iOS- Onyx files appears in Files and Unable to view attachment after upgrade

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Version Number: 9.5.0-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Unable to validate in Prod - Provide reasoning.
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #101437
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): duytestnguyen+dk31@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Pull Request QA execution
Device used: iPhone 11 iOS 26.7.1
App Component: User Settings

Action Performed:

Preconditions:

• Install Prod build and login testing account.
• Use another account from second device, send some pdf, image files attachment to testing account

1. Open Hybrid app
2. Upgrade to latest staging build
3. Go to hybrid app again
4. Tap on Continue until reaching Home
5. Go to Expensify folder in local Files app
6. Navigate back to Hybrid app
7. Go to DM chat with second device account
8. Open attachment files
9. Send some attachment files

Expected Result:

OnyxDB should not appears in Expensify folder. User can view the attachment files

Actual Result:

OnyxDB appears in Expensify folder. User unable to view the uploaded attachment files.
Unable to test in Prod because we can not upgrade from prod

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7274274_1790848164892.101437Issue.mp4

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Rizky Gunawan
Bug ID: 7274274

[applause-bot]

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/dc75e874ef6f6dbf391a117a4b00474967ed87055197d2424d8279819aaf54d9

[melvin-bot]

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #101437

[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]

@NicolasBonet @ikevin127 you have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you reviewed the offending PR: #101437

[melvin-bot]

@chrispader you have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you authored the offending PR: #101437

[melvin-bot]

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

[MelvinBot]

Deploy Blocker Investigation

Causing PR: chore(deps): Update NitroSQLite to 9.8.2. The auto-assignment is correct.

Confidence: Medium-high for OnyxDB appearing in Files. Medium for attachments not loading.

Root cause: Before this PR, a local patch stored OnyxDB in Library/Application Support for every host app. The PR removed that patch. NitroSQLite 9.8.x now uses Application Support only if the host app's Info.plist sets RNNitroSQLite_DatabaseLocation = ApplicationSupport. The PR set this key only in the standalone NewDot plist. The HybridApp host app uses its own plist, which lacks the key. So HybridApp creates a new, empty OnyxDB in Documents, and iOS shows that folder in the Files app.

Recommendation: Fix forward (revert if that stalls).

1. Add RNNitroSQLite_DatabaseLocation = ApplicationSupport to the HybridApp host app's iOS Info.plist. Cherry-pick it to staging. Do not set RNNitroSQLite_AppGroup, because it overrides the location key.
2. Retest with a fresh prod-to-staging upgrade. Devices that already ran 9.5.0-0 have a split database.
3. If the plist fix can't be confirmed on staging quickly, revert chore(deps): Update NitroSQLite to 9.8.3 and chore(deps): Update NitroSQLite to 9.8.2 together, plus the matching HybridApp lockfile changes.

Keep DeployBlockerCash. Without the fix, production HybridApp users would lose local state and queued offline writes. Upstream migration treats a database in Documents as the live copy. If the key ships in a later release, the empty database would overwrite the user's original one.

Investigation details

Mechanism

• The deleted patch forced Application Support for all hosts and moved any database out of Documents: patches/react-native-nitro-sqlite/...+002+store-database-outside-documents.patch:72-77
• Upstream 9.8.x reads RNNitroSQLite_DatabaseLocation from the host plist and otherwise falls back to Documents (ios/OnLoad.mm L33-58 in the npm package).
• The PR added the key only to the standalone app: ios/NewExpensify/Info.plist:98-99
• The new Jest check reads only the standalone plist, so CI didn't catch the HybridApp gap: tests/unit/MoveFilesOutOfDocumentsTest.ts:168-173
• The PR description says HybridApp needs a companion change that sets the same key. That change does not appear in any deploy checklist since 2026-09-15, so it most likely never shipped. I couldn't confirm this directly.

Attachments symptom (not proven from App code). Two explanations fit, and both trace to the 9.8.x upgrade:

• The new empty database loses attachment cache records and session data.
• The 9.8.2 connection-lifetime bug on HybridApp (Login-Tapping try new Expensify directs to log out page) breaks local storage after switching from Classic. chore(deps): Update NitroSQLite to 9.8.3 fixed it, but it merged after 9.5.0-0 was built.

Other PRs ruled out. I checked every PR on Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2026-09-30. Only the two NitroSQLite PRs touch NitroSQLite, the iOS Info.plist, or on-disk storage location. The receipt-storage PRs affect expense receipts, not DM attachments. No PR touched the attachment cache code.

Optional hardening: Extend the Jest check to cover the HybridApp plist, or log the database path at startup on HybridApp.

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