Fix Safari emoji corruption bug by inserting ZWNJ between digits/symbols (#, *) and emojis by abbasifaizan70 · Pull Request #79265 · Expensify/App

abbasifaizan70 · 2026-01-09T23:02:34Z

Explanation of Change

This PR inserts a Zero-Width Non-Joiner (ZWNJ) between #/* and emojis, preventing Safari from creating these sequences and ensuring the text displays correctly.

Fixed Issues

$ #75634
PROPOSAL: #75634 (comment)

Tests

Testing Steps for New Message

Navigate to the web app in Safari
Open any existing conversation or start a new one
In the compose box, type a hash symbol (#) or asterisk (*)
Without adding a space, type an emoji shortcode (e.g., 😄, ❤️, 👍)
Press Enter or click Send
In the compose box, type a hash symbol (#) or asterisk (*)
Without adding a space, open the emoji picker and select an emoji
Press Enter or click Send
The message displays correctly with the symbol followed by the emoji (e.g., #😄, *😄)
No corrupted characters, malformed Unicode sequences, or keycap emoji conversion

Testing Steps for Edit Message

Navigate to the web app in Safari
Open any existing conversation that has a message you can edit
Click on an existing message and select "Edit" from the context menu
Clear the existing text and type a hash symbol (#) or asterisk (*)
Without adding a space, type an emoji shortcode (e.g., 😄, ❤️, 👍)
Press Enter or click the checkmark to save changes
Verify the edited message displays correctly with the symbol followed by the emoji (e.g., #😄, *😄)
Edit another message, type a hash symbol (#) or asterisk (*)
Without adding a space, open the emoji picker and select an emoji
Press Enter or click the checkmark to save changes
Verify the edited message displays correctly with the symbol followed by the emoji
No corrupted characters, malformed Unicode sequences, or keycap emoji conversion

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

Same as tests.

QA Steps

Same as tests.

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Screen.Recording.2026-01-10.at.4.01.36.AM.mov

Android: mWeb Chrome

Screen.Recording.2026-01-10.at.3.51.44.AM.mov

iOS: Native

Screen.Recording.2026-01-10.at.3.47.17.AM.mov

iOS: mWeb Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-01-10.at.3.44.45.AM.mov

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-01-10.at.1.50.58.AM.mov

…ols (#, *) and emojis

…n they follow emojis

codecov · 2026-01-09T23:12:09Z

Codecov Report

❌ Looks like you've decreased code coverage for some files. Please write tests to increase, or at least maintain, the existing level of code coverage. See our documentation here for how to interpret this table.

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/CONST/index.ts	`87.39% <ø> (ø)`
...omposerWithSuggestions/ComposerWithSuggestions.tsx	`58.28% <100.00%> (-0.30%)`	⬇️
...pages/inbox/report/ReportActionItemMessageEdit.tsx	`56.00% <66.66%> (-0.89%)`	⬇️
src/libs/EmojiUtils.tsx	`69.65% <50.00%> (-0.23%)`	⬇️
... and 356 files with indirect coverage changes

melvin-bot · 2026-01-09T23:19:27Z

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trjExpensify

Looks like this is a follow-up on #77304 👍

Krishna2323 · 2026-01-13T11:33:00Z

@abbasifaizan70 please fix these bugs:

Steps:

Keycap preservation
- Type 1️⃣ 2️⃣ #️⃣ *️⃣ in the composer.
- Expected: Keycap emojis remain intact.
- Actual: They are stripped to 1 2 # *.
Emoji + hash/asterisk spacing regression
- Type 😄 #topic and send.
- Expected: Single space is created (Staging behaviour).
- Actual: Message renders as 😄 #topic (two spaces inserted).

Monosnap.screencast.2026-01-13.16-53-42.mp4

Monosnap.screencast.2026-01-13.16-54-58.mp4

…ace for emoji+#/* combinations

abbasifaizan70 · 2026-01-13T21:05:59Z

@Krishna2323 resolved issues. Thanks

Krishna2323 · 2026-01-20T21:57:15Z

Sorry for delay.

@abbasifaizan70 I'm facing few bugs related to cursor position and spacing:

Steps:

Open a report and paste 😄*bold*
Bug: Space is created after emoji
Try to remove the space
Bug: The cursor moves after the first *
Paste 😄 #winning → 😄 #winning, 😄 *bold* → 😄*bold* in the composer
Once space is created after last 😄*bold*
Try to remove the space and drag and select the space from emoji to last *
Paste in the composer and hit space
Bug: The space is created in multiple positions

Monosnap.screencast.2026-01-21.03-19-21.mp4

…browser

…uption

abbasifaizan70 · 2026-01-21T14:23:27Z

@Krishna2323 Thanks for deep testing. I fixed the above issues. Please have a look. Thanks

Screen.Recording.2026-01-21.at.7.12.46.PM.mov

Screen.Recording.2026-01-21.at.7.12.08.PM.mov

Krishna2323 · 2026-01-28T14:36:50Z

@abbasifaizan70 Sorry for the delay—I was OOO for a few days last week. I found one more edge case. Repro steps:

