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[Liquid Glass Follow Up][Bug] Bottom tab disappears before the push animation finishes #104203
Description
- Bottom tab disappears before the push animation finishes when opening any screen from the Account tab (it used to stay until the animation ended with the old tab bar). (comment)
Action Performed
- Open the Account tab on a phone.
- Tap any row, for example Profile or Preferences.
- Watch the bottom tab bar while the new screen slides in.
Expected Result
The tab bar stays visible until the slide-in animation ends, then goes away. This is what the old JS tab bar did.
Actual Result
The tab bar disappears as soon as the tap happens, before the new screen has finished sliding in.
Notes
- Video (old bar first, then new bar): Add liquid glass bottom tab bar to iOS, Android and mWeb #101339 (comment)
- Related patch: react-native-screens+4.28.0+002+animate-hiding-the-native-tab-bar, which animates the bar hide on iOS. Check whether this case is covered by the upstream fix in react-native-screens 4.29.0.
Platforms
- iOS: App
- Android: App (check)
Activity
melvin-bot commentedon Oct 16, 2026
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melvin-bot commentedon Oct 19, 2026
@sumo-slonik Uh oh! This issue is overdue by 2 days. Don't forget to update your issues!
melvin-bot commentedon Oct 21, 2026
@sumo-slonik Huh... This is 4 days overdue. Who can take care of this?
sumo-slonik commentedon Oct 22, 2026
I'm on it
sumo-slonik commentedon Oct 22, 2026
@grgia @ZhenjaHorbach @shawnborton I have a fix for this, but I'd like to confirm the expected behavior first.
With the old JS tab bar, the bar was part of the outgoing screen, so it slid away together with it while the new screen slid in on top. The native bar can't be moved along with a screen like that, so with my fix it stays visible over the incoming screen until the push animation ends, and then it hides with the native animation (video below).
Is this acceptable?
Screen.Recording.2026-10-22.at.14.50.22.mov
shawnborton commentedon Oct 22, 2026
I think so. Honestly I am down to do whatever is the most native here. Is this how other pure native tab bars would handle it?
shawnborton commentedon Oct 22, 2026
cc @Expensify/design for the gutschecks too
dannymcclain commentedon Oct 22, 2026
I think it would be slightly more expected if the navbar faded out/disappeared while the page was transitioning or just just before. It hanging out for a sec after the page navigates feels a little weird to me. Basically, in the video that shows this "bug", I think if there was a quick fade on the nav, it would be fine. But I'm happy to defer to y'all.
6 remaining items
dubielzyk-expensify commentedon Oct 25, 2026
Nothing much to add. The video makes it look a bit jank because it just quickly disappear. I think a fade in both directions would just fix most of the issue, but are we saying that's not doable at all? Or we wanna do it as a follow-up?
I'd also love to maybe do an adhoc so we can try it on device.
shawnborton commentedon Oct 26, 2026
Same, not much to add, but would love to see the little nitpicks Danny called out solved.
sumo-slonik commentedon Oct 26, 2026
@shawnborton @dubielzyk-expensify @dannymcclain
What do you think about this fix? If it looks good, I'll push it to #104727 and we can get an adhoc build so you can try it on device.
tab-bar-fade.mp4
shawnborton commentedon Oct 26, 2026
I think that feels okay? I think the reality is that when you try to navigate into another page, you aren't going to be staring at the bottom tabs. Right now I am only staring at the bottom tabs as a result of this PR so I think my brain is playing tricks on me in terms of knowing if this feels right or not 🤣
But I say let's push and try it on a build.
sumo-slonik commentedon Oct 26, 2026
I've pushed the fix to #104727. Could someone trigger an adhoc build for it so you can try it on device?
shawnborton commentedon Oct 26, 2026
Will do.
dubielzyk-expensify commentedon Oct 27, 2026
Tested it on device. Definitely think it's fine, but I would love to fix it. The inconsistency of how it works on Spend vs Inbox is a bit jarring to me still, but I think this is still shippable 👍
shawnborton commentedon Oct 27, 2026
Yeah I think that's fair, it would be nice if we could just stick to one style of animationIn/Out here.
dannymcclain commentedon Oct 27, 2026
Agree with both comments. I think I prefer how we're doing it on the Inbox - it feels a little nicer to me (testing on iOS).
sumo-slonik commentedon Oct 27, 2026
Thanks! I'm on it, I'll make Spend behave like Inbox.
dubielzyk-expensify commentedon Oct 28, 2026
Wait, I'm not sure I agree with making Spend like inbox. On Spend page the navigation works well, but the problem is the Inbox no?
Spend
spend.mp4
Inbox
inbox.mp4
Or maybe I've been super confused this whole time which is very possible 😅 Let me know if I messed something up here.
shawnborton commentedon Oct 28, 2026
Haha, great shout Jon. What you are showing makes sense - Spend feels better IMO too because the bar is being pushed away as new content slides in. Technically I am not sure how that works with our modal/stack nav system though and if we can pull it off everywhere.
dannymcclain commentedon Oct 28, 2026
Oh weird. Seeing those videos side-by-side I agree with you, but when I was testing it on my device Inbox felt a little better in practice?? 😵💫
No strong feelings though! Happy to roll with the Spend behavior if we can.