LHN - Expense report preview shows system message instead of latest message in LHN

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.3.11-17
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #80343
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdomsjdoinjoisjoj2@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.1 / Chrome
App Component: Left Hand Navigation (LHN)

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace chat.
3. Create an expense.
4. Open the expense report.
5. Click Submit and Approve.
6. Send a message to the expense report.
7. Close the report.
8. Open the same report from LHN.

Expected Result:

LHN preview will show the latest message which is the message from Step 6.

Actual Result:

LHN preview shows "approved" instead of the latest sent message.

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 @kadiealexander (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 @flodnv (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.

[OSBotify]

Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: #79165 - "Add DEW support for approve action" by @abzokhattab (High confidence)
Related Issues: None identified

Recommendation: REVERT

This PR introduced changes to how approved actions are displayed in LHN, particularly for DEW (Dynamic External Workflow) policies. The changes affect the logic that determines what message text should appear as the last visible message in the LHN preview, causing the system message "approved" to be shown instead of the actual latest user message after closing and reopening the report.

Labels: No label changes needed - this is a Frontend bug so DeployBlockerCash label should remain.

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

• PR Add DEW support for approve action #79165 was merged on January 29, 2026 and is included in the staging deploy checklist (version 9.3.11-17)
• The bug is reproducible on staging but NOT on production, confirming it was introduced in this staging cycle
• PR Add DEW support for approve action #79165 modified src/libs/ReportActionsUtils.ts (53 additions, 30 deletions) and src/libs/OptionsListUtils/index.ts (8 additions, 1 deletion)
• The PR specifically changed how APPROVED actions are rendered and what text is shown for them

Verification

Key changes in PR #79165 that affect LHN preview:

1. Modified getLastMessageTextForReport in ReportActionsUtils.ts:

} else if (isActionOfType(lastReportAction, CONST.REPORT.ACTIONS.TYPE.APPROVED)) {
    const {automaticAction} = getOriginalMessage(lastReportAction) ?? {};
+   const isDEWPolicy = hasDynamicExternalWorkflow(policy);
+   const isPendingAdd = lastReportAction.pendingAction === CONST.RED_BRICK_ROAD_PENDING_ACTION.ADD;
+
    if (automaticAction) {
        lastMessageTextFromReport = Parser.htmlToText(translate('iou.automaticallyApproved'));
+   } else if (hasPendingDEWApprove(reportMetadata, isDEWPolicy) && isPendingAdd) {
+       lastMessageTextFromReport = translate('iou.queuedToApproveViaDEW');
    } else {
        lastMessageTextFromReport = translate('iou.approvedMessage');
    }

2. The PR adds new logic to determine which message should be shown for approved actions, but this logic appears to interfere with the normal LHN preview update mechanism that should show user messages when they are sent after system messages.

Root Cause

When a report is approved and then closed, followed by sending a user message, the LHN preview logic still considers the APPROVED system message as the "last visible" message instead of the user message sent in step 6 of the reproduction steps. This is because the changes in PR #79165 modified how the last message text is determined for reports with approved actions, and this new logic does not properly account for subsequent user messages becoming the new last visible message.

The issue specifically affects the flow where:

1. An expense report is approved (system message: "approved")
2. The report is kept open and a user sends a message
3. The report is closed and reopened
4. Expected: LHN should show the user message from step 2
5. Actual: LHN shows "approved" from step 1