Saved Posts Removed From Release App When Refreshing Old Debug App

[theck13]

Expected

All saved posts remain in the Saved posts list of the Reader until they are removed by the user and none are removed after using a debug version of the app.

Observed

Some saved posts remain in the Saved posts list of the Reader until they are removed by the user and some are removed after using a debug version of the app.

Note

The issue seems to occur when two instances of the WordPress app are installed on a single device (i.e. one release app org.wordpress.android and one debug app org.wordpress.android.beta) and the debug app does not include the Saved posts feature. When testing the steps below on a device with the current release app, 11.3, and the develop branch, alpha-142, the issue doesn't occur. The device producing the issue has the current release app, 11.3, and an old debug app, alpha-80, which did not have the Saved posts feature.

Also, saved posts recently published remain after performing the steps below while saved posts published long ago are removed.

When the posts are saved does not seem to affect whether they remained or they are removed.

This scenario is not common for users since it requires both release and debug apps on a single device, but it may reveal an underlying issue with saved posts.

Reproduced

Steps performed in the release app are prefaced with "Release:" and "Debug:" for the debug app.

0. Install release app 11.3 and debug app alpha-80.
1. Launch release WordPress app.
2. Release: Save one post from first page of Reader and one post from long ago.
3. Release: Go to Reader tab.
4. Release: Select Saved posts from toolbar filter.
5. Release: Notice recent post and old post are shown.
6. Tap overview navigation button.
7. Dismiss release WordPress app from recent apps list.
8. Debug: Launch debug WordPress app.
9. Debug: Go to Reader tab.
10. Debug: Notice post list refreshes.
11. Tap overview navigation button.
12. Dismiss debug WordPress app from recent apps list.
13. Launch release WordPress app.
14. Release: Go to Reader tab.
15. Release: Select Saved posts from toolbar filter.
16. Release: Notice recent post remains and old post is removed.

Tested

Google Pixel 3 on Android 9.0 with WordPress 11.3 and alpha-80

[theck13]

I don't think this is related to having a debug version and a release version of the app on one device. I removed the debug app from my device and verified the saved posts were still shown in the release app four days ago. Today I noticed two out of three of my saved posts were removed. The one post that was not removed was recently published (i.e. about two days ago). The two posts that were removed were published months ago (i.e. October 31, 2018 and November 15, 2018).

[malinajirka]

I don't think this is related to having a debug version and a release version of the app on one device.

As we discussed I don't think it can be related as for the OS the two apps are completely independent apps - they are signed with a different key.

The issue is caused by a bug which has been in the app for ages, it just hadn't had any user-facing impact until we implemented Saved Posts.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Reader - followed sites tab
2. Scroll down as far as you can (there is a limit)
3. Save the last post in the list
4. Go to Saved posts and notice the post is there
5. Go to Discover tab
6. Start following one of the sites
7. Go back to Followed-sites tab
8. Restart the app
9. Go to Saved posts and notice the post is not there

We keep only 200 most recent posts in the cache. When you start following a new site and you restart the app all posts which are not in 200 most recent posts are removed. However, there is a bug in the SQL query so we are not removing just posts which don't fit in first 200, but also all posts which have different tag than "followed-sites" (or the one which has more than 200 posts).

[theck13]

I'm unable to reproduce the issue when performing those steps on develop. Do you have any other details that may help me cause it consistently?

[malinajirka]

Step 7. Go back to Followed-sites tab

Maybe just try to pull-to-refresh in step 7. If it doesn't help I'll dm you credentials to my testing account on which I'm able to reproduce it consistently.