Fixed implementation of useAutoUpdateTimezone to ignore delegate and do the check on focus event

[shubham1206agra]

Explanation of Change

Fixed Issues

$ #83765

Tests

1. Log into the same account on two devices (or copilot into an account from a second device)
2. Ensure both devices have "Set timezone automatically" enabled
3. Set the two devices to different timezones
4. Open the App on both devices
5. Observe in the network tab that UpdateAutomaticTimezone calls does not fire continuously in an infinite loop

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

Same as Tests

QA Steps

Same as Tests

PR Author Checklist

• I linked the correct issue in the ### Fixed Issues section above
• I wrote clear testing steps that cover the changes made in this PR
  • I added steps for local testing in the Tests section
  • I added steps for the expected offline behavior in the Offline steps section
  • I added steps for Staging and/or Production testing in the QA steps section
  • I added steps to cover failure scenarios (i.e. verify an input displays the correct error message if the entered data is not correct)
  • I turned off my network connection and tested it while offline to ensure it matches the expected behavior (i.e. verify the default avatar icon is displayed if app is offline)
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ Changes either increased or maintained existing code coverage, great job!

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/hooks/useAutoUpdateTimezone.ts	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
... and 14 files with indirect coverage changes

[melvin-bot]

@ahmedGaber93 Please copy/paste the Reviewer Checklist from here into a new comment on this PR and complete it. If you have the K2 extension, you can simply click: [this button]

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[JmillsExpensify]

No Produce review on this one

[mountiny]

Thanks for the fix — the root cause analysis is correct and moving away from the reactive useEffect on Onyx-synced timezone.selected does break the infinite loop.

A few concerns noted inline:

1. No timezone check on initial mount — the most impactful one. The timezone won't be reconciled on first app load, only on subsequent focus events. This can be fixed without re-introducing the loop by adding a one-shot mount check.
2. Equality check compares formatted vs. unformatted timezone values — formatToSupportedTimezone can remap deprecated names, so the guard may miss semantic equality.
3. Existing tests silently broken — 3 of 4 tests pass trivially because they never trigger the focus event and the hook no longer runs on mount.

See inline comments for details.

[ahmedGaber93]

Reviewer Checklist

• I have verified the author checklist is complete (all boxes are checked off).
• I verified the correct issue is linked in the ### Fixed Issues section above
• I verified testing steps are clear and they cover the changes made in this PR
  • I verified the steps for local testing are in the Tests section
  • I verified the steps for Staging and/or Production testing are in the QA steps section
  • I verified the steps cover any possible failure scenarios (i.e. verify an input displays the correct error message if the entered data is not correct)
  • I turned off my network connection and tested it while offline to ensure it matches the expected behavior (i.e. verify the default avatar icon is displayed if app is offline)
• I checked that screenshots or videos are included for tests on all platforms
• I included screenshots or videos for tests on all platforms
• I verified that the composer does not automatically focus or open the keyboard on mobile unless explicitly intended. This includes checking that returning the app from the background does not unexpectedly open the keyboard.
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  • Android: HybridApp
  • Android: mWeb Chrome
  • iOS: HybridApp
  • iOS: mWeb Safari
  • MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• If there are any errors in the console that are unrelated to this PR, I either fixed them (preferred) or linked to where I reported them in Slack
• I verified proper code patterns were followed (see Reviewing the code)
  • I verified that any callback methods that were added or modified are named for what the method does and never what callback they handle (i.e. toggleReport and not onIconClick).
  • I verified that comments were added to code that is not self explanatory
  • I verified that any new or modified comments were clear, correct English, and explained "why" the code was doing something instead of only explaining "what" the code was doing.
  • I verified any copy / text shown in the product is localized by adding it to src/languages/* files and using the translation method
  • I verified all numbers, amounts, dates and phone numbers shown in the product are using the localization methods
  • I verified any copy / text that was added to the app is grammatically correct in English. It adheres to proper capitalization guidelines (note: only the first word of header/labels should be capitalized), and is either coming verbatim from figma or has been approved by marketing (in order to get marketing approval, ask the Bug Zero team member to add the Waiting for copy label to the issue)
  • I verified proper file naming conventions were followed for any new files or renamed files. All non-platform specific files are named after what they export and are not named "index.js". All platform-specific files are named for the platform the code supports as outlined in the README.
  • I verified the JSDocs style guidelines (in STYLE.md) were followed
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• If the PR modifies code that runs when editing or sending messages, I tested and verified there is no unexpected behavior for all supported markdown - URLs, single line code, code blocks, quotes, headings, bold, strikethrough, and italic.
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• If the PR modifies the UI (e.g. new buttons, new UI components, changing the padding/spacing/sizing, moving components, etc) or modifies the form input styles:
  • I verified that all the inputs inside a form are aligned with each other.
  • I added Design label and/or tagged @Expensify/design so the design team can review the changes.
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2026-04-14.at.10.55.23.PM.mov

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: HybridApp

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2026-04-14.at.10.27.27.PM.mov

Screen.Recording.2026-04-14.at.10.55.23.PM.mov

[ahmedGaber93]

@shubham1206agra I left two comments above: #84738 (comment) and #84738 (comment), please let me know what you think, or when this is ready again for review.

