fix: show desktop notification when active chat is open but app is unfocused by nabi-ebrahimi · Pull Request #93387 · Expensify/App

nabi-ebrahimi · 2026-06-12T06:05:48Z

Explanation of Change

This PR makes the unread/read logic depend on whether the user is actually focused on the app window, not only whether the app is visible.

The issue happens when NewDot is open to the active chat, the browser window remains visible, but focus is on another desktop app. In that state, the app was treating the incoming message as seen because Visibility.isVisible() was still true, so it marked the message read immediately. That advanced lastReadTime, which then caused the desktop notification to be suppressed as “already read.”

This change prevents that premature mark-as-read by requiring Visibility.hasFocus() before auto-reading messages in the open report. It also keeps the unread marker visible for new incoming messages while the window is unfocused, and re-runs the read logic when the app regains focus so normal focused behavior still works.

Fixed Issues

$ #92273
PROPOSAL: #92273 (comment)

Tests

Sign in to NewDot on desktop web in Chrome.
Enable desktop notifications for NewDot.
Open a DM chat with User A and make sure the conversation is scrolled to the newest message.
Switch focus to another desktop app, such as Slack or Finder, without minimizing NewDot and without switching browser tabs.
Have User A send a new message.
Verify a desktop notification is shown.
Return focus to NewDot.
Verify the message received while NewDot was unfocused was not silently consumed and the unread/new message indicator is shown.
Read/clear the unread state for that message.
Keep NewDot focused on the same chat.
Have User A send another new message.
Verify the message is marked read immediately and no unnecessary desktop notification is shown.

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

Not applicable. This issue is about desktop window focus while the app is online and visible, not offline behavior.

QA Steps

Same as tests.

// TODO: These must be filled out, or the issue title must include "[No QA]."

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-06-12.at.10.32.26.AM.mov

melvin-bot · 2026-06-12T06:05:54Z

@QichenZhu 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]

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joekaufmanexpensify

Nice improvement!

QichenZhu · 2026-06-15T04:40:53Z

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
- I verified the steps for Staging and/or Production testing are in the QA steps section
- I verified the steps cover any possible failure scenarios (i.e. verify an input displays the correct error message if the entered data is not correct)
- I turned off my network connection and tested it while offline to ensure it matches the expected behavior (i.e. verify the default avatar icon is displayed if app is offline)
I checked that screenshots or videos are included for tests on all platforms
I included screenshots or videos for tests on all platforms
I verified that the composer does not automatically focus or open the keyboard on mobile unless explicitly intended. This includes checking that returning the app from the background does not unexpectedly open the keyboard.
I verified tests pass on all platforms & I tested again on:
- Android: HybridApp
- Android: mWeb Chrome
- iOS: HybridApp
- iOS: mWeb Safari
- MacOS: Chrome / Safari
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
https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C049HHMV9SM/p1778663561704459
I verified proper code patterns were followed (see Reviewing the code)
- I verified that any callback methods that were added or modified are named for what the method does and never what callback they handle (i.e. toggleReport and not onIconClick).
- I verified that comments were added to code that is not self explanatory
- I verified that any new or modified comments were clear, correct English, and explained "why" the code was doing something instead of only explaining "what" the code was doing.
- I verified any copy / text that was added to the app is grammatically correct in English. It adheres to proper capitalization guidelines (note: only the first word of header/labels should be capitalized), and is either coming verbatim from figma or has been approved by marketing (in order to get marketing approval, ask the Bug Zero team member to add the Waiting for copy label to the issue)
If a new code pattern is added I verified it was agreed to be used by multiple Expensify engineers
I verified that this PR follows the guidelines as stated in the Review Guidelines
I verified other components that can be impacted by these changes have been tested, and I retested again (i.e. if the PR modifies a shared library or component like Avatar, I verified the components using Avatar have been tested & I retested again)
If a new component is created I verified that:
- A similar component doesn't exist in the codebase
- All props are defined accurately and each prop has a /** comment above it */
- The file is named correctly
- The component has a clear name that is non-ambiguous and the purpose of the component can be inferred from the name alone
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- For Class Components, any internal methods passed to components event handlers are bound to this properly so there are no scoping issues (i.e. for onClick={this.submit} the method this.submit should be bound to this in the constructor)
- Any internal methods bound to this are necessary to be bound (i.e. avoid this.submit = this.submit.bind(this); if this.submit is never passed to a component event handler like onClick)
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- The component has the minimum amount of code necessary for its purpose, and it is broken down into smaller components in order to separate concerns and functions
If any new file was added I verified that:
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- A similar style doesn't already exist
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If the PR modifies code that runs when editing or sending messages, I tested and verified there is no unexpected behavior for all supported markdown - URLs, single line code, code blocks, quotes, headings, bold, strikethrough, and italic.
If the PR modifies a generic component, I tested and verified that those changes do not break usages of that component in the rest of the App (i.e. if a shared library or component like Avatar is modified, I verified that Avatar is working as expected in all cases)
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For any bug fix or new feature in this PR, I verified that sufficient unit tests are included to prevent regressions in this flow.
If the main branch was merged into this PR after a review, I tested again and verified the outcome was still expected according to the Test steps.
I have checked off every checkbox in the PR reviewer checklist, including those that don't apply to this PR.

Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2026-06-15.at.3.36.34.PM.mov

Android: mWeb Chrome

Screen.Recording.2026-06-15.at.3.34.30.PM.mov

iOS: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2026-06-15.at.3.33.18.PM.mov

iOS: mWeb Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-06-15.at.3.33.51.PM.mov

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

mac-desktop.mov

QichenZhu

Repeat while keeping NewDot focused on the same chat.

Verify the message is marked read immediately and no unnecessary notification is shown.

These steps are incorrect. New messages won't be marked as read if the previous unread state is not cleared first.

QichenZhu · 2026-06-15T04:24:31Z

-    useEffect(() => {
+    const markAsReadWhenVisibleAndFocused = useCallback(() => {


We shouldn't add useCallback to components that use react-compiler.

QichenZhu · 2026-06-15T04:27:46Z

+    useEffect(() => {
+        markAsReadWhenVisibleAndFocused();
        // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
    }, [isVisible, isFocused, reportLoadingState?.hasOnceLoadedReportActions]);


Here we should explain the suppression, even though we didn't add it, since we changed this effect.

QichenZhu · 2026-06-15T04:31:17Z

        // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
+    }, [


Please add an explanation or remove the suppression.

QichenZhu · 2026-06-15T04:31:49Z

+    useEffect(() => {
+        markAsReadWhenVisibleAndFocused();
+        // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
    }, [isFocused, isVisible, reportLoadingState?.hasOnceLoadedReportActions]);


Add a comment for the suppression as well.

QichenZhu · 2026-06-15T04:39:36Z

+    useAppFocusEvent(markAsReadWhenVisibleAndFocused);
+


Why do we need this?

We need this for the desktop-app-switch case. The browser tab can stay visible while the NewDot window loses OS focus, so Visibility.onVisibilityChange may not fire when focus returns. useAppFocusEvent reruns the read catch-up when the user actually focuses NewDot again.

Thanks for explaining. I'm still trying to understand it. What bugs will happen without it?

@nabi-ebrahimi bump ^

Good point. After re-checking the flow, I agree this is not required for the core issue.

The bug is fixed by preventing readNewestAction while the window is visible but unfocused, and by keeping unread/skipped-read handling guarded by Visibility.hasFocus(). Without this extra app-focus listener, the original notification/new-marker issue still stays fixed; the only difference is that a skipped read is not consumed immediately on window focus and instead follows the normal scroll/viewability path.

I removed it to keep the PR smaller and focused on the issue scope.

@nabi-ebrahimi thanks for checking! Since markAsReadWhenVisibleAndFocused() is now only used once, we don't need it. Same goes for src/hooks/useMarkAsRead.ts.

