[HOLD https://github.com/Expensify/App/issues/33725] iOS - Expense - Unable to see receipt when open expense offline

[jponikarchuk]

• HELD on [Due for payment 2026-04-28] [$1000] Migrate the main chat list to FlashList #33725

Version Number: v9.2.96-4
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/test-runs/TR-2735/folder/13176877/41237360/1113101550
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): N/A
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: iPhone 16 pro/ 26.2
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Open app
2. Navigate to self DM (or workspace chat, 1:1 conversation)
3. Create a scan receipt
4. After receipt scanning completed, tap on this expense
5. Tap on receipt
6. Tap back button return to expense preview
7. Turn off internet on the device via airplane
8. Tap on expense preview
9. Tap on receipt

Expected Result:

User can see receipt when open expense offline

Actual Result:

Turn off internet on the device via airplane, receipt is displayed on expense preview but it's blank in expense detail page. Tap on receipt, there displays "You appear to be offline. Attachment will become available once back online"

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 @greg-schroeder (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 @cristipaval (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.

[sohrabq]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

Unable to see receipt when opening expense offline

On iOS only, users experience the following issue when viewing receipts offline:

What is the root cause of that problem?

The iOS offline receipt issue has a specific technical root cause:
The Core Issue
iOS uses cachePolicy="none" for all images in the expo-image component, which completely disables image caching.

File: BaseImage.ios.tsx

<ExpoImage
    source={source}
    {...props}
    // Temporary solution only, since other cache policies are causing memory leaks on iOS
    cachePolicy="none"
/>

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

Changes Made
. Make cachePolicy configurable in BaseImage.ios.tsx

Instead of hardcoding cachePolicy="none" for all images, the component now accepts it as a prop with 'none' as the default:

// Use disk caching for images that need to work offline (e.g., receipts with auth tokens)
// Use no caching for other images to avoid memory leaks
const effectiveCachePolicy = props.cachePolicy ?? 'none';

return (
    <ExpoImage
        {...props}
        cachePolicy={effectiveCachePolicy}
    />
);

2. Enable disk caching for auth-required images in index.tsx
   The main Image component now passes cachePolicy="disk" specifically for images that require authentication (receipts):

<BaseImage
    {...forwardedProps}
    source={source}
    // Enable disk caching for images that require auth tokens (receipts) to make them available offline
    // Keep default (none) for other images to avoid memory leaks
    cachePolicy={isAuthTokenRequired ? 'disk' : forwardedProps.cachePolicy}
/>

✅ Enables offline receipts: Images with isAuthTokenRequired={true} use cachePolicy="disk", so they're cached and available offline
✅ Maintains memory leak protection: Regular images without auth requirements still use cachePolicy="none"
✅ Minimal risk: Only affects the specific subset of images that need offline support (receipts), not all images
✅ Uses expo-image's built-in caching: Leverages the disk cache mechanism provided by expo-image rather than implementing custom caching
✅ No Android changes needed: Android already works correctly with default caching

[melvin-bot]

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[sohrabq]

Contributor details
Your Expensify account email: q.3ohrab@gmail.com
Upwork Profile Link: