Enable autofocus on Per Diem destination picker by MelvinBot · Pull Request #85310 · Expensify/App

MelvinBot · 2026-03-15T16:39:34Z

Explanation of Change

The Per Diem destination picker's search input sometimes failed to autofocus when switching to the Per Diem tab. This was caused by two timing issues in IOURequestStartPage:

Keyboard.dismiss() raced with autofocus — resetIOUTypeIfChanged called Keyboard.dismiss() unconditionally on every tab switch. On iOS, the keyboard dismiss animation suppresses subsequent .focus() calls, preventing the Per Diem search input from gaining focus. This is now conditional — Keyboard.dismiss() is skipped when switching to the Per Diem tab.
requestAnimationFrame was too early — onTabSelectFocusHandler used requestAnimationFrame to focus the Per Diem input, but with lazy-loaded tabs the component hadn't mounted yet by the next animation frame. This is now replaced with setTimeout(..., CONST.ANIMATED_TRANSITION) to give the tab enough time to mount before attempting focus.

Fixed Issues

$ #85277
PROPOSAL: #85277 (comment)

Tests

Have a workspace with Per Diem enabled and at least 12 per diem destinations (so the search input appears)
Open the app on iOS
Press FAB -> Create expense
Go to the Per Diem tab
Verify the search input field is autofocused and the keyboard appears

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

N/A — Autofocus behavior is client-side only and does not depend on network state.

QA Steps

Have a workspace with Per Diem enabled and at least 12 per diem destinations
Open the app on iOS
Press FAB -> Create expense
Go to the Per Diem tab
Verify the search input field is autofocused and the keyboard appears
Navigate away and back to verify autofocus fires reliably each time

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Remove disableAutoFocus from DestinationPicker so the SelectionList's built-in useFocusEffect autofocus fires when the Per Diem tab gains focus. Also fix the stale ref in IOURequestStepDestination's useImperativeHandle by using a lazy getter so the ref is read at call time rather than at render time. Co-authored-by: Cong Pham <suneox@users.noreply.github.com>

suneox · 2026-03-16T14:07:12Z

Reviewer Checklist

I have verified the author checklist is complete (all boxes are checked off).
I verified the correct issue is linked in the ### Fixed Issues section above
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- I verified the steps for local testing are in the Tests section
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- I turned off my network connection and tested it while offline to ensure it matches the expected behavior (i.e. verify the default avatar icon is displayed if app is offline)
I checked that screenshots or videos are included for tests on all platforms
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- Android: HybridApp
- Android: mWeb Chrome
- iOS: HybridApp
- iOS: mWeb Safari
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

CleanShot.2026-03-16.at.00.06.52.5.mp4

Android: mWeb Chrome

CleanShot.2026-03-16.at.00.03.37.3.mp4

iOS: HybridApp

CleanShot.2026-03-16.at.00.01.38.2.mp4

iOS: mWeb Safari

CleanShot.2026-03-16.at.00.04.39.4.mp4

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

CleanShot.2026-03-16.at.00.01.03.1.mp4

suneox · 2026-03-16T14:12:28Z

@MelvinBot Please investigate why auto focus sometimes doesn't work when creating a manual expense from Quick Action. This happens when the Manual tab was previously selected and then change tab to Per Diem.

CleanShot.2026-03-16.at.00.01.38.2.mp4

MelvinBot · 2026-03-16T14:26:50Z

🔍 Investigation: Autofocus fails when switching from Manual to Per Diem tab

Summary: The intermittent autofocus failure when switching from the Manual tab to the Per Diem tab is caused by two interacting issues: (1) an unconditional Keyboard.dismiss() call that races with the subsequent autofocus mechanisms, and (2) a lazy-loading race condition where the focus attempt fires before the Per Diem tab component has mounted.

Root Cause: Two timing conflicts prevent the Per Diem destination picker from gaining focus:

1. `Keyboard.dismiss()` races with autofocus (iOS)

In IOURequestStartPage.tsx:183, resetIOUTypeIfChanged calls Keyboard.dismiss() unconditionally on every tab switch:

const resetIOUTypeIfChanged = useCallback(
    (newIOUType: IOURequestType) => {
        Keyboard.dismiss(); // fires on EVERY tab switch, before autofocus

This fires via onTabSelected from the OnyxTabNavigator's screenListeners.state handler — before either autofocus mechanism runs. On iOS, the keyboard dismiss animation (~250ms) can suppress subsequent .focus() calls. This explains the "sometimes" nature: when the keyboard was visible on the Manual tab (user was typing an amount), Keyboard.dismiss() actively interferes; when it wasn't visible, it's a no-op and autofocus works.

