[Due for payment 2025-10-28] [Due for payment 2025-10-27] [$250] Desktop - Distance - Long spinning, then "We were unable to find your location" shown

[nlemma]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

---

Version Number: 9.2.2-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/folder/13176744/test-cases/41237155
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): N/A
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Desktop
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

Preconditions: disable location services for Expensify Desktop app in System settings - Privacy and security - Location services

1. Sign in to ND
2. Click on FAB - Create expense - Distance
3. Click on the Start waypoint, select "Use current location"

Expected Result:

"Please allow location in settings" error is displayed

Actual Result:

After clicking "Use current location" there is a 30 seconds spinning, then "We were unable to find your location. Please try again or enter an address manually" message shows up

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug6936404_1757096879771.Infinite_spinning.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021965435716930662639
• Upwork Job ID: 1965435716930662639
• Last Price Increase: 2025-09-16
• Automatic offers:
• QichenZhu | Reviewer | 108811688
• ShridharGoel | Contributor | 108811694

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @sonialiap

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @sonialiap (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details. Please add this bug to a GH project, as outlined in the SO.

[aadil42]

Can't reproduce.

However there's a loading spinner in the background of 'allow location modal' on android.

[thelullabyy]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

Desktop - Distance - Long spinning, then "We were unable to find your location" shown

What is the root cause of that problem?

The issue stems from the 30,000ms timeout configured here:

App/src/components/AddressSearch/index.tsx

Line 293 in 2c4dcba

timeout: 30000,

If the device is unable to retrieve the location within 30 seconds, the request times out and triggers the error callback. During this time, the user sees a spinner with no additional feedback, leading to confusion and frustration.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

From a UX standpoint, 30 seconds is too long to wait for location detection. We should reduce the timeout to a shorter, more user-friendly duration—ideally under 10 seconds—to improve responsiveness and user feedback.

Additionally, we can enhance the error messaging by customizing it for timeout-specific failures. In the following file:

App/src/components/LocationErrorMessage/BaseLocationErrorMessage.tsx

Line 22 in 2c4dcba

function BaseLocationErrorMessage({onClose, onAllowLocationLinkPress, locationErrorCode}: BaseLocationErrorMessageProps) {

If the locationErrorCode is 3 (which corresponds to a timeout), we can show a more specific error message indicating that the location request timed out, rather than a generic failure message. This will make the error more actionable for users.

What specific scenarios should we cover in automated tests to prevent reintroducing this issue in the future?

N/A

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021965435716930662639

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @QichenZhu (External)