bug: delete message from DM not syncing between mobile and windows app

[lknite]

Describe the Bug

Sometimes when I delete a message from a chat on my mobile, I can see the message disappear in my windows app also. But I have another chat with stale messages. They are in the mobile app but not in the windows app. The mobile app lets me select 'Delete' but doing so does not cause the message to be deleted.

Steps to Reproduce

1. I used some automation to send several youtube links to myself (via an rss channel), from my username to my username
2. Some time went by, a few days, then I would watch a video then delete the message.
3. Message does not delete from mobile app.

Note: If I send a message to myself then delete it from the mobile app a few minutes later it does delete from the windows app.

A delay seems to be a factor.

Expected Behavior

Expect a message to delete from the mobile app after selecting Delete.

Actual Behavior

Message remains.

Rocket.Chat Server Version

latest

Rocket.Chat App Version

4.67.1

Device Name

Samsung S20 5G

OS Version

Android 13

Additional Context

No response

[utruong309]

@lknite
Hi! I'd like to work on this issue.

Based on the description, it looks like message deletion events for older/stale messages are not syncing correctly between the mobile client and the Windows client. I’