[Due for payment 2025-12-17] [$250] Category - Infinite loading on Category tab

[vincdargento]

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Version Number: v9.2.61-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #74927
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): -
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Android 12 / Chrome
App Component: Other

Action Performed:

Precondition:

1. Have two non-default workspaces and no default workspace
2. Have self DM with expense without category

STR:

1. Go to self DM
2. Open an expense without category
3. Open the expense thread
4. Click Category
5. On workspace selector page, select any workspace

Expected Result:

Category tab with list of categories opened

Actual Result:

Category tab with infinite spinner opened

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

bug.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021991987935187197199
• Upwork Job ID: 1991987935187197199
• Last Price Increase: 2025-11-28

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @joekaufmanexpensify

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @joekaufmanexpensify (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.

[bernhardoj]

Proposal

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

Inifinite loading in category list page after selecting default workspace.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The loading will show when the policyCategories is undefined.

App/src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepCategory.tsx

Line 100 in bf35a10

const isLoading = !isOffline && policyCategories === undefined;

We already have a logic to fetch the categories on mount.

App/src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepCategory.tsx

Lines 92 to 98 in bf35a10

	const fetchData = () => {
	if ((!!policy && !!policyCategories) || !policyID) {
	return;
	}
	getPolicyCategories(policyID);
	};

App/src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepCategory.tsx

Lines 104 to 107 in bf35a10

	useEffect(() => {
	fetchData();
	// eslint-disable-next-line react-compiler/react-compiler, react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
	}, []);

But the policyID is undefined because policyForMovingExpensesID is undefined, so the API call isn't called.

App/src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepCategory.tsx

Line 63 in bf35a10

const policyID = isUnreportedExpense || isCreatingTrackExpense ? policyForMovingExpensesID : policy?.id;

We already set the default workspace ID here, but the data isn't available immediately.

App/src/pages/SetDefaultWorkspacePage.tsx

Lines 51 to 57 in bf35a10

	// eslint-disable-next-line rulesdir/no-default-id-values
	setNameValuePair(ONYXKEYS.NVP_ACTIVE_POLICY_ID, selectedPolicyID, activePolicyID ?? '');
	if (policy?.areCategoriesEnabled) {
	Navigation.navigate(navigateTo);
	return;
	}

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

We can add policyID to the effect so it's called whenever the policyID becomes available.

useEffect(() => {
    fetchData();
    // eslint-disable-next-line react-compiler/react-compiler, react-hooks/exhaustive-deps
}, [policyID]);

(or just add fetchData as the deps)

[joekaufmanexpensify]

Will triage tomorrow AM

[joekaufmanexpensify]

Reproduced

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021991987935187197199