Good point. Since useAppFocusEvent was removed, the helper was only used once. I inlined it in both places with no behavior change.

QichenZhu · 2026-06-15T04:39:51Z

+    useAppFocusEvent(markAsReadWhenVisibleAndFocused);
+


Same question.

Same reason here: useIsFocused() only tells us the report route is focused inside navigation. In this bug, the route remains focused while the browser window itself is unfocused, so we need the app/window focus event to consume the skipped unread state when the user returns.

Same as above.

codecov · 2026-06-15T05:50:53Z

Codecov Report

✅ Changes either increased or maintained existing code coverage, great job!

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
...equestReportView/MoneyRequestReportActionsList.tsx	`63.66% <100.00%> (+0.26%)`	⬆️
src/hooks/useMarkAsRead.ts	`94.02% <100.00%> (+0.09%)`	⬆️
src/hooks/useUnreadMarker.ts	`94.44% <ø> (ø)`
...box/report/shouldDisplayNewMarkerOnReportAction.ts	`97.82% <100.00%> (+0.09%)`	⬆️
...box/report/useReportUnreadMessageScrollTracking.ts	`95.00% <100.00%> (+1.66%)`	⬆️
... and 118 files with indirect coverage changes

nabi-ebrahimi · 2026-06-15T06:02:11Z

@QichenZhu Thanks for the review. I addressed the feedback and pushed the updates.

Summary:

Removed the added useCallback usage and moved the latest-callback handling into useAppFocusEvent with useEffectEvent.
Added comments explaining the existing dependency suppressions in the touched effects.
Added comments explaining why useAppFocusEvent is still needed for the visible-but-unfocused desktop window case.
Updated the test steps to clear the previous unread state before checking the focused-message case.

Could you please take another look when you have a chance?

luacmartins

@nabi-ebrahimi we also have conflicts now

nabi-ebrahimi · 2026-06-16T05:04:07Z

@nabi-ebrahimi we also have conflicts now

Resolved, thanks

nabi-ebrahimi · 2026-06-18T07:38:14Z

@QichenZhu kindly bump, thanks.

QichenZhu · 2026-06-18T07:39:50Z

@nabi-ebrahimi please check this comment. Thanks!

nabi-ebrahimi · 2026-06-18T11:00:17Z

@nabi-ebrahimi please check this comment. Thanks!

All done, thanks for the review!

QichenZhu

@nabi-ebrahimi thanks! the code is much cleaner now.

QichenZhu · 2026-06-18T12:21:01Z

        // This effect logic to `mark as read` will only run when the report focused has new messages and the App visibility
        //  is changed to visible(meaning user switched to app/web, while user was previously using different tab or application).
        // We will mark the report as read in the above case which marks the LHN report item as read while showing the new message
        // marker for the chat messages received while the user wasn't focused on the report or on another browser tab for web.
+        // This effect should only run when app visibility/focus changes; the helper reads the latest report/action values without making every action update mark the report as read.


NAB: since you reverted the previous changes and brought back the original comment, the new comment is not needed.

luacmartins

LGTM

github-actions · 2026-06-18T15:25:46Z

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

OSBotify · 2026-06-18T15:31:32Z

✋ This PR was not deployed to staging yet because QA is ongoing. It will be automatically deployed to staging after the next production release.

github-actions · 2026-06-18T15:33:11Z

🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #93387.

Android 🤖	iOS 🍎
https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-android-Adhoc-88eddbe66c5-3ab817a-73851c4247a4cc878b0b1af9a45bc51773bc1db1/index.html	https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-ios-device-AdHoc-88eddbe-3ab817a-908deef258ee3ab1f74ccd85b54b45e4113a774f/index.html

Web 🕸️
https://93387.pr-testing.expensify.com

👀 View the workflow run that generated this build 👀

OSBotify · 2026-06-18T17:17:59Z

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/luacmartins in version: 9.4.15-0 🚀

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

MelvinBot · 2026-06-18T17:21:00Z

🤖 Help site review: no docs changes required.

