[Due for payment 2025-12-04] [$250] Expense-Prevent self approval locked but expense header displays submitting yourself message

[nlemma]

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: V9.2.59-1
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/test-runs/TR-1995/folder/13176707/46331221/1016710652
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): Slottwo1 l@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Redminote 10s android 13
App Component: User Settings

Action Performed:

1. Launch app
2. Create a workspace
3. Enable rules
4. Tap Rules - Enable Prevent self approval
5. Tap workflow - Disable all features
6. Tap Rules - Note Prevent self approval is locked and disabled
7. Open workspace chat
8. Create an expense
9. Open the expense
10. Note the header message

Expected Result:

Prevent self approval is locked so expense header must not display oops! Looks like submitting yourself.

Actual Result:

Prevent self approval is locked but expense header displays oops! Looks like submitting yourself.

Note : After disabling the workflow, it doesn’t turn off Prevent Self Approval in OD.

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

Bug7006182_1763367831377.Screenrecorder-2025-11-17-13-47-14-228.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021990570425800842708
• Upwork Job ID: 1990570425800842708
• Last Price Increase: 2025-11-17
• Automatic offers:
• truph01 | Reviewer | 109547420

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @strepanier03

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @strepanier03 (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.

[strepanier03]

Able to repro, setting external.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021990570425800842708

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @truph01 (External)

[marufsharifi]

Proposal

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

Expense-Prevent self approval locked but expense header displays submitting yourself message

What is the root cause of that problem?

Disabling the Approvals workflow sets approvalMode to OPTIONAL, which correctly locks the Prevent Self Approval toggle in the UI:

App/src/pages/workspace/rules/ExpenseReportRulesSection.tsx

Lines 37 to 46 in f34c0e3

	const optionItems = [
	{
	title: translate('workspace.rules.expenseReportRules.preventSelfApprovalsTitle'),
	subtitle: workflowApprovalsUnavailable
	? renderFallbackSubtitle({featureName: translate('common.approvals').toLowerCase()})
	: translate('workspace.rules.expenseReportRules.preventSelfApprovalsSubtitle'),
	shouldParseSubtitle: workflowApprovalsUnavailable,
	switchAccessibilityLabel: translate('workspace.rules.expenseReportRules.preventSelfApprovalsTitle'),
	isActive: policy?.preventSelfApproval && !workflowApprovalsUnavailable,
	disabled: workflowApprovalsUnavailable,

However, disabling Approvals does not update the policy’s preventSelfApproval field in Onyx or the backend.

So even though the UI shows the toggle as disabled, the underlying policy state still contains:

preventSelfApproval = true

In short:

Turning off the Approvals workflow does not automatically disable preventSelfApproval, causing the UI and backend state to become inconsistent.

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

When the user disables the Approvals workflow (i.e., when approvalMode becomes OPTIONAL), we should automatically: Force preventSelfApproval = false both in Onyx (optimistic update) and in the backend payload

So, we should update this

App/src/libs/actions/Policy/Policy.ts

Lines 755 to 764 in f34c0e3

	function setWorkspaceApprovalMode(policyID: string, approver: string, approvalMode: ValueOf<typeof CONST.POLICY.APPROVAL_MODE>) {
	// This will be fixed as part of https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify/issues/507850
	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
	const policy = getPolicy(policyID);
	const value = {
	approver,
	approvalMode,
	};

to this

function setWorkspaceApprovalMode(policyID: string, approver: string, approvalMode: ValueOf<typeof CONST.POLICY.APPROVAL_MODE>) {
    // This will be fixed as part of https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify/issues/507850
    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
    const policy = getPolicy(policyID);

    const value = {
        approver,
        approvalMode,
    };

    const optimisticData: OnyxUpdate[] = [
        {
            onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
            key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.POLICY}${policyID}`,
            value: {
                ...value,
+                preventSelfApproval: approvalMode === CONST.POLICY.APPROVAL_MODE.OPTIONAL ? false : policy?.preventSelfApproval,
                pendingFields: {approvalMode: CONST.RED_BRICK_ROAD_PENDING_ACTION.UPDATE},
            },
        },
    ];

    const failureData: OnyxUpdate[] = [
        {
            onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
            key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.POLICY}${policyID}`,
            value: {
                approver: policy?.approver,
                approvalMode: policy?.approvalMode,
+                preventSelfApproval: policy?.preventSelfApproval ?? false,
                pendingFields: {approvalMode: null},
                errorFields: {approvalMode: ErrorUtils.getMicroSecondOnyxErrorWithTranslationKey('workflowsApproverPage.genericErrorMessage')},
                employeeList: policy?.employeeList,
            },
        },
    ];


    const successData: OnyxUpdate[] = [
        {
            onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
            key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.POLICY}${policyID}`,
            value: {
                pendingFields: {approvalMode: null},
            },
        },
    ];

    const params: SetWorkspaceApprovalModeParams = {
        policyID,
        value: JSON.stringify({
            ...value,
+            preventSelfApproval: approvalMode === CONST.POLICY.APPROVAL_MODE.OPTIONAL ? false : policy?.preventSelfApproval,
            // This property should now be set to false for all Collect policies
            isAutoApprovalEnabled: false,
        }),
    };
    API.write(WRITE_COMMANDS.SET_WORKSPACE_APPROVAL_MODE, params, {optimisticData, failureData, successData});
}

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

N/A

[huult]

There are no duplicates.

Proposal

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

Prevent self approval locked but expense header displays submitting yourself message

What is the root cause of that problem?

When the workflow is disabled, Prevent Self Approval remains true if it was previously enabled. As a result, nextStepForPreventSelfApprovalsEnabled is still triggered

App/src/components/MoneyReportHeader.tsx

Line 432 in 9700c1d

let optimisticNextStep = isSubmitterSameAsNextApprover && policy?.preventSelfApproval ? buildOptimisticNextStepForPreventSelfApprovalsEnabled() : nextStep;

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

To resolve this issue, we should update the condition to use the next step from reportNextStep_ in Onyx. Like this

App/src/components/MoneyReportHeader.tsx

Line 432 in 9700c1d

let optimisticNextStep = isSubmitterSameAsNextApprover && policy?.preventSelfApproval ? buildOptimisticNextStepForPreventSelfApprovalsEnabled() : nextStep;

update to:

    const workflowApprovalsUnavailable = getWorkflowApprovalsUnavailable(policy);
    let optimisticNextStep =
        isSubmitterSameAsNextApprover && policy?.preventSelfApproval && !workflowApprovalsUnavailable ? buildOptimisticNextStepForPreventSelfApprovalsEnabled() : nextStep;

The backend needs to update reportNextStep_ when workflowApprovalsUnavailable. In that case, we should update the message to Waiting....

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Reminder: Please use plain English, be brief and avoid jargon. Feel free to use images, charts or pseudo-code if necessary. Do not post large multi-line diffs or write walls of text. Do not create PRs unless you have been hired for this job.

[github-actions]

⚠️ @huult Your proposal is a duplicate of an already existing proposal and has been automatically withdrawn to prevent spam. Please review the existing proposals before submitting a new one.

[truph01]

🎀 👀 🎀 C+ reviewed

I’d like to confirm something before proceeding with the proposal review.

---

In the OP, it mentions:

Note: After disabling the workflow, it doesn’t turn off Prevent Self Approval in OD.

However, in ND, disabling the workflow does turn off Prevent Self Approval.

Could you clarify which behavior is expected?