsInOnyx = !!reportActions && Object.keys(reportActions).length > 0;
if (!hasOnceLoadedReportActions && !hasReportActionsInOnyx) {
  return;
}

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

Lines 2168 to 2171 in 2f89e0d

	// Do not try to mark the report as read if the report has not been loaded and shared with the user
	if (!hasOnceLoadedReportActions) {
	return;
	}

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Reminder: Please use plain English, be brief and avoid jargon. Feel free to use images, charts or pseudo-code if necessary. Do not post large multi-line diffs or write walls of text. Do not create PRs unless you have been hired for this job.

[github-actions]

⚠️ @lorretheboy Your proposal is a duplicate of an already existing proposal and has been automatically withdrawn to prevent spam. Please review the existing proposals before submitting a new one.