[Due for payment 2026-11-16] Splash screen-Splash screen appears when opening device control panel

@daledah

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Version Number: 9.5.26-0
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/tc/TC-3720
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 15 iOS 26.6.1
App Component: Other

Action Performed:

Sign in to ND
Swipe down from the top to open device's control panel
Tap outside the panel to return to the app

Expected Result:

Splash screen is not shown

Actual Result:

Splash screen appears when opening device control panel

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7300013_1793310321508.splash_screen.mp4

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Alberto Gutierrez
Bug ID: 7300013

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @daledah

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/34410d0914329a19bc5ce233045d630c0454923114be3e4945043e8d55fa78fa

@Beamanator

Triggered auto assignment to @Beamanator (DeployBlockerCash), see https://stackoverflowteams.com/c/expensify/questions/9980/ for more details.

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

👋 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:

Identify the pull request that introduced this issue and revert it.
Find someone who can quickly fix the issue.
Fix the issue yourself.

Deploy Blocker Analysis (medium confidence)

Likely cause: the HybridApp (iOS) counterpart of [Payment due @daledah] Cover the UI with the boot splash when the app is backgrounded to prevent sensitive data exposure, by OlGierd03. It reached staging through the Mobile-Expensify submodule bump.

Why it happens: the privacy overlay shows the BootSplash on sceneWillResignActive. iOS fires that callback whenever the app becomes inactive, including when you open Control Center or Notification Center. It doesn't wait for the app to go to the background.

Recommendation: revert the Mobile-Expensify counterpart, then bump the submodule in App. Reverting the App PR alone won't fix this.

Fix forward: show the overlay in sceneDidEnterBackground and hide it in sceneWillEnterForeground, in both repos.

Investigation details

App-side code (on production since 9.5.24-8):

ios/SceneDelegate.swift:74-80 calls showPrivacyOverlay() on resign-active and hidePrivacyOverlay() on become-active.
ios/AppDelegate.swift:110-137 loads the BootSplash storyboard and adds it on top of the window.

Why the submodule bump is the likely source:

ND on iOS is built from the Mobile-Expensify iOS project, not App's ios/ folder.
Production and staging have the same App ios/ code, apart from version strings.
For HybridApp, the only native change between production and staging is the submodule bump (19426f26 → b074b1fd). That fits a bug seen only on staging and only on iOS.
None of the 38 App PRs in the 9.5.26-0 checklist touch the splash screen, AppState handling, or iOS lifecycle code.

Not verified: I couldn't check that the counterpart landed in that submodule range. Someone with Mobile-Expensify access should confirm this by comparing the two SHAs.

History: the first version of this feature, [Payment due @daledah] Cover the UI with the boot splash when the app is backgrounded to prevent sensitive data exposure, was reverted in Revert "[Payment due @daledah] Cover the UI with the boot splash when the app is backgrounded to prevent sensitive data exposure". It caused a similar staging blocker: Workspace - Splash screen appears when trying to connect bank account.

Fix-forward trade-off: iOS saves the app-switcher snapshot after the app enters the background, so the overlay still keeps sensitive data off disk. The cost is that while the app is only inactive, its app-switcher card shows live content.

Alternative: if product considers the splash on Control Center to be intended privacy behavior, demote this blocker instead.

Next Steps: Reply with @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis.

view run

This issue is repro on all PRs in the current deployment checklist.

Likely cause: the HybridApp (iOS) counterpart of #100590, by OlGierd03. It reached staging through the Mobile-Expensify submodule bump.

Both #100590 and its Mobile-Expensify counterpart https://github.com/Expensify/Mobile-Expensify/pull/14105 are already on prod, so neither is part of this deploy. If this really is the cause (I think it's likely), we'll have to address this issue in a follow-up and I don't think this should be a deploy blocker

tested in prod build, 9.5.25-2 https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C01GTK53T8Q/p1793372789816769?thread_ts=1793313077.282449&cid=C01GTK53T8Q - found the exact same thing happen, so looks like this is on prod and i'll at least demote from a deploy blocker

I assigned my self since i was the C+ on the previous PR

@daledah

@daledah

The solution for this issue has been 🚀 deployed to production 🚀 in version 9.5.34-1 and is now subject to a 7-day regression period 📆. Here is the list of pull requests that resolve this issue:

iOS: Stop covering the UI with the boot splash when the app only goes inactive #106097

If no regressions arise, payment will be issued on 2026-11-16. 🎊

The following checklist (instructions) will need to be completed before the issue can be closed. Please copy/paste the Contributor+ Checklist from here into a new comment on this GH and complete it. If you have the K2 extension, you can simply click: [this button]. If no checklist is needed for this issue, you can click: [no checklist button]

Contributor+ Checklist:

[Contributor] The offending PR and associated issue have been commented on, pointing out the bug it caused and why, so the author and reviewers can learn from the mistake.

Link to the comment on the PR: N/A, improvement
[Contributor] If the regression was CRITICAL (e.g. interrupts a core flow) A discussion in #expensify-open-source has been started about whether any other steps should be taken (e.g. updating the PR review checklist) in order to catch this type of bug sooner.

Link to discussion:
[Contributor] If it was decided to create a regression test for the bug, please propose the regression test steps using the template below to ensure the same bug will not reach production again.

Regression Test Proposal

Precondition:

signed in on iOS.

Test:

Swipe down from the top right corner to open Control Center, tap outside it and verify the splash is never shown.
Repeat step 1 with Notification Center and with a system permission prompt (e.g. take a photo with the camera permission not yet granted).
Go Home, open the app switcher and verify the app's card shows the splash with the logo.
Swipe straight from the app into the app switcher and verify the card shows the live app. Go Home, open the app switcher again and verify the card now shows the splash.
Return to the app and verify the content is restored and the app is interactive.
With the keyboard open, go Home, open the app switcher and verify the card shows no content or keyboard.
Return to the app and verify the input is focused again.
In the foreground, take a regular screenshot and verify it captures the content.

Do we agree 👍 or 👎

This was regression from #100590.
#100590 was deployed to production on Oct 28. This bug was reported on Oct 29 which is still within 7-day regression window.
The full payment was handled in #105313.

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[Due for payment 2026-11-16] Splash screen-Splash screen appears when opening device control panel #105430

Action Performed:

Expected Result:

Actual Result:

Workaround:

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

Deploy Blocker Analysis (medium confidence)

14 remaining items

Contributor+ Checklist:

Regression Test Proposal

Precondition:

Test:

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[Due for payment 2026-11-16] Splash screen-Splash screen appears when opening device control panel #105430

Description

Action Performed:

Expected Result:

Actual Result:

Workaround:

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

Activity

applause-bot commented on Oct 29, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Oct 29, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Oct 29, 2026

github-actions commented on Oct 29, 2026

MelvinBot commented on Oct 29, 2026

Deploy Blocker Analysis (medium confidence)

albertodege commented on Oct 29, 2026

OlGierd03 commented on Oct 30, 2026

Beamanator commented on Oct 30, 2026

14 remaining items

daledah commented on Nov 4, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Nov 9, 2026

daledah commented on Nov 10, 2026

Contributor+ Checklist:

Regression Test Proposal

Precondition:

Test:

milos213 commented on Nov 10, 2026

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