2. Lazy-loading race condition

With lazyLoadEnabled on the tab navigator (IOURequestStartPage.tsx:322), the Per Diem tab content (IOURequestStepDestination) is not mounted until the user switches to it. The focus handler at IOURequestStartPage.tsx:119-128:

const onTabSelectFocusHandler = ({index}: {index: number}) => {
    requestAnimationFrame(() => {
        if (index !== PER_DIEM_TAB_INDEX) { return; }
        perDiemInputRef.current?.focus?.();
    });
};

...wraps the focus call in requestAnimationFrame. But with lazy loading, the IOURequestStepDestination component may still be mounting when this fires, meaning perDiemInputRef.current is null and the focus call is silently skipped via optional chaining.

Contributing factor: Non-memoized `focusTextInput`

In BaseSelectionListWithSections.tsx:187-189, focusTextInput is not wrapped in useCallback. Every render creates a new function reference, which changes the dependency array of the useFocusEffect callback in TextInput.tsx:88-104, causing the 300ms autofocus timeout to be repeatedly cleared and reset. The initMoneyRequest call during tab switch triggers Onyx updates that cause cascading re-renders, amplifying this effect.

Timeline

t=0ms:     Tab press → navigation state changes
t≈0ms:     screenListeners.state fires → Keyboard.dismiss() + initMoneyRequest (Onyx.set)
t≈0ms+:    Per Diem screen starts mounting (lazy)
t≈16ms:    requestAnimationFrame fires → perDiemInputRef.current is null → focus skipped
t≈0-300ms: Onyx re-renders repeatedly reset useFocusEffect timeout
t≈300ms+:  Final setTimeout fires → focus() attempt may be suppressed by Keyboard.dismiss()

Note: This is a pre-existing issue not introduced by this PR. The PR's changes (removing disableAutoFocus and fixing the stale ref) are correct improvements, but they don't address these timing conflicts.

Relevant Code Locations

src/pages/iou/request/IOURequestStartPage.tsx:183 — Keyboard.dismiss() in resetIOUTypeIfChanged
src/pages/iou/request/IOURequestStartPage.tsx:119-128 — onTabSelectFocusHandler with requestAnimationFrame
src/pages/iou/request/IOURequestStartPage.tsx:322 — lazyLoadEnabled on tab navigator
src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepDestination.tsx:87-89 — useImperativeHandle exposing focus
src/components/SelectionList/SelectionListWithSections/BaseSelectionListWithSections.tsx:187-189 — Non-memoized focusTextInput
src/components/SelectionList/components/TextInput.tsx:88-104 — useFocusEffect autofocus with 300ms delay

Next Steps: If this should be addressed, a separate issue could be filed. Potential fixes include: (1) conditioning Keyboard.dismiss() to skip Per Diem tab switches or deferring it, (2) replacing requestAnimationFrame with a retry/polling mechanism that waits for the ref to be available, or (3) memoizing focusTextInput with useCallback to prevent timeout resets.

suneox · 2026-03-16T15:41:55Z

@MelvinBot Ok so we can revert the current changes and then apply the fix as follows:
(1) Condition Keyboard.dismiss() to skip Per Diem tab switches.
(2) replacing requestAnimationFrame by setTimeout with CONST.ANIMATED_TRANSITION to handle focusing, similar to the pattern used on many other places.

