[$500] Workspace - First approver loses access to submitter expense chat when second approver is added

[izarutskaya]

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Version Number: 9.2.40-1
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail:
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers):
Logs: https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4856
Expensify/Expensify Issue URL:
Issue reported by: @garrettmknight
Slack conversation (hyperlinked to channel name): #expensify_bugs

Action Performed:

1. Go to https://staging.new.expensify.com/
2. Create a workspace as user C, invite user A (submitter) and user B (first approver)
3. Set the approval for everyone to user B
4. As user B, access user A’s expense chat (You can use the chat report ID)
5. As user C, add yourself as the second approver in the workspace

Expected Result:

User B maintains access to the submitter’s expense chat since they’re still the first approver

Actual Result:

User B is rerouted to Concierge chat and no longer has access to the expense chat.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Select the officially supported platforms where the issue was reproduced:

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

Platforms Tested:

On which of our officially supported platforms was this issue tested:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Recording.3476.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021986519410812821797
• Upwork Job ID: 1986519410812821797
• Last Price Increase: 2026-01-06

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @truph01

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @abekkala (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.

[melvin-bot]

@abekkala Huh... This is 4 days overdue. Who can take care of this?

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021986519410812821797

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

@abekkala @truph01 this issue was created 2 weeks ago. Are we close to approving a proposal? If not, what's blocking us from getting this issue assigned? Don't hesitate to create a thread in #expensify-open-source to align faster in real time. Thanks!