[$250] “Hm... it’s not here” displayed and unable to return to LHN after merging expenses

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: v9.3.25-13
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #79766
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): applausetester+abr632@applause.expensifail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Critical User Impact
Device used: IOS
App Component: Other

Action Performed:

1. Create an expense in self DM.
2. Create an expense in workspace chat.
3. Open the expense report in the workspace chat.
4. Click More > Merge.
5. Select self DM expense > Continue.
6. Select all the details from self DM expense (second option in each section) > Next.
7. Click Merge expenses.
8. You should be redirected to self-dm
9. Press the back button in the app.

Expected Result:

The message “Hmm... it’s not here” is displayed, and the user is unable to return back.

Actual Result:

After pressing the back button, the user should be navigated back normally, and “Hmm... it’s not here” message should not displayed.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7087637_1771976187646.WhatsApp_Video_2026-02-25_at_00.25.50.mp4

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @truph01

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022026509808157271551
• Upwork Job ID: 2026509808157271551
• Last Price Increase: 2026-02-25

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #79766

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @NicMendonca (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: #79766 - "Fix incorrect chat opening after merging expense with self DM" by @marufsharifi (High confidence)
Related Issues: #78842 (original issue that #79766 fixed)

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #79766 should be reverted. While it fixed the original issue of navigating to the wrong chat after merge, it introduced a navigation state regression that causes the "Hmm... it's not here" error when pressing back.

Labels: Keeping DeployBlockerCash (App deploy is blocked). Removing DeployBlocker since this is a frontend navigation issue requiring an App PR fix.

📋 Detailed Analysis

Evidence

• Issue is reproducible on staging (v9.3.25-13) but NOT on production
• melvin-bot automatically assigned this issue to the author of PR Fix incorrect chat opening after merging expense with self DM #79766
• The exact reproduction steps match the scenario that PR Fix incorrect chat opening after merging expense with self DM #79766 was designed to handle (merging self DM expense with workspace expense)
• PR Fix incorrect chat opening after merging expense with self DM #79766 is in the current StagingDeployCash checklist (Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-02-23 #83247)

Verification

The PR modified src/pages/TransactionMerge/ConfirmationPage.tsx, specifically the navigation logic in the handleMergeExpenses function (lines 95-111 in current code).

Key changes from PR #79766:

1. Changed the navigation route from ROUTES.SEARCH_MONEY_REQUEST_REPORT to ROUTES.SEARCH_REPORT
2. Restructured the navigation flow conditions
3. Modified when dismissModal() and navigation actions are called

Root Cause

The PR changed the navigation flow to fix issue #78842 (opening wrong chat after merge), but the new navigation logic creates an invalid navigation stack state. When the user presses back after being redirected to self-DM, the navigation system attempts to go to a route that no longer exists in the proper context, resulting in the FullPageNotFoundView being displayed ("Hmm... it's not here").

The problematic code is in lines 98-103 where Navigation.dismissModal() followed by Navigation.navigate(ROUTES.SEARCH_REPORT.getRoute(...)) doesn't properly maintain the navigation history, causing the back button to reference an invalid route.