iOS - Keyboard closes after pasting text into the composer

[lanitochka17]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

---

Version Number: 9.3.50-2
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/13176681/test-cases/41236971
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): fischer9966+053122@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Regression TC Execution
Device used: iPhone 17 Pro / 26.3.1. iPad 9th gen / 26.3.1
App Component: Chat Report View

Action Performed:

1. Login with any account to Expensify app on iPhone or iPad
2. Go to any chat
3. Tap to composer field to open keyboard
4. Copy any text and paste it into composer

Expected Result:

Keyboard remain open after pasting text into the composer field

Actual Result:

Keyboard closes after pasting text into the composer field

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7115160_1774634270566.iOS-keyboard-close-after-paste.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @chrispader

[melvin-bot]

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

[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.

[melvin-bot]

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

[OSBotify]

Investigation Summary

Classification: Frontend bug
Causing PR: #84423 - "Multi file upload support (v2)" by @chrispader (High confidence)
Related Issues: None

Recommendation: REVERT

PR #84423 modified the React Native patch for onPaste to support multiple files. The iOS implementation has a bug where pasting plain text calls [super paste:sender] to keep the keyboard open, but pasting text that contains any rich formatting (HTML, RTF, etc.) skips the [super paste:sender] call, causing iOS to dismiss the keyboard.

When you copy text on iOS and paste it, the clipboard often contains BOTH plain text AND rich text/HTML representations. The paste handler checks for file URL representations and takes the "slow path" for any non-plain-text clipboard items, which results in the keyboard being dismissed.

Labels: Keeping DeployBlockerCash (frontend bug blocking App deploy). No label changes needed.

Detailed Analysis

Evidence

• Issue reproduces only on staging (iOS native app)
• Issue appeared in version 9.3.50-2
• PR Multi file upload support (v2) #84423 is in the deploy checklist and modifies paste handling
• PR updates the React Native patch react-native+0.83.1+011+Add-onPaste-to-TextInput.patch
• PR also modifies src/components/Composer/implementation/index.native.tsx

Verification

The React Native patch in PR #84423 modifies /node_modules/react-native/Libraries/Text/TextInput/Multiline/RCTUITextView.mm:

// Fast path for plain text - also call super to insert the text
if (clipboard.hasStrings && clipboard.string != nil &&
    ![RCTPasteHandlerUtil containsFileURLRepresentation:clipboard]) {
  NSDictionary<NSString *, NSString *> *stringItem = @{@"type": @"text/plain", @"data": clipboard.string};
  [_textInputDelegateAdapter didPaste:@[stringItem]];
  [super paste:sender];  // ← Keyboard stays open
  return;
}

// Process non-text items using the utility
NSArray<NSDictionary<NSString *, NSString *> *> *items =
    [RCTPasteHandlerUtil itemInfosFromPasteboard:clipboard];

if (items.count == 0) {
  [super paste:sender];
  return;
}

[_textInputDelegateAdapter didPaste:items];  // ← Missing [super paste:sender] causes keyboard to close

Root Cause

When pasting text that contains rich formatting (which is common when copying from any app), iOS takes the second code path that processes "non-text items". This path calls [_textInputDelegateAdapter didPaste:items] but does NOT call [super paste:sender], which causes iOS to dismiss the keyboard because the system thinks the paste operation is complete without actually modifying the text input.

The fix needs to either:

1. Always call [super paste:sender] when pasting text (even if rich formatted)
2. Or prevent the keyboard from dismissing after the paste handler completes