Chat - User´s name and avatar still visible with no message after moving track expense to WS

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.3.7.1
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/test-runs/TR-3293/folder/13176670/41237108/1143584610
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): ibellicotest+2250@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Motorola MotoG60 / Android 12 (Hybrid app) - Windows 11 / Chrome
App Component: Chat Report View

Action Performed:

Prerequisite: Account has at least one workspace.
Prerequisite 2: Account has Self DM.

1. Open the Expensify app.
2. Navigate to Self DM.
3. Create a manual expense.
4. Open the just created expense.
5. Tap on report field and select "Create Report"
6. Tap on the arrow on the top left corner to return to Self DM. (Device´s back button on Web)
7. Note that expense disappeared from Self DM, but user´s name and avatar are still visible with no message below.

Expected Result:

After moving a track expense to a workspace, expense should disappear from Self DM, and user´s name and avatar should also disappear, as there is no message below.

Actual Result:

After moving a track expense to a workspace, expense correctly disappears from chat, but user´s avatar and name are still visible, despite not having any sent message below.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

1.mp4

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[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @RachCHopkins (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.

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @Julesssss (DeployBlockerCash), see https://stackoverflowteams.com/c/expensify/questions/9980/ for more details.

[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: #80257 - "Revert "fix: Self DM appears twice in Recents section"" by @blimpich (High confidence)
Related PRs:

• #79640 - Original fix that was reverted
• Related to issue #78606

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #80257 should be reverted to restore the fix from PR #79640. The revert introduced a regression where Self DM metadata is not properly updated after moving expenses to a workspace, causing the avatar and name to remain visible in the LHN even when no messages exist.

Labels: No label changes needed - this is correctly labeled as DeployBlockerCash (frontend bug requiring App changes)

📋 Detailed Analysis

Evidence

1. Timeline: PR fix: Self DM appears twice in Recents section #79640 merged at 18:18:01 on 2026-01-22, then PR Revert "fix: Self DM appears twice in Recents section" #80257 reverted it at 19:16:07 (same day)
2. Bug only on staging: Issue Chat - User´s name and avatar still visible with no message after moving track expense to WS #80317 reports reproducible on staging (9.3.7.1) but NOT in production - confirming this is from a recent staging PR
3. Exact symptom match: The revert removed code that updates ONYXKEYS.SELF_DM_REPORT_ID when moving transactions, which directly causes the reported issue

Verification

The bug occurs in the track expense to workspace flow:

• When a user moves a track expense from Self DM to a workspace report, changeTransactionsReport is called
• This function in src/libs/actions/Transaction.ts needs to update Self DM report metadata
• PR fix: Self DM appears twice in Recents section #79640 added the critical Onyx update to set SELF_DM_REPORT_ID (line ~825):

{
    onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
    key: ONYXKEYS.SELF_DM_REPORT_ID,
    value: selfDMReport.reportID,
}

• PR Revert "fix: Self DM appears twice in Recents section" #80257 removed this update from three locations:
  1. src/libs/actions/Transaction.ts (changeTransactionsReport)
  2. src/libs/actions/Report.ts (deleteAppReport)
  3. src/libs/actions/IOU/index.ts (getTrackExpenseInformation)

Root Cause

Without the SELF_DM_REPORT_ID Onyx update:

1. User creates track expense in Self DM
2. User moves it to a workspace via "Create Report"
3. The expense disappears from Self DM (transaction is moved correctly)
4. BUT the Self DM report metadata is not updated properly
5. The LHN still thinks Self DM has an active report with the user avatar/name
6. Result: Empty Self DM entry shows with avatar and name but no messages

PR #79640 was fixing issue #78606 (Self DM appears twice) by ensuring SELF_DM_REPORT_ID is kept in sync. The revert broke this synchronization, causing the opposite problem - Self DM appearing when it should not.