[Due for payment 2026-03-04] [$250] Expense - Category row missing when adding merchant rule after cache clear

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: V9.3.24-1
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 BrowserStack: #81514
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): dreamnitethedragon@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Redminote 10S Android 13
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Launch app
2. Create workpace
3. Enable rules
4. Create a rule selecting a category
5. Duplicate the workspace
6. Open the rule
7. Go offline
8. Delete the rule
9. Try to add other rule
10. Note category row is shown
11. Go online
12. Go troubleshoot and clear cache
13. Go to duplicate workspace - rule
14. Tap add merchant rule
15. Note category row is missing
16. Open category page
17. Note Blank state is shown briefly and updated showing category list
18. Now go to rules section and try to add a rule
19. Note category row is shown

Expected Result:

Category row should consistently appear when adding a merchant rule.
Clearing cache should not affect whether the category field is visible.
Category list should be shown without temporary blank state.

Actual Result:

After deleting a rule offline and clearing cache, the Category row is missing when adding a new merchant rule.
Opening the Category page briefly shows a blank state, then loads categories.
After categories finish loading, returning to add rule shows the Category row again.

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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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @johncschuster

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022025183452767568669
• Upwork Job ID: 2025183452767568669
• Last Price Increase: 2026-02-21

[melvin-bot]

@JS00001 recently merged #81514, but they are OOO right now, so I'll auto-assign someone else.

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @johncschuster (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 @roryabraham (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.