[GPS] Update user location on GPS screen when there is no active GPS trip

[GCyganek]

Explanation of Change

When there is no active GPS trip on the GPS distance tracking screen, the user's location marker on the map was not being updated. This PR adds a foreground location polling interval (every 5s) via useFocusEffect that calls getCurrentPositionAsync and updates the Onyx user location. Polling is skipped when a GPS trip is already in progress (background tracking handles it). Requested here

isSingleSegmentRoute is fixed as it was returning true for [[]] which is a multi segment empty route

Fixed Issues

$ #85802
PROPOSAL: N/A

Tests

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

1. FAB > Track Distance > GPS

2. Do not start a GPS trip — remain on the screen with tracking stopped.

3. Move the device (or simulate location change in the simulator/emulator).

4. Verify that the user location marker on the map updates within ~5 seconds to reflect the new position.

5. Tap Start

6. Move the device/simulate location changes.

7. Verify that the map continues to update the user's location

8. Tap Stop

9. Verify that the map doesn't move to show the current location updates - it should be showing the full recorded route instead.

10. Verify that current location polling resumes and the location marker is up to date even with no active GPS trip.

11. Go back

12. Return to GPS screen, verify that map loads with the recorded trip in view

13. Tap discard button

14. Verify that it moves the map to the current user's location marker after discarding the trip

15. Go back

16. Return to GPS screen, verify that the map loads with the current location marker as a center point

Offline tests

N/A

QA Steps

Same as tests.

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

• I linked the correct issue in the ### Fixed Issues section above
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

screen-20260522-131352-1779448372381.2.mp4

iOS: Native

Uploading Screen Recording 2026-05-25 at 12.26.06.mov…

[GCyganek]

@Expensify/design @JmillsExpensify so I added user's location updates every 5 seconds even if there is no active GPS trip, but in this case I feel like it would be better to not move the map to the updated location every time and staying on the recorded route is better than this IMO:

Screen.Recording.2026-05-22.at.12.50.29.mov

What do you think? And is 5 seconds ok?

[codecov]

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/components/MapView/MapView.tsx	57.27% <100.00%> (-0.14%)	⬇️
...ou/request/step/IOURequestStepDistanceGPS/const.ts	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
src/components/MapView/utils.ts	22.72% <75.00%> (-9.02%)	⬇️
...st/step/IOURequestStepDistanceGPS/index.native.tsx	0.00% <0.00%> (ø)
... and 371 files with indirect coverage changes

[shawnborton]

Can you rephrase, I'm not quite following...

[JmillsExpensify]

Hmm, yes I think I agree with Gabriel. Basically if we move to the updated location it's a bit jarring with the zoom. Then additionally, the blue dot sticks at the last recorded location. Is that what you mean?

[GCyganek]

Sorry, what I mean is currently because we do not update current location when GPS tracking is paused/not started the map shows the whole recorded route and user can freely move the map. But now when I added current location updates every 5 seconds when the tracking is not active, the map keeps moving to show latest location on every update, so user can't freely move the map or see the recorded trip without the map flying to latest location after a few seconds as you can see on the video.

IMO it would be better to:

• when there is a recorded GPS trip, do not move the map on the current location updates to keep the recorded route in view on the map
• or at least make sure that when user has moved the map or tapped map controls at the top right corner, the map does not move with the current location updates anymore

[shawnborton]

Nice, yeah I think that makes sense then and I agree. The first bullet makes the most sense to try first, right?

[GCyganek]

Nice, yeah I think that makes sense then and I agree. The first bullet makes the most sense to try first, right?

Yep, just wanted to confirm that you want it like this

[JmillsExpensify]

Nice, I agree as well. Let's try the first one and we can always re-assess later.

[GCyganek]

I'll push changes in a moment, but now it will work like this:

Screen.Recording.2026-05-25.at.11.16.51.mov

See it follows users location when there is no recorded trip and while recording it, but afterwards it does not follow the user, it just keeps showing the recorded route. When user moves the map and then taps map controls it moves it back to the recorded trip

[shawnborton]

I think that looks good? Happy to help test as well.

[GCyganek]

@codex review

[GCyganek]

@shawnborton feel free to run build here to test and see if it works good for you

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[github-actions]

🚧 @shawnborton has triggered a test Expensify/App build. You can view the workflow run here.

[GCyganek]

I found a bug in one edge case where it throws an error and I just fixed it, so it shouldn't appear in the next build, sorry for that in case you encounter it

[github-actions]

🚧 @shawnborton has triggered a test Expensify/App build. You can view the workflow run here.

[github-actions]

🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #91418.

Android 🤖	iOS 🍎
https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-android-Adhoc-eee9fe8a622-393ba1f-004606076c3bbbe67360ea5a5e993d4e65461f8c/index.html	https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-ios-device-AdHoc-eee9fe8-393ba1f-fe1d0886c8b9c79d940b3d0122cd5562bf234af7/index.html

Web 🕸️
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[shawnborton]

I will test this tomorrow at some point I hope, sorry for the delay!

[GCyganek]

I will test this tomorrow at some point I hope, sorry for the delay!

No problem!

[shawnborton]

This is feeling really good, just tested!

I will say that I don't think there's any perceivable changes related to this:

Verify that the user location marker on the map updates within ~5 seconds to reflect the new position.

For example, it didn't track me going around this circle here, it shortened it quite a bit:

Everything else seems good though!

[GCyganek]

Verify that the user location marker on the map updates within ~5 seconds to reflect the new position.

For example, it didn't track me going around this circle here, it shortened it quite a bit:

The only perceivable change on this PR is that now when the tracking is not active the current location marker is still being updated every 5 seconds. The screenshot you attached has recorded route and there were no changes according to how often we do location updates while recording the GPS trip. As Jason mentioned on related issue, we will probably experiment with location updates frequency once we will work on user's activity updates.

But I can change the frequency of user location updates while not recording a GPS trip if you want something else than 5 seconds

[shawnborton]

Ah okay, apologies for the confusion! All good on my end then, looking forward to the route improvements :)

[GCyganek]

Ah okay, apologies for the confusion! All good on my end then, looking forward to the route improvements :)

No worries, will switch this for review then, thank you!

[melvin-bot]

@dukenv0307 Please copy/paste the Reviewer Checklist from here into a new comment on this PR and complete it. If you have the K2 extension, you can simply click: [this button]

[dukenv0307]

Reviewer Checklist

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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2026-05-27.at.15.38.27.mov

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2026-05-27.at.15.16.30.mov

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari