Expense - Invited member is still a member of IOU report after leaving the report

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.3.5-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: N/A - new feature, doesn't exist in prod
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #78981
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdjiosnodjosijnosd@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.1 /Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Open 1:1 DM with User B.
3. Create two expenses.
4. Open the report.
5. Mention User C and send the message.
6. Click Invite to chat only.
7. As User C, open the invited report.
8. Click on the report header > Leave.
9. Go to Reports > Expenses.
10. Open any expense from the invited report.
11. Click on the report header subtitle.
12. Click Members.
    → User C is still a member of the expense report.
13. Click RHP back button.
    → Leave button is missing.

Expected Result:

In Step 12, User C should no longer be a member after leaving the report.
In Step 13, Leave button should be present because User C is still a member.

Actual Result:

In Step 12, User C is still a member after leaving the report.
In Step 13, Leave button is missing when User C is still a member after leaving the invited report and reopening it.

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]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #78981

[melvin-bot]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @johncschuster (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.

[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: #78981 - "fix: Leave button is not displayed to invitee in an IOU report" by @nkdengineer (High confidence)
Related Issues: #78425 (original issue that PR #78981 fixed)

Recommendation: ROLL FORWARD

PR #78981 introduced a regression while fixing #78425. The original PR correctly enabled invitees to see the Leave button in IOU reports, but did not properly handle the state after leaving. A revert would reintroduce #78425, so rolling forward with a targeted fix is recommended.

Labels: No changes needed - DeployBlockerCash is correctly applied (this is a Frontend/App bug that blocks the App deploy)

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

PR #78981 modified src/libs/ReportUtils.ts to add a new condition isNonOwnerMangerOfIOUReport(report) to the canLeaveChat function. This allows invitees (users who are neither the owner nor the manager of an IOU report) to see the Leave button.

However, the implementation is incomplete. When an invitee leaves an IOU report:

1. The leaveRoom action sets their notification preference to HIDDEN
2. When they reopen the report via an expense, the canLeaveChat function checks isHiddenForCurrentUser(report) first (line 11197-11199)
3. If the report is hidden, canLeaveChat returns false immediately, preventing the Leave button from appearing
4. The new condition isNonOwnerMangerOfIOUReport(report) is never evaluated because of the early return

Verification

• The PR modifies src/libs/ReportUtils.ts, specifically the canLeaveChat function
• The changes directly relate to IOU report member management
• The issue reproduces exactly as described when following the test steps from the original issue

Root Cause

The canLeaveChat function in ReportUtils.ts has this logic:

function canLeaveChat(report: OnyxEntry<Report>, policy: OnyxEntry<Policy>, isReportArchived = false): boolean {
    // ... other checks ...
    
    if (isHiddenForCurrentUser(report)) {
        return false;  // Early return prevents Leave button from appearing
    }
    
    return (
        (isChatThread(report) && !!getReportNotificationPreference(report)) ||
        isUserCreatedPolicyRoom(report) ||
        isNonAdminOrOwnerOfPolicyExpenseChat(report, policy) ||
        isNonOwnerMangerOfIOUReport(report)  // This is never reached after leaving
    );
}

When an invitee leaves an IOU report, their notification preference becomes HIDDEN. Upon reopening, the function returns false at line 11198 before checking if they should still be able to leave.

Proposed Fix

The fix should either:

1. Remove the early return for hidden IOU reports when the user is an invitee, OR
2. Handle IOU report leaving differently to actually remove the user from the participant list instead of just hiding the notification preference

This is a Frontend bug because the fix must be made in the App repository.

[nkdengineer]

It might be a backend issue. After we allow the invited user leave the IOU report, the backend doesn't remove the invited user from the participants list after the leave API.

[luacmartins]

Looking