"Disappeared" message/user remains in conversation list even after expiring

[fat-tire]

Even after expiring, old message/correspondent is visible on left view of conversations.

Final message set to expire after a week is still visible as the "last message" in the user list on the left (English).

On the Android version of Signal, after a message expires and is deleted from the chat, that message does NOT appear on the left side which shows the list of recent users along with the most recently sent message. Also, as that message is ordered by recent events, if there was a recent message that is gone and no other recent messages are accessible, the user's list item is no longer near the top-- as if the correspondence never existed.

On the Electron version-- not only is a supposedly disappeared conversation still referenced by being listed "on top" of the conversation list, the correspondent's name/picture, date of correspondence, sent/received check mark icon, AND THE ACTUAL FINAL MESSAGE are still visible POST-expiration. Clicking on that final message reveals the conversation, which does NOT show any trace of the message which is visible.

The final message is displayed even after a restart of the client. Whether it is cached and reloaded locally or re-pulled from the server I don't know.

To verify this problem, start up a disappearing conversation, send some messages, let them expire while you're doing something else, then after the message "disappeared" check if the person shows up along with the message on the conversation list on the left (LTR language). It shouldn't, but it still appears to on my version. In my test case, the message was received but not viewed by the recipient (although it expired).

You can also compare the list as it appears on the desktop version to the android version. The Desktop version contains entries that the android does not. (The Android version also contains SMS messages which the Desktop version does not, but this is to be expected).

The correct action would be to wipe all traces of that disappeared/expired conversation, including in that vertical list under the search bar.

Also, please support federation & Chrome OS. Cheers.

Platform Info

Signal Version: 5.32.0 production
Operating System: Ubuntu 21.04

[hiqua]

I can't reproduce this, my message disappears from the left pane as soon as it disappears from the main conversation. I've tried to switch to another conversation before it expires, but same.

I've tried with a timer of 30s though, can you confirm that you experience this bug no matter the delay you set? It's unlikely to be specific to the 1w timer, but we never know.

simplescreenrecorder-2022-02-22_08.50.50.mp4

[indutny-signal]

@fat-tire similarly to @hiqua I'm unable to reproduce this. Does this happen to you consistently? Do you think you could record a video for us to demonstrate what it looks like? This definitely shouldn't happen, and we would like to make sure it works as designed for you!

[fat-tire]

Sure-- I can only confirm it happened on a message I left for a friend which was received but never read (it has the two check marks but they are not filled in). It was set to expire after one week, yet I am still looking at it right now-- it is still in the list, the last message is still readable, and the date listed is "Feb 12", so definitely over a week ago. This message does NOT appear in the full conversation view.

Doing a few tests...

Test #1-- a "Note to self" sent from signal desktop -> signal desktop does expire after 30 seconds and disappears (the visible message "Timer set to 30 seconds" becomes the last message seen) as expected and just like in the video above. This message was obviously read the moment it's sent unlike the other one.

Test #2-- a 30 second expiring message from android signal also disappears from desktop signal. It also so no problem here either.

Looking at the bad conversation (that still shows the expired message) I did notice that the full conversation's most recent message is not actually the "updated the disappearing time to 1 week" message but a "Call again" button-- maybe I tried to call this contact and it wasn't answering-- don't know if this is relevant, but it's not something I can't test with "Note to Self"--

Let me try to recruit a friend tomorrow and I'll do a little more experimenting. Standby...

[indutny-signal]

@fat-tire thanks for giving it another try! If you'll see it happen again - could you try recording the message timestamp ("..." next to the message, and then More Info). Thanks!

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[fat-tire]

I haven't been able to reproduce, so I'm going to close it now. If this happens again I'll re-open.