Expense - Unable to find recipient when creating scan/ distance expense

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.2.96-1
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/folder/13176926/test-cases/41237617
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): agexptest+pr080126g@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Windows 11/ Chrome, Samsung S23FE/ Android 16, iPhone 13 Mini/ iOS 26.1
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Launch the Expensify app
2. Create a new Gmail account by selecting "Track and budget expense"
3. Go to FAB > Create expense > Scan tab > Choose file
4. Select any image
5. Enter any recipient email

Expected Result:

The recipient is found, and the user can select it to proceed.

Actual Result:

The recipient is not found, and the user is unable to continue the flow.

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 @lydiabarclay (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 @mollfpr (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.

[mollfpr]

I can't reproduce the issue. Might be related to the API and it's already fixed?

Screen.Recording.Jan.9.2026.mp4

[izarutskaya]

Issue is not reproducible for Web, Android
Build 9.2.96-4

Screen.Recording.20260109.104648.Expensify.mp4

scan.recipient.mp4

scan.andro.mp4