Android & iOS - Unable to switch between Chat and #room without dismissing keyboard

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.3.37-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #84132
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdjsdjosijnsodiosd@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Samsung Galaxy S25 FE / Android 16
App Component: Other

Action Performed:

1. Launch Expensify app.
2. Tap FAB > Start chat.
3. While keyboard is opened, tap #room.

Expected Result:

RHP will switch to #room.

Actual Result:

RHP does not switch to #room when keyboard is opened on Chat tab.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7101665_1773359786960.Screen_Recording_20260313_075501_Expensify.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #84132

[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.

[OSBotify]

🔍 Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: #84132 - "Merge TabSelector and ScrollableTabSelector" by @GCyganek (High confidence)
Related Issues: None

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #84132 introduced a regression where the keyboard is not dismissed when switching tabs while the keyboard is open. This prevents the RHP from switching between Chat and #room tabs on mobile when the keyboard is active.

Labels: Keeping DeployBlockerCash (App deploy is blocked). Removing DeployBlocker (this is an App-specific issue, not a backend issue).

📋 Detailed Analysis

Evidence

PR #84132 merged TabSelector and ScrollableTabSelector components. The changes introduced:

1. A ScrollView wrapper around the tab selector
2. Scroll event emission via useScrollEventEmitter()
3. The shouldHideOnScroll property for the EducationalTooltip

Verification

The affected functionality is in:

• /home/runner/_work/App/App/src/components/TabSelector/TabSelectorBase.tsx (lines 38-42)
• /home/runner/_work/App/App/src/components/TabSelector/TabSelectorItem.tsx (line 85)

PR #84132 modifies both of these files, confirming it touches the affected code path.

Root Cause

When a user taps a tab while the keyboard is open:

1. The scrollToTab() function triggers a scroll event
2. This emits CONST.EVENTS.SCROLLING
3. The EducationalTooltip hides due to shouldHideOnScroll={true}
4. However, the keyboard is NOT dismissed, blocking the tab switch

Missing logic: The tab press handler should call Keyboard.dismiss() before switching tabs. This is standard behavior - even the patched react-native-tab-view library includes Keyboard.dismiss() on tab changes (see patches/react-native-tab-view/react-native-tab-view+4.1.0+002+fix-glitching-on-initial-load.patch line 44).

Comparison

Before PR #84132, the TabSelector did not have scroll events, so this issue did not occur. The ScrollableTabSelector component (which was merged) likely did not have keyboard dismissal logic either.