[Due for payment 2026-07-07] Home - Recently added section is shown for guest

[applause-bot]

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Version Number: 9.4.17-0
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: #93451
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdjnoisdjdosijsonssjo@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.5 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Log out if logged in.
3. Go to public room - https://staging.new.expensify.com/r/6468516573195918
4. Go to Home.

Expected Result:

Recently added section will be hidden for guest.

Actual Result:

Recently added section is shown for guest.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Julia Ponikarchuk
Bug ID: 7188119

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @mallenexpensify

[applause-bot]

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
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[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #93451

[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]

Proposal

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

The "Recently added" slot on Home (added in #93451) renders for logged-out / anonymous guests visiting a public room, showing its title + empty state. It should be hidden for guests like the other Home widgets.

What is the root cause of that problem?

RecentlyAddedSection is the only Home widget that unconditionally renders a WidgetContainer — it has no anonymous-user guard. HomePage delegates visibility to each widget (HomePage.tsx:68: "Widgets handle their own visibility and may return null…"), but RecentlyAddedSection always returns its container, falling back to <EmptyState /> when there are no expenses (RecentlyAddedSection/index.tsx:140-184). A guest has no expenses, so the empty state leaks through.

By contrast, the sibling widgets gate themselves and return null for guests — TimeSensitiveSection already folds useIsAnonymousUser() into its render guard (TimeSensitiveSection/index.tsx:66,141), and DiscoverSection returns null when its onboarding data is absent.

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

Add the existing anonymous-user guard to RecentlyAddedSection, mirroring TimeSensitiveSection. In src/pages/home/RecentlyAddedSection/index.tsx:

1. Import the hook: import useIsAnonymousUser from '@hooks/useIsAnonymousUser';
2. Call it alongside the other hooks (e.g. after line 58): const isAnonymousUser = useIsAnonymousUser();
3. After all hooks and before the return at line 140, bail out early:

   if (isAnonymousUser) {
       return null;
   }

The early return must come after every hook call to respect the rules of hooks.

Optional hardening & verification

• Avoid the guest search request: useRecentlyAddedData runs a search() regardless of session (useRecentlyAddedData.ts). The early return above won't stop that hook (it runs before the return). If we also want to skip the search for guests, gate the fire-search effect on !isAnonymousUser. This is an enhancement, not required to fix the visibility bug.
• Test: tests/ui/RecentlyAddedSectionTest.tsx already exists — add a case asserting the section renders null when session.authTokenType === CONST.AUTH_TOKEN_TYPES.ANONYMOUS.
• Confidence: High. Deterministic rendering bug, visible in code; no production logs needed.

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Next Steps for Contributor+ team:
To accept: @MelvinBot implement [this](https://github.com/Expensify/App/issues/94272) to create a draft PR.
To refine: @MelvinBot <your feedback>
To reject: Explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.