Type ####
Place the cursor in the middle
Enter an emoji code :smile:
Try to move the cursor using the left arrow
Bug: The cursor does not move on the first left-arrow press

Monosnap.screencast.2026-01-28.20-04-00.mp4

abbasifaizan70 · 2026-01-29T23:29:33Z

@Krishna2323 Yes, the cursor requires one extra arrow press when positioned right before the emoji — this is expected behavior.
Safari has a quirk where symbols (#, *, digits) followed directly by an emoji get automatically converted into keycap emojis (e.g., #😄 → #️⃣). This happens at the browser level before our code can intercept it.
To prevent this, we insert an invisible ZWNJ character between the symbol and emoji. Since ZWNJ still occupies a position in the string, the cursor needs to pass through it when navigating. It looks like it's stuck for one press, but it's actually moving through the invisible character.
It's a small trade-off to prevent text corruption in Safari.

Krishna2323 · 2026-02-02T18:00:29Z

@Beamanator could you please take a look at the comment above? I also tried to find a solution for this edge case, and it turns out there isn’t a safe solution for it. I think this is an acceptable trade-off—without the ZWNJ, Safari corrupts the text entirely, which is a more severe issue than requiring an extra keystroke.

…browser

abbasifaizan70 · 2026-02-10T10:16:04Z

@Krishna2323 sure i will solve them today, I was sick for last 2 days so that's why not able to look here.

…ithub.com/abbasifaizan70/Expensify into 75634-fixed-emoji-issue-on-safari-browser

abbasifaizan70 · 2026-02-10T15:14:39Z

@Krishna2323 @Beamanator Updated feedbacks. Please take a look. Thanks

Beamanator

Looking good here!

Beamanator · 2026-02-10T16:52:30Z

@Krishna2323 all you 🙏

Krishna2323 · 2026-02-10T17:13:06Z

Will test again and complete the checklist in an hour or two.

Krishna2323 · 2026-02-10T19:00:19Z

@abbasifaizan70 There’s a bug on Safari iOS where deleting the symbol behaves weirdly — moves the cursor after the emoji.

Could you please verify whether the original bug is reproducible on any version of mobile Safari? I tested on staging and it worked fine for me. If it isn’t reproducible on mobile Safari, we can skip the changes there.

Steps (Mobile safari):

Enter "#:emojiName:"
Place the cursor between the emoji and #
Try to delete the #

ios_safari_issue.mp4

…browser

abbasifaizan70 · 2026-02-11T22:45:56Z

@abbasifaizan70 There’s a bug on Safari iOS where deleting the symbol behaves weirdly — moves the cursor after the emoji.

Could you please verify whether the original bug is reproducible on any version of mobile Safari? I tested on staging and it worked fine for me. If it isn’t reproducible on mobile Safari, we can skip the changes there.

Steps (Mobile safari):

Enter "#:emojiName:"

Place the cursor between the emoji and #

Try to delete the #

ios_safari_issue.mp4

on test on latest main and it producable on mobile safari. @Krishna2323

abbasifaizan70 · 2026-02-11T22:47:58Z

@Krishna2323 on the latest main.

Screen.Recording.2026-02-12.at.3.47.32.AM.mov

Krishna2323 · 2026-02-12T15:17:22Z

I’m not sure what the next step should be. The iOS Safari bug is pretty bad, so we’ll need to find a proper solution for that. I’ll try to investigate it further when I get a chance.

BTW @abbasifaizan70, could you please explain why the same issue occurred when we applied the same logic to the number as well?

abbasifaizan70 · 2026-02-13T14:18:02Z

The same issue occurs with numbers because Safari's keycap sequence behavior applies to all keycap base characters: digits (0-9), #, and *.

In Unicode, keycap emoji sequences are formed by combining a base character + U+FE0F (variation selector) + U+20E3 (combining enclosing keycap):

1 + ️ + ⃣ = 1️⃣

+ ️ + ⃣ = #️⃣

️ + ⃣ = ️⃣

Safari's input handling layer detects when any of these base characters (0-9, #, *) are immediately followed by an emoji and attempts to form a keycap sequence. This happens at the browser level before React can process the text.

Our ZWNJ fix handles this by inserting a zero-width non-joiner between the symbol/digit and emoji, which breaks Safari's pattern detection. The fix works for:

Typing shortcodes like 1:smile: or #:smile:

Using the emoji picker right after a digit/symbol

However, when a user manually deletes a space between a digit/symbol and an existing emoji, Safari corrupts it during the backspace keypress itself — before our code can intercept it. This is the edge case that's difficult to handle without deeper browser-level workarounds.

@Krishna2323

Krishna2323 · 2026-02-13T22:47:09Z

Took some solid effort, but I believe I’ve finally found a clean solution. We’ll need to change the approach — the new approach will be:

Approach Change: ZWNJ (`\u200C`) → FE0E (`\uFE0E`)

Instead of inserting ZWNJ (Zero-Width Non-Joiner) between digits/symbols and emojis, we now insert U+FE0E (Variation Selector 15 — text presentation). FE0E has Grapheme_Cluster_Break=Extend, so it attaches to the preceding digit as part of the same grapheme cluster.

