[Due for payment 2026-07-21] Track distance - GPS - App Crashed when tap on start button

[applause-bot]

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Version Number: 9.4.33-1
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/folder/39523254/test-cases/86236110
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): rybkina+070626sa@gmail.com, rybkina+071026a@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Regression TC Execution
Device used: iOS
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Launch the app and login with expensifail account
2. Tap the Global + > Track distance
3. Select GPS
4. Tap Start

Expected Result:

GPS Track distance page should be open with button Stop.

Actual Result:

App crashed when tap on start button for GPS Track distance.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7204966_1783706881726!Expensify-2026-07-10-135546.txt

Bug7204966_1783706881718.ScreenRecording_07-10-2026_13-55-34_1.mp4

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Mita Rachim
Bug ID: 7204966

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @jakubstec

[applause-bot]

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/fbde84d4e7a588611e4c3f95986d3b76391bca198083342caf53c1d0483c7006

https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/575c9b6b384ebf63e9d49656b7628837a43147fe4168eca5c016271a343d250c

https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/e8b4b8880ec0d84be159a0f0cb9f1c6a2029063d6d8f6190ff218592416fb1f2

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @neil-marcellini (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.

[MelvinBot]

⚠️ Something went wrong. This may be a transient issue — try again. If it persists, check status.anthropic.com.

Run details

[neil-marcellini]

(Neil's AI agent)

Analysis: likely cause of the GPS Start crash

What we observe (evidence)

• Crash type: iOS native EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP) on the main thread, entirely inside the Expensify binary (native frames, no JS backtrace). From the attached .ips: "type":"EXC_BREAKPOINT","signal":"SIGTRAP", build_version 9.4.33.1, os_version iPhone OS 26.5.1.
• Only reproducible in staging (9.4.33), not production (9.4.32) — so a change in the 9.4.33 deploy introduced it.
• The Start button path is native-location heavy. Tapping Start runs startLocationUpdatesAsync(...) (expo-location) which registers with expo-task-manager, and the iOS permissions flow calls checkLocationAccuracy():
  • src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepDistanceGPS/GPSButtons/index.tsx → initLocationTracking → startLocationUpdatesAsync
  • src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepDistanceGPS/BackgroundLocationPermissionsFlow/index.ios.tsx → checkLocationAccuracy

Prime suspect

Upgrade React Native to 0.85.3 (#92484) by @war-in, merged 2026-07-09, shipped in 9.4.33.

This PR is the only change in this deploy that touches the native location stack. package.json diff (9.4.32-3..9.4.33-1-staging):

• react-native 0.83.1 → 0.85.3
• expo 55.0.25 → 56.0.8 (SDK 55 → 56)
• expo-location 55.1.10 → 56.0.15
• expo-task-manager 55.0.2 → 56.0.16
• expo-modules-core 55.0.25 → 56.0.14, hermes-compiler bumped, plus a full ios/Podfile.lock rebuild.

A native EXC_BREAKPOINT in exactly the location-tracking flow, appearing right after a major RN + Expo SDK bump, points at an incompatibility/assertion in the upgraded expo-location / expo-task-manager native code (e.g. the background location task registration on iOS).

Lower-likelihood candidate

The GPS feature's own JS barely changed this cycle — the only direct edits to IOURequestStepDistanceGPS/ were delegateAccountID threading (part of durable-receipts, #94950). That's pure JS and would not produce a native EXC_BREAKPOINT, so it's unlikely to be the cause.

Suggested next steps

1. Symbolicate the attached .ips against the 9.4.33.1 dSYM to confirm the trap is inside expo-location/expo-task-manager.
2. If confirmed, treat #92484 as the deploy blocker and loop in @war-in.

[neil-marcellini]

@war-in could you please help us fix this one?

[jakubstec]

hey, i'm from software mansion, expert agency and I will help fixing that.