[Due for payment 2025-04-28] [$250] Android Hybrid - No sound for incoming messages in 1:1 chat

[vincdargento]

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Issue was found while executing QA for PR #58798

Version Number: 9.1.22-5
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught on HybridApp, is this reproducible on New Expensify Standalone?: N/A
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: #58798
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): agexptest+pr3103a@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Samsung S23FE/ Android 14
App Component: Chat Report View

Action Performed:

1. Open the Expensify app
2. Log in as User A
3. Go to 1:1 chat with User B
4. From another device, User B sends multiple messages to user A

Expected Result:

A Swish sound should play once per second for incoming messages in 1:1 chat.

Actual Result:

No sound is played for incoming messages in 1:1 chat.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: Standalone
• Android: HybridApp
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: Standalone
• iOS: HybridApp
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• MacOS: Desktop

Screenshots/Videos

bug.mp4

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• Last Price Increase: 2025-04-07
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• nkdengineer | Contributor | 106822580

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @joekaufmanexpensify

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @joekaufmanexpensify (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.

[nkdengineer]

Proposal

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

No sound is played for incoming messages in 1:1 chat.

What is the root cause of that problem?

On native, we're not playing the sound for plain messages here. We added this here to prevent two sounds from being played when we receive the plain message (sound from OS notification and sound from our code).

App/src/libs/actions/User.ts

Lines 881 to 883 in 3b313d1

	if ('html' in message) {
	return playSoundExcludingMobile(SOUNDS.RECEIVE);
	}

But if we're viewing the current report, no notification is shown. And after this PR, we've already prevented playing the sound if we're not viewing the chat or the app isn't focused. Then, no sound is played when we receive the plain message

App/src/libs/actions/Report.ts

Lines 2963 to 2966 in 3b313d1

	if (reportID === Navigation.getTopmostReportId() && Visibility.isVisible() && Visibility.hasFocus()) {
	Log.info(`${tag} No notification because it was a comment for the current report`);
	return false;
	}

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

We can replace all playSoundExcludingMobile to playSound now as I explained above

return playSound(SOUNDS.RECEIVE); 

App/src/libs/actions/User.ts

Lines 882 to 886 in 3b313d1

	return playSoundExcludingMobile(SOUNDS.RECEIVE);
	}
	}
	} catch (e) {
	let errorMessage = String(e);

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

UI bug

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Reminder: Please use plain English, be brief and avoid jargon. Feel free to use images, charts or pseudo-code if necessary. Do not post large multi-line diffs or write walls of text. Do not create PRs unless you have been hired for this job.

[github-actions]

⚠️ Thanks for your proposal. Please update it to follow the proposal template, as proposals are only reviewed if they follow that format (note the mandatory sections).

[joekaufmanexpensify]

I tested on iOS and also can reproduce there. @daledah @DylanDylann @pecanoro could you confirm if it is intended from your PR that message sounds can be heard on native?

[pecanoro]

So I am on version v9.1.20-2 and the incoming sound doesn't work either so that makes me believe it's by design and it does not work on mobile. But honestly, I am not sure from a product design decision what we decided in the past. @daledah @DylanDylann you guys tested this, is it supposed to make the sound?

[nkdengineer]

@pecanoro Currently, the plain message isn't playing the sound on native. We did this here because the plain message will display the notification, and it already has the sound. But we missed the case where the user is viewing the current report; in this case, the notification isn't displayed.

After that, another PR fixed another case is the in-app sound play when the user is not viewing the chat. And now the in-app sound logic is only triggered if we're viewing the chat, so we can remove playSoundExcludingMobile logic now and use playSound instead. What do you think? You can see my proposal for more detail

[daledah]

@pecanoro Basically what @nkdengineer said above^, when implementing the PR I also noticed that we don't play sound for native app at all when there's new message coming. We only play sound when there's task created, IOU reports, etc.

[joekaufmanexpensify]

Got it. That makes sense to me. cc @Julesssss too to make sure you agree, as I see you worked on the original PR where we overwrite incoming message sounds for native.