[Due for payment 2025-07-04] [$250] Language - Chosen language reset to English after sign out

[vincdargento]

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Version Number: v9.1.68-2
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: N/A - new feature, doesn't exist in prod
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: #64282
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): Expensifail account
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: MacOS Big Sur
App Component: Other

Action Performed:

Precondition: use expensifail account.

1. Go to Account > Preferences
2. Language > choose any of a new language
3. Sign out (and sign in again)

Expected Result:

Sign in page stays on chosen language after sign out. After relogging language persist.

Actual Result:

Sign in page language returns English after sign out

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

bug.mp4

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021935429031977030881
• Upwork Job ID: 1935429031977030881
• Last Price Increase: 2025-06-18

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @trjExpensify

[melvin-bot]

Current assignee @trjExpensify is eligible for the Bug assigner, not assigning anyone new.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021935429031977030881

[melvin-bot]

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

[Deeperr0]

Proposal

Approach:

1. Bootstrapping on cold start
   Pull the locale-initialization into a tiny “LanguageLoader” that runs on every cold start before rendering the sign-in screen. It should read NVP_PREFERRED_LOCALE from Onyx (falling back to the device/browser locale) and set i18n.locale appropriately.
2. Decouple from session
   Ensure the LanguageLoader fires regardless of authentication state so the pre-auth UI honors the saved locale.
3. Immediate persistence
   When the user changes language in Preferences, persist to NVP_PREFERRED_LOCALE and re-run the same init logic so the UI switches instantly.

Validation (web/Desktop only):

• Unit test: mock Onyx to return a test locale and assert that i18n is set before any UI renders.
• Manual/E2E on Windows Chrome, macOS Chrome & Safari, macOS Desktop:
  1. Choose a non-English language.
  2. Sign out. Confirm the sign-in form (“Email”, “Password”, buttons) remains in that language.
  3. Sign back in. Verify the rest of the app stays in that language.

Timeline:
Approximately 1 day to implement the loader & decouple localization, plus around half a day for tests and cross-platform verification on the affected platforms.

I’ll submit a formal Upwork proposal here as soon as this comment goes live. Thanks for reviewing!

[melvin-bot]

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[Deeperr0]

Contributor details
Your Expensify account email: yousef1907@hotmail.com
Upwork Profile Link: https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~01130b872813271a3e?mp_source=share