Remove useDocumentTitle cleanup to fix tab title race condition by MelvinBot · Pull Request #85473 · Expensify/App

MelvinBot · 2026-03-16T21:49:27Z

Explanation of Change

The useDocumentTitle hook had a cleanup function (return () => setPageTitle('')) that cleared the browser tab title to an empty string whenever a screen lost focus. This caused a race condition with the asynchronous title-update pipeline:

The updateDocumentTitle() function defers document.title updates via setTimeout(fn, 0)
The navigation state change listener triggers a debounced (300ms) triggerUnreadUpdate that also calls updateDocumentTitle()
The popstate listener triggers a non-debounced updateDocumentTitle() call

When navigating away from a page and returning, the cleanup would clear currentPageTitle to '', and any of these asynchronous callers executing while currentPageTitle was empty would fall back to CONFIG.SITE_TITLE ("New Expensify").

The fix removes the cleanup function entirely. Each page simply sets its own title on focus via setPageTitle(title), and the previous title naturally gets overwritten by the next focused page's title — no need to clear it first.

Fixed Issues

$ #85352
PROPOSAL: #85352 (comment)

Tests

Log into the app on web (Chrome)
Navigate to Home tab > Inbox
Open any report — verify the tab title shows the report name
Open a different report, then open the first report again
Verify the tab title still shows the report name (not "New Expensify")
Navigate to a workspace > Overview
Verify the tab title shows "WorkspaceName - Overview"
Navigate to Members, then back to Overview
Verify the tab title still shows "WorkspaceName - Overview" (not "New Expensify")
Navigate to Account > Profile
Verify the tab title shows "Profile"
Navigate to Subscription, then back to Profile
Verify the tab title still shows "Profile" (not "New Expensify")

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

Go offline and navigate between pages
Verify titles still display correctly from cached data
Navigate away and back to a page — verify the title persists correctly

QA Steps

Log into a workspace admin account on staging
Navigate through: Home > Search > Workspaces > a Workspace > Overview
Go to Members, then back to Overview — verify tab title shows "WorkspaceName - Overview"
Go to Account > Profile, then Subscription, then back to Profile — verify tab title shows "Profile"
Open a chat/report, navigate to a different report, then back — verify tab title shows the report name

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

N/A — This change only affects the browser tab title (document.title), which is web-only.

Android: mWeb Chrome

N/A — Browser tab titles are visible but the change is purely cosmetic metadata.

iOS: Native

N/A — This change only affects the browser tab title (document.title), which is web-only.

iOS: mWeb Safari

N/A — Browser tab titles are visible but the change is purely cosmetic metadata.

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

N/A — Manual testing required to verify tab title persistence during navigation.

…ondition The cleanup function setPageTitle('') was clearing the browser tab title to an empty string on blur, which caused a race condition with the asynchronous title-update pipeline (setTimeout in updateDocumentTitle and the debounced triggerUnreadUpdate). When navigating back to a previously visited page, the title would revert to "New Expensify" instead of showing the page-specific title. By removing the cleanup, each page simply sets its own title on focus, and the previous title naturally gets overwritten without any gap where the title is empty. Co-authored-by: Yuwen Memon <yuwenmemon@users.noreply.github.com>

MelvinBot · 2026-03-16T22:02:09Z

The failing check is unrelated to this PR.

Analysis: The failing test is tests/ui/SessionTest.tsx — "should not remember the report path of the last deep link login after signing out and in again" (line 111), which times out after 120 seconds. This test deals with deep link login and session management and has zero references to useDocumentTitle, setPageTitle, or document.title.

This PR only removes a single cleanup line (return () => setPageTitle('')) from src/hooks/useDocumentTitle.ts.

Evidence: The exact same test with the exact same timeout failure is also failing on main (run 23162452674). This is a pre-existing flaky test.

melvin-bot · 2026-03-16T23:59:22Z

@hoangzinh 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]

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chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-03-17T00:09:25Z

src/hooks/useDocumentTitle.ts

        useCallback(() => {
            setPageTitle(title);
-            return () => setPageTitle('');
        }, [title]),


Reset page title when focus effect is cleaned up

Dropping the cleanup here leaves currentPageTitle latched to the previous screen indefinitely, because updateUnread only falls back to CONFIG.SITE_TITLE when that value is empty. With NavigationContainer document titles disabled (src/libs/Navigation/NavigationRoot.tsx), any route that does not call useDocumentTitle (for example auth routes like SCREENS.VALIDATE_LOGIN in src/libs/Navigation/AppNavigator/AuthScreens.tsx) will inherit the last page title; a common case is leaving a report and then opening login/auth screens, where the tab can continue showing the old report name instead of the app title.

Useful? React with 👍 / 👎.

The new screen should update it with its title. The way proposed above introduced a race condition that caused page titles to be reset more often than they were set to the correct ones.

MelvinBot · 2026-03-17T00:13:34Z

The failing check test (job 8) is unrelated to this PR.

