[Due for payment 2026-03-19] Workflows - Blank page displayed on disabling Approvals in Workflows

[lanitochka17]

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Version Number: 9.3.36-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: Exploratory around https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/test-runs/TR-8437/folder/13176709/41236909/1244460616
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): kiatest.78+ck311262@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Win 11/Chrome
App Component: Workspace Settings

Action Performed:

1. Navigate to staging.new.expensify,com
2. Create new account & workspace
3. Go to workspace settings >> Workflows
4. Enable approvals
5. Disable approvals

Expected Result:

Warning disable popup should appear on toggling off approvals & no blank page displayed

Actual Result:

Blank page displayed on disabling Approvals in Workflows

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7100370_1773261952441.401.mp4

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[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @lakchote (DeployBlockerCash), see https://stackoverflowteams.com/c/expensify/questions/9980/ for more details.

[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: #84320 - "fix: Update preventSelfApproval on approvalMode change" by @Eskalifer1 (High confidence)
Related Issues: #82197

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #84320 was merged on 2026-03-11 at 17:42 UTC and is included in the current deploy (9.3.36-0). This PR modified the setWorkspaceApprovalMode function to automatically update the preventSelfApproval field when disabling approvals. While the logic appears correct, it likely introduces a rendering issue or race condition when toggling off approvals in the Workflows page.

Labels: Keeping DeployBlockerCash as this is a frontend bug that requires an App PR fix. The issue is staging-only and not reproducible in production, consistent with this PR being in staging but not production.

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

1. Timeline match: PR fix: Update preventSelfApproval on approvalMode change #84320 was merged on 2026-03-11, the same day this bug was reported
2. Feature match: The PR modifies the exact functionality affected by the bug (disabling approvals in Workflows)
3. Symptom match: The bug manifests immediately after toggling off approvals, which triggers the modified setWorkspaceApprovalMode function

Verification

The bug occurs when:

1. User navigates to Workspace Settings > Workflows
2. Enables approvals
3. Disables approvals
4. Blank page is displayed

The code path:

• User toggles off approvals → confirmDisableApprovals() is called (line 149 in WorkspaceWorkflowsPage.tsx)
• This calls setWorkspaceApprovalMode(..., CONST.POLICY.APPROVAL_MODE.OPTIONAL, ...)
• PR fix: Update preventSelfApproval on approvalMode change #84320 modified this function to also update preventSelfApproval and set its pending field when mode is OPTIONAL

Root Cause

PR #84320 added logic to simultaneously update multiple policy fields (approvalMode and preventSelfApproval) with their respective pending states when disabling approvals. The optimistic data update includes:

• Setting preventSelfApproval: false
• Setting pendingFields.preventSelfApproval: UPDATE
• Setting pendingFields.approvalMode: UPDATE

This multi-field update with pending states may be causing:

1. A rendering issue in the WorkspaceWorkflowsPage where the page fails to re-render properly
2. A race condition in the Onyx state updates
3. An issue with how the OfflineWithFeedback or Accordion components handle multiple simultaneous pending field updates

Files Modified by PR #84320

• src/libs/actions/Policy/Policy.ts (the setWorkspaceApprovalMode function)
• tests/actions/PolicyTest.ts (added test cases)