[ahmedGaber93]

@shubham1206agra any updates here?

[ahmedGaber93]

@shubham1206agra any updates here? Bumped on slack.

[shubham1206agra]

@ahmedGaber93 PR is now ready for review.

[shubham1206agra]

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[ahmedGaber93]

@shubham1206agra I still encountered this issue.

It’s not working with me after login. The API is only called after I refocus the tab.

Screen.Recording.2026-04-14.at.10.03.14.PM.mov

[ahmedGaber93]

Another bug with the same root cause like the above issue.

New accounts show incorrect message time until the browser is refocused.

1. Open App on DEV
2. Login was new account
3. Go to concierge chat.
4. Verify That concierge message time is not correct
5. Refocus the browser tab and verify the message time is updated correctly.

Screen.Recording.2026-04-15.at.12.13.55.AM.mov

[shubham1206agra]

@MelvinBot Do you have any good fix that does not break React compiler?

[MelvinBot]

Yes — the issue is that useEffect(() => { updateTimezoneEvent(); }, []) only fires once on mount, before Onyx hydrates personal details. Here's a fix that stays React compiler compliant:

const useAutoUpdateTimezone = () => {
    const [isActingAsDelegate] = useOnyx(ONYXKEYS.ACCOUNT, {selector: isActingAsDelegateSelector});
    const currentUserPersonalDetails = useCurrentUserPersonalDetails();
    const timezone = currentUserPersonalDetails?.timezone ?? {};
    const isAutomatic = timezone?.automatic;

    const updateTimezone = useEffectEvent(() => {
        if (isActingAsDelegate) {
            return;
        }
        const currentTimezone = Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions().timeZone as SelectedTimezone;
        const hasValidCurrentTimezone = typeof currentTimezone === 'string' && currentTimezone.trim().length > 0;
        const proposedTimezone = DateUtils.formatToSupportedTimezone({
            automatic: true,
            selected: currentTimezone,
        });

        if (hasValidCurrentTimezone && isAutomatic && timezone?.selected !== proposedTimezone.selected) {
            updateAutomaticTimezone(proposedTimezone, currentUserPersonalDetails.accountID);
        }
    });

    useAppFocusEvent(updateTimezone);
    useEffect(() => {
        updateTimezone();
    }, [isAutomatic]);
};

Why this works:

• useEffectEvent → reads latest values at call time, compiler doesn't require it as a dep
• useAppFocusEvent(updateTimezone) → stable function ref from useEffectEvent, so the focus listener isn't re-registered every render
• useEffect(..., [isAutomatic]) → re-runs when Onyx hydrates timezone.automatic (undefined → true after login), but does not re-run when timezone.selected changes (which is what caused the original infinite loop)
• No eslint-disable needed, fully React compiler compliant

[shubham1206agra]

@ahmedGaber93 It should be fixed now

[ahmedGaber93]

Both of the issues mentioned above have been resolved.

[ahmedGaber93]

Notes about limitations.

Now, if the user opens the app on two different devices with different time zones, we don’t have an infinite update of time zones because we only automatically update the time zone when the app is opened, logged in, or get focused.

UX edge case: if the user opens the two devices at the same time, the message time will be incorrect on one of them because we have one time zone per user, not per device.

I think This is not a real user case, and we should ignore it.

Untitled.mov

[ahmedGaber93]

LGTM! Just a quick note about the limitation: #84738 (comment)

[melvin-bot]

We did not find an internal engineer to review this PR, trying to assign a random engineer to #83765 as well as to this PR... Please reach out for help on Slack if no one gets assigned!

[OSBotify]

✋ This PR was not deployed to staging yet because QA is ongoing. It will be automatically deployed to staging after the next production release.

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🧪🧪 Use the links below to test this adhoc build on Android, iOS, and Web. Happy testing! 🧪🧪
Built from App PR #84738.

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🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/srikarparsi in version: 9.3.61-0 🚀

platform	result
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

Bundle Size Analysis (Sentry):

• Android
• iOS

[MelvinBot]

I reviewed the changes in this PR against the help site articles under docs/articles.

No help site changes are required.

This PR fixes an internal bug in the useAutoUpdateTimezone hook (infinite loop when two devices have different timezones, delegate handling, and backwards compatibility for renamed timezone identifiers like Asia/Calcutta → Asia/Kolkata). These are purely technical fixes — no user-facing behavior, UI labels, settings, or workflows have changed. The existing help site articles (Account-Settings.md, Set-Timezone.md) remain accurate as-is.

[OSBotify]

🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/marcaaron in version: 9.3.61-4 🚀

platform	result
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