…questStartPage - Reverted removal of disableAutoFocus in DestinationPicker - Reverted stale ref fix in IOURequestStepDestination - Conditioned Keyboard.dismiss() to skip Per Diem tab switches so it does not suppress subsequent focus calls on iOS - Replaced requestAnimationFrame with setTimeout using CONST.ANIMATED_TRANSITION in onTabSelectFocusHandler for reliable focus timing after tab animation completes Co-authored-by: Cong Pham <suneox@users.noreply.github.com>

MelvinBot · 2026-03-16T15:49:08Z

Done! I've reverted the previous changes and applied the new fix approach. Here's what changed:

Reverted disableAutoFocus: true removal in DestinationPicker.tsx and the stale ref fix in IOURequestStepDestination.tsx
Conditioned Keyboard.dismiss() in IOURequestStartPage.tsx — it now skips dismissal when switching to the Per Diem tab, so it doesn't suppress the subsequent focus call on iOS
Replaced requestAnimationFrame with setTimeout(…, CONST.ANIMATED_TRANSITION) in onTabSelectFocusHandler for reliable focus timing after the tab animation completes, matching the pattern used elsewhere in the codebase (e.g., IOURequestStepAmount, IOURequestStepHours, IOURequestStepTimeRate)

codecov · 2026-03-16T16:11:25Z

Codecov Report

❌ Looks like you've decreased code coverage for some files. Please write tests to increase, or at least maintain, the existing level of code coverage. See our documentation here for how to interpret this table.

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/pages/iou/request/IOURequestStartPage.tsx	`71.21% <80.00%> (-0.55%)`	⬇️
... and 60 files with indirect coverage changes

suneox · 2026-03-18T13:00:41Z

@MelvinBot ready for review

MelvinBot · 2026-03-18T13:03:16Z

I have failed to help you. I let you down and for that I am sorry. Please try again later. This may be due to a Claude outage (check here).

Failure details: https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify/actions/runs/23245907686

suneox · 2026-03-18T13:06:21Z

@MelvinBot Update PR status to ready not draft

MelvinBot · 2026-03-18T13:08:03Z

Done — PR has been marked as ready for review.

melvin-bot · 2026-03-18T13:08:05Z

@suneox Please copy/paste the Reviewer Checklist from here into a new comment on this PR and complete it. If you have the K2 extension, you can simply click: [this button]

suneox · 2026-03-19T17:41:21Z

@MelvinBot update Explanation of Change for current PR

MelvinBot · 2026-03-19T17:44:38Z

Updated the Explanation of Change to match the current implementation. The description now accurately reflects the two changes in IOURequestStartPage.tsx:

Conditional Keyboard.dismiss() — Skipped when switching to the Per Diem tab to prevent it from racing with autofocus
requestAnimationFrame → setTimeout(..., CONST.ANIMATED_TRANSITION) — Gives the lazy-loaded Per Diem tab enough time to mount before attempting focus

joekaufmanexpensify

Fine for product

melvin-bot · 2026-03-20T12:44:55Z

We did not find an internal engineer to review this PR, trying to assign a random engineer to #85277 as well as to this PR... Please reach out for help on Slack if no one gets assigned!

github-actions · 2026-03-20T15:13:12Z

🚧 @rlinoz has triggered a test Expensify/App build. You can view the workflow run here.

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🚧 @rlinoz has triggered a test Expensify/App build. You can view the workflow run here.

github-actions · 2026-03-20T15:25:15Z

🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #85310.

Android 🤖	iOS 🍎
❌ FAILED ❌	❌ FAILED ❌
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github-actions · 2026-03-20T15:42:18Z

🚧 @rlinoz has triggered a test Expensify/App build. You can view the workflow run here.

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🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #85310.

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❌ FAILED ❌	https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-ios-device-AdHoc-693f7f5-9be7b50-c2e4e52dd4c3b18d9aa456573fc568050ff894b6/index.html
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Web 🕸️
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👀 View the workflow run that generated this build 👀

OSBotify · 2026-03-20T15:48:42Z

✋ This PR was not deployed to staging yet because QA is ongoing. It will be automatically deployed to staging after the next production release.

OSBotify · 2026-03-23T09:50:39Z

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/rlinoz in version: 9.3.42-0 🚀

platform	result
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🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

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MelvinBot assigned suneox Mar 15, 2026

MelvinBot requested a review from a team March 15, 2026 16:39

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[$250] iOS – Per Diem page does not autofocus the input field #85277

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MelvinBot commented Mar 16, 2026

🔍 Investigation: Autofocus fails when switching from Manual to Per Diem tab

1. Keyboard.dismiss() races with autofocus (iOS)

2. Lazy-loading race condition

Contributing factor: Non-memoized focusTextInput

Timeline

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MelvinBot commented Mar 15, 2026 •

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1. `Keyboard.dismiss()` races with autofocus (iOS)

Contributing factor: Non-memoized `focusTextInput`

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