I reviewed the changes in this PR against the help site files under App/docs/articles.

This is an internal behavior-correctness fix to the read/unread-marker and desktop-notification timing logic — auto-mark-as-read now requires window focus (Visibility.hasFocus()) rather than just app visibility, so a desktop notification is correctly shown (and the new-message marker is kept) when the active chat is open but the app window is unfocused.

I searched the help site for articles documenting this behavior. The notification-related articles describe:

Email notifications and the Account > Preferences notification toggles (feature updates, mute sounds)
Expensify Card notifications
Travel email notifications

None of them document when a message is marked as read or when an in-app desktop notification appears relative to window focus. No documented feature, setting, label, button, or workflow is changed or made stale by this PR, so no help site update is needed and I did not create a draft PR.

If you believe there is a specific article that should describe this behavior, reply with @MelvinBot and point me to it and I'll draft the update.

OSBotify · 2026-06-19T15:23:50Z

🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/puneetlath in version: 9.4.15-3 🚀

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

fix: show desktop notification when visible app is unfocused

949ab84

nabi-ebrahimi requested review from a team as code owners June 12, 2026 06:05

melvin-bot Bot assigned nabi-ebrahimi Jun 12, 2026

melvin-bot Bot requested review from QichenZhu and joekaufmanexpensify June 12, 2026 06:05

melvin-bot Bot removed request for a team June 12, 2026 06:05

chatgpt-codex-connector Bot reviewed Jun 12, 2026

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Comment thread src/pages/inbox/report/useReportUnreadMessageScrollTracking.ts Outdated

nabi-ebrahimi added 2 commits June 12, 2026 19:03

Merge branch 'main' into fix/desktop-notification-visible-unfocused-chat

e66fc8d

fix: keep unread viewability updates while unfocused

f104f8c

joekaufmanexpensify previously approved these changes Jun 12, 2026

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nabi-ebrahimi added 2 commits June 13, 2026 12:03

Merge branch 'main' into fix/desktop-notification-visible-unfocused-chat

30b8200

fix: respect window focus when marking reports read

fdb5fc8

nabi-ebrahimi dismissed joekaufmanexpensify’s stale review via fdb5fc8 June 13, 2026 08:03

QichenZhu suggested changes Jun 15, 2026

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nabi-ebrahimi added 2 commits June 15, 2026 10:05

Merge branch 'main' into fix/desktop-notification-visible-unfocused-chat

da505c2

fix: handle focus-based read catch-up

23ce231

luacmartins self-requested a review June 15, 2026 14:26

luacmartins reviewed Jun 15, 2026

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Merge branch 'main' into fix/desktop-notification-visible-unfocused-chat

5706beb

nabi-ebrahimi added 2 commits June 17, 2026 09:37

Merge branch 'main' into fix/desktop-notification-visible-unfocused-chat

31b0498

fix: remove unnecessary focus catch-up

5ce4969

refactor: inline focused read effect

5cba768

QichenZhu approved these changes Jun 18, 2026

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melvin-bot Bot requested a review from luacmartins June 18, 2026 12:39

luacmartins approved these changes Jun 18, 2026

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luacmartins merged commit 88eddbe into Expensify:main Jun 18, 2026
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OSBotify mentioned this pull request Jun 18, 2026

Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-06-18 #93956

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45 tasks

melvin-bot Bot mentioned this pull request Jun 19, 2026

[Due for payment 2026-06-26] [$250] Bug: No desktop notification when active chat is open and app is visible but unfocused (another app in foreground) #92273

Open

QichenZhu mentioned this pull request Jun 26, 2026

Clear notifications after opening a report #31762

Merged

45 tasks

		useEffect(() => {
		const markAsReadWhenVisibleAndFocused = useCallback(() => {

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Explanation of Change

Fixed Issues

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