Analysis: The failure is in tests/ui/SessionTest.tsx:111 — the test "should not remember the report path of the last deep link login after signing out and in again" times out at 120s. This PR only modifies src/hooks/useDocumentTitle.ts (removing a cleanup function), and SessionTest.tsx contains no references to useDocumentTitle, setPageTitle, or document.title.

Evidence: The exact same test is failing on main as well:

Run 23162452674 (main, Mar 16) — SessionTest.tsx:111 timeout
Run 23160326032 (main, Mar 16) — SessionTest.tsx:111 timeout

This is a pre-existing flaky test on main, not caused by this PR's changes.

MelvinBot · 2026-03-17T01:01:45Z

The failing check is unrelated to this PR.

Failing test: tests/ui/SessionTest.tsx:111 — "should not remember the report path of the last deep link login after signing out and in again" — exceeded its 120s timeout.

Analysis: This PR only removes one line from src/hooks/useDocumentTitle.ts (the cleanup callback). The failing SessionTest.tsx has zero references to useDocumentTitle, documentTitle, or setPageTitle.

Evidence: The exact same test (SessionTest.tsx:111) is also failing on main — see run 23162452674 and run 23160326032. This is a known pre-existing flaky timeout.

The only other failing check is checklist (PR Author/Reviewer Checklist), which is not a code issue.

…umentTitleCleanup

melvin-bot · 2026-03-17T03:56:45Z

@ikevin127 @yuwenmemon One of you needs to 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]

mananjadhav · 2026-03-18T05:08:16Z

I had explicitly commented here about the clean up method bug. Will test this out today.

yuwenmemon · 2026-03-18T05:10:11Z

Good call - my bad on that one!

mananjadhav · 2026-03-20T16:18:24Z

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
I verified testing steps are clear and they cover the changes made in this PR
- I verified the steps for local testing are in the Tests section
- I verified the steps for Staging and/or Production testing are in the QA steps section
- I verified the steps cover any possible failure scenarios (i.e. verify an input displays the correct error message if the entered data is not correct)
- 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
I included screenshots or videos for tests on all platforms
I verified that the composer does not automatically focus or open the keyboard on mobile unless explicitly intended. This includes checking that returning the app from the background does not unexpectedly open the keyboard.
I verified tests pass on all platforms & I tested again on:
- Android: HybridApp
- Android: mWeb Chrome
- iOS: HybridApp
- iOS: mWeb Safari
- MacOS: Chrome / Safari
If there are any errors in the console that are unrelated to this PR, I either fixed them (preferred) or linked to where I reported them in Slack
I verified proper code patterns were followed (see Reviewing the code)
- I verified that any callback methods that were added or modified are named for what the method does and never what callback they handle (i.e. toggleReport and not onIconClick).
- I verified that comments were added to code that is not self explanatory
- I verified that any new or modified comments were clear, correct English, and explained "why" the code was doing something instead of only explaining "what" the code was doing.
- I verified any copy / text shown in the product is localized by adding it to src/languages/* files and using the translation method
- I verified all numbers, amounts, dates and phone numbers shown in the product are using the localization methods
- I verified any copy / text that was added to the app is grammatically correct in English. It adheres to proper capitalization guidelines (note: only the first word of header/labels should be capitalized), and is either coming verbatim from figma or has been approved by marketing (in order to get marketing approval, ask the Bug Zero team member to add the Waiting for copy label to the issue)
- I verified proper file naming conventions were followed for any new files or renamed files. All non-platform specific files are named after what they export and are not named "index.js". All platform-specific files are named for the platform the code supports as outlined in the README.
- I verified the JSDocs style guidelines (in STYLE.md) were followed
If a new code pattern is added I verified it was agreed to be used by multiple Expensify engineers
I verified that this PR follows the guidelines as stated in the Review Guidelines
I verified other components that can be impacted by these changes have been tested, and I retested again (i.e. if the PR modifies a shared library or component like Avatar, I verified the components using Avatar have been tested & I retested again)
I verified all code is DRY (the PR doesn't include any logic written more than once, with the exception of tests)
I verified any variables that can be defined as constants (ie. in CONST.ts or at the top of the file that uses the constant) are defined as such
If a new component is created I verified that:
- A similar component doesn't exist in the codebase
- All props are defined accurately and each prop has a /** comment above it */
- The file is named correctly
- The component has a clear name that is non-ambiguous and the purpose of the component can be inferred from the name alone
- The only data being stored in the state is data necessary for rendering and nothing else
- For Class Components, any internal methods passed to components event handlers are bound to this properly so there are no scoping issues (i.e. for onClick={this.submit} the method this.submit should be bound to this in the constructor)
- Any internal methods bound to this are necessary to be bound (i.e. avoid this.submit = this.submit.bind(this); if this.submit is never passed to a component event handler like onClick)
- All JSX used for rendering exists in the render method
- The component has the minimum amount of code necessary for its purpose, and it is broken down into smaller components in order to separate concerns and functions
If any new file was added I verified that:
- The file has a description of what it does and/or why is needed at the top of the file if the code is not self explanatory
If a new CSS style is added I verified that:
- A similar style doesn't already exist
- The style can't be created with an existing StyleUtils function (i.e. StyleUtils.getBackgroundAndBorderStyle(theme.componentBG)
If the PR modifies code that runs when editing or sending messages, I tested and verified there is no unexpected behavior for all supported markdown - URLs, single line code, code blocks, quotes, headings, bold, strikethrough, and italic.
If the PR modifies a generic component, I tested and verified that those changes do not break usages of that component in the rest of the App (i.e. if a shared library or component like Avatar is modified, I verified that Avatar is working as expected in all cases)
If the PR modifies a component related to any of the existing Storybook stories, I tested and verified all stories for that component are still working as expected.
If the PR modifies a component or page that can be accessed by a direct deeplink, I verified that the code functions as expected when the deeplink is used - from a logged in and logged out account.
If the PR modifies the UI (e.g. new buttons, new UI components, changing the padding/spacing/sizing, moving components, etc) or modifies the form input styles:
- I verified that all the inputs inside a form are aligned with each other.
- I added Design label and/or tagged @Expensify/design so the design team can review the changes.
If a new page is added, I verified it's using the ScrollView component to make it scrollable when more elements are added to the page.
For any bug fix or new feature in this PR, I verified that sufficient unit tests are included to prevent regressions in this flow.
If the main branch was merged into this PR after a review, I tested again and verified the outcome was still expected according to the Test steps.
I have checked off every checkbox in the PR reviewer checklist, including those that don't apply to this PR.

Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

android-dynamic-title.mov

Android: mWeb Chrome

mweb-chrome-dynamic-title.mov

iOS: HybridApp

ios-dynamic-title.mov

iOS: mWeb Safari

mweb-safari-dynamic-title.mov

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

web-dynamic-title.mov

NikkiWines

github-actions · 2026-03-20T17:25:00Z

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

github-actions · 2026-03-20T17:29:37Z

🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #85473.

Android 🤖	iOS 🍎
❌ FAILED ❌	https://ad-hoc-expensify-cash.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/rock-artifacts/ad-hoc/rock-ios-device-AdHoc-c3ef461-9be7b50-c2e4e52dd4c3b18d9aa456573fc568050ff894b6/index.html
The QR code can't be generated, because the Android build failed

Web 🕸️
https://85473.pr-testing.expensify.com

👀 View the workflow run that generated this build 👀

OSBotify · 2026-03-20T17:32:24Z

✋ 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 · 2026-03-23T09:50:57Z

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

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

Bundle Size Analysis (Sentry):

Android
iOS

jponikarchuk · 2026-03-23T11:46:18Z

Deploy Blocker #86087 was identified to be related to this PR.

OSBotify · 2026-03-24T11:46:40Z

🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/grgia in version: 9.3.42-3 🚀

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

MelvinBot assigned yuwenmemon Mar 16, 2026

MelvinBot requested a review from a team March 16, 2026 21:49

MelvinBot mentioned this pull request Mar 16, 2026

[Due for payment 2026-03-31] Tab name does not persist after changing section and back to the previous section #85352

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yuwenmemon marked this pull request as ready for review March 16, 2026 23:59

yuwenmemon requested a review from a team as a code owner March 16, 2026 23:59

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yuwenmemon requested review from mananjadhav and removed request for hoangzinh March 17, 2026 03:53

Merge branch 'main' of github.com:Expensify/App into claude-removeDoc…

636e030

…umentTitleCleanup

yuwenmemon requested a review from a team as a code owner March 17, 2026 03:56

melvin-bot bot requested review from ikevin127 and yuwenmemon and removed request for a team March 17, 2026 03:56

yuwenmemon removed the request for review from ikevin127 March 17, 2026 03:57

rushatgabhane mentioned this pull request Mar 18, 2026

[$250] Other A11y: Global: The page title does not describe the purpose of page #74767

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mananjadhav approved these changes Mar 20, 2026

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yuwenmemon approved these changes Mar 20, 2026

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JS00001 approved these changes Mar 20, 2026

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NikkiWines approved these changes Mar 20, 2026

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yuwenmemon merged commit c3ef461 into main Mar 20, 2026
38 checks passed

yuwenmemon deleted the claude-removeDocumentTitleCleanup branch March 20, 2026 17:23

github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Mar 20, 2026

Investigate workflow job failing on main: build (Debug, true) #85976

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OSBotify mentioned this pull request Mar 23, 2026

Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-03-23 #86080

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70 tasks

jponikarchuk mentioned this pull request Mar 23, 2026

Web - Tab name shows the title of expense details page after closing the report #86087

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grgia mentioned this pull request Mar 23, 2026

[CP staging] Revert "Remove useDocumentTitle cleanup to fix tab title race condition" #86112

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This was referenced Mar 23, 2026

Add clearPageTitle cleanup to useDocumentTitle to prevent stale tab title after RHP close #86141

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Add non-disruptive cleanup to useDocumentTitle hook #86142

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Explanation of Change

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Tests

Offline tests

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