@abbasifaizan70 could you please copy changes from this branch? Thanks!

@Beamanator could you please check the new approach before we implement it? Thanks!

Krishna2323 · 2026-02-17T09:48:00Z

@abbasifaizan70 please start implementing this and test it thoroughly. Thanks!

… digits and symbols followed by emojis

abbasifaizan70 · 2026-02-17T11:20:30Z

@Krishna2323 I updated the approach and tested all the above old scenarios and those are working fine.

Krishna2323 · 2026-02-19T11:54:12Z

Reviewing...

Krishna2323 · 2026-02-19T12:41:35Z

Reviewer Checklist

I have verified the author checklist is complete (all boxes are checked off).
I verified the correct issue is linked in the ### Fixed Issues section above
I verified testing steps are clear and they cover the changes made in this PR
- I verified the steps for local testing are in the Tests section
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I verified tests pass on all platforms & I tested again on:
- Android: HybridApp
- Android: mWeb Chrome
- iOS: HybridApp
- iOS: mWeb Safari
- MacOS: Chrome / Safari
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If there are any errors in the console that are unrelated to this PR, I either fixed them (preferred) or linked to where I reported them in Slack
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

android_native.mp4

Android: mWeb Chrome

android_chrome.mp4

iOS: HybridApp

ios_native.mp4

iOS: mWeb Safari

ios_safari.mp4

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

web_chrome.mp4

Krishna2323

LGTM and works well! 🚀

@Beamanator please read this comment before merging. Thanks!

Beamanator

Looking great, thanks so much for your hard work here y'all!

github-actions · 2026-02-19T17:31:12Z

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platform	result
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🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

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🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/mountiny in version: 9.3.23-3 🚀

platform	result
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

Fix Safari emoji corruption bug by inserting ZWNJ between digits/symb…

be81583

…ols (#, *) and emojis

melvin-bot Bot assigned abbasifaizan70 Jan 9, 2026

Fix Safari emoji corruption by ensuring two spaces before * and # whe…

9061f0a

…n they follow emojis

Fixed test cases

6508379

abbasifaizan70 marked this pull request as ready for review January 9, 2026 23:19

abbasifaizan70 requested review from a team as code owners January 9, 2026 23:19

melvin-bot Bot requested review from Krishna2323 and trjExpensify and removed request for a team January 9, 2026 23:19

melvin-bot Bot removed the request for review from a team January 9, 2026 23:19

abbasifaizan70 mentioned this pull request Jan 9, 2026

[Due for payment 2026-02-27] [$500] macOS Safari - Conversation - digit:emoji: displays corrupted characters in Safari #75634

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chatgpt-codex-connector Bot reviewed Jan 9, 2026

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Comment thread src/libs/EmojiUtils.tsx Outdated

trjExpensify previously approved these changes Jan 12, 2026

View reviewed changes

Fix Safari emoji corruption: preserve keycap emojis and use single sp…

be8d270

…ace for emoji+#/* combinations

abbasifaizan70 dismissed trjExpensify’s stale review via be8d270 January 13, 2026 20:27

Fixed keycaps issue

4e083cb

abbasifaizan70 and others added 2 commits January 21, 2026 15:08

Merge branch 'Expensify:main' into 75634-fixed-emoji-issue-on-safari-…

4223142

…browser

Fixed cursor position and spacing issues related to Safari emoji corr…

dd56d94

…uption

Fixed cursor issue

b1e54d5

Merge branch 'Expensify:main' into 75634-fixed-emoji-issue-on-safari-…

e6ca043

…browser

abbasifaizan70 added 3 commits February 10, 2026 16:33

Merge branch 'main' into 75634-fixed-emoji-issue-on-safari-browser

e82b435

resolved feedbacks

16c092c

Merge branch '75634-fixed-emoji-issue-on-safari-browser' of https://g…

4f0373b

…ithub.com/abbasifaizan70/Expensify into 75634-fixed-emoji-issue-on-safari-browser

Beamanator previously approved these changes Feb 10, 2026

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Merge branch 'Expensify:main' into 75634-fixed-emoji-issue-on-safari-…

2492236

…browser

fix: use FE0E instead of ZWNJ to prevent Safari keycap corruption for…

e0e947b

… digits and symbols followed by emojis

abbasifaizan70 dismissed Beamanator’s stale review via e0e947b February 17, 2026 11:08

Krishna2323 approved these changes Feb 19, 2026

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melvin-bot Bot requested a review from Beamanator February 19, 2026 12:42

Beamanator approved these changes Feb 19, 2026

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Beamanator merged commit 8526240 into Expensify:main Feb 19, 2026
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OSBotify mentioned this pull request Feb 19, 2026

Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-02-19 #82970

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Explanation of Change

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Testing Steps for New Message

Testing Steps for Edit Message

Offline tests

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+ ️ + ⃣ = #️⃣

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Krishna2323 commented Feb 13, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Approach Change: ZWNJ (\u200C) → FE0E (\uFE0E)

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Approach Change: ZWNJ (`\u200C`) → FE0E (`\uFE0E`)

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