[Due for payment 2026-05-11] [Due for payment 2026-05-07] Spend - New report does not appear in the background after moving expense to new report

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.3.62-5
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #85234
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdsodijnosdjoij@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 an expense.
4. Go to Spend > All reports.
5. Click on the report.
6. Click Report field > Create report.

Expected Result:

The new report will be shown in the background.

Actual Result:

The new report is not shown in the background.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7139354_1777303636677.15.mp4

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @ZhenjaHorbach

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #85234

[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: #85234 - "Introduce a Bottom Tab Navigator for Top-Level Navigation" by @WojtekBoman (High confidence)
Related Issues: #85260

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #85234 is a large-scope navigation refactor that introduced a createBottomTabNavigator replacing what was previously individual root-stack screens. The regression (new report not shown in background after "Report field > Create report") is a staging-only issue that appeared after this PR merged on 2026-04-24. The melvin-bot also identified this PR as the causing PR from the test reference in the issue body. Reverting this PR should restore the previous navigation behavior.

Assigned: @WojtekBoman (PR author), @ZhenjaHorbach (approving reviewer), @mountiny (approving reviewer)
Labels: DeployBlockerCash kept (Frontend bug, staging-only regression from an App PR). DeployBlocker removed (fix does not require backend changes).

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

• The issue body explicitly references https://github.com/Expensify/App/pull/85234 as the test name/ID, which is the PR that was being regression-tested when the bug was caught.
• The melvin-bot comment confirms: "You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: Introduce a Bottom Tab Navigator for Top-Level Navigation #85234"
• The bug is staging-only (not reproducible in production), which matches the PR merge date of 2026-04-24 — it was only deployed to staging, not production.
• The PR changed the entire top-level navigation structure from individual root-stack screens to a TAB_NAVIGATOR, touching ~90 files including navigation helpers, GetStateForActionHandlers.ts, Navigation.ts, and multiple navigator components.

Verification

• The bug occurs in the "Spend > All reports > Click on report > Report field > Create report" flow. After creation, the new report is not shown in the background.
• PR Introduce a Bottom Tab Navigator for Top-Level Navigation #85234 modified src/libs/Navigation/AppNavigator/createRootStackNavigator/GetStateForActionHandlers.ts which handles REPLACE_FULLSCREEN_UNDER_RHP — the action responsible for inserting a route in the background before dismissing a modal.
• The new TAB_NAVIGATOR path in handleReplaceFullscreenUnderRHP switches tabs within the existing TAB_NAVIGATOR instance. When navigating to a report in the REPORTS_SPLIT_NAVIGATOR, if the tab switching or nested state merging logic doesn't correctly place the new report route, the background report would not be visible after modal dismissal.
• The PR also modified src/libs/Navigation/helpers/linkTo/index.ts, Navigation.ts (adding revealRouteBeforeDismissingModal and preInsertFullscreenUnderRHP), and the navigateAfterExpenseCreate helper — all involved in post-creation navigation.

Root Cause

The introduction of the TAB_NAVIGATOR wrapper changed the navigation state shape. The REPLACE_FULLSCREEN_UNDER_RHP action handler now takes a tab-switch path (rather than pushing a new fullscreen route) when the target is a TAB_NAVIGATOR screen. The nested state merging logic in handleReplaceFullscreenUnderRHP for the tab-switch path may not correctly propagate the new report's route into the REPORTS_SPLIT_NAVIGATOR tab state, causing the background reveal to silently fail or show the wrong screen.