[Due for payment 2026-05-20] [Due for payment 2026-05-18] [$250] Distance - Map receipt preview changes to placeholder after changing distance rate

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.3.69-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #89858
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): josdjnosdjionjsdonjisod@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:

Precondition:

• Enable Distance rates in workspace settings.
• Have at least two distance rates.

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace chat.
3. Create a distance expense.
4. Open the expense.
5. Click Rate.
6. Select another rate.

Expected Result:

New map receipt will be generated after changing distance rate.

Actual Result:

Map receipt preview changes to placeholder after changing distance rate.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7148511_1778256507636.16.mp4

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022053963800901760991
• Upwork Job ID: 2053963800901760991
• Last Price Increase: 2026-05-11

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @aimane-chnaif

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #89858

[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: #89858 - "fixed manual distance tab blockers" by @mukhrr (High confidence)
Related Issues: #83781 (original issue PR #89858 was fixing)

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #89858 introduced a regression where changing a distance rate clears the route coordinates and then renders ConfirmedRoute with requireRouteToDisplayMap={true}, causing the map to fall back to PendingMapView (the placeholder) instead of showing the map receipt.

Assigned: @mukhrr (PR author), @aimane-chnaif (approving reviewer), @youssef-lr (approving reviewer) from PR #89858
Labels: DeployBlockerCash kept (frontend App PR caused the bug), DeployBlocker kept (both labels were already present — not removing either until root cause is fully confirmed on both sides)

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

• The melvin-bot already identified PR fixed manual distance tab blockers #89858 as the causing PR
• PR fixed manual distance tab blockers #89858 was merged on 2026-05-07 (the day before the bug was reported: 2026-05-08)
• The bug is staging-only (not reproducible in production), matching the fact that PR fixed manual distance tab blockers #89858 is in the staging deploy but not yet in production
• PR fixed manual distance tab blockers #89858 directly modifies src/libs/actions/IOU/UpdateMoneyRequest.ts and src/components/ReportActionItem/ReportActionItemImage.tsx, which are the exact files involved in the rate-change receipt flow

Verification

• Affected files: src/libs/actions/IOU/UpdateMoneyRequest.ts and src/components/ReportActionItem/ReportActionItemImage.tsx
• Confirmation: PR fixed manual distance tab blockers #89858 modifies both of these files directly

Root Cause

PR #89858 introduced two changes that combine to produce the placeholder:

1. Route clearing on rate change (UpdateMoneyRequest.ts): The PR added shouldClearRoutes = (hasWaypointAddressesChanged || hasModifiedDistanceRate) && !hasValidOptimisticRoute. When the user selects a new distance rate, hasModifiedDistanceRate = true and hasValidOptimisticRoute = false (no new route was calculated — only the rate changed). As a result, on API success, routes: null is written to Onyx, clearing the route coordinates.

2. Forced ConfirmedRoute rendering while coordinates are gone (ReportActionItemImage.tsx): The PR added hasPendingReceiptRegeneration which checks pendingFields.merchant or pendingFields.customUnitRateID. When a rate change is pending, showMapAsImage = true, which renders ConfirmedRoute with requireRouteToDisplayMap={true}. However, because step 1 already cleared routes: null, ConfirmedRoute has no coordinates (hasCoordinates = false), so shouldDisplayMap = false and it falls through to PendingMapView — the placeholder.

The combination means: rate change → clears route → pending flag shows ConfirmedRoute → no coordinates → placeholder shown, persisting until the Pusher push delivers a fresh receipt (which may be delayed or missed).

A targeted fix would be to not clear routes on a pure rate change (since the route geometry does not change when only the rate changes — only the amount changes). Alternatively, shouldClearRoutes should exclude hasModifiedDistanceRate from triggering route clearing, since rate-only changes do not require a new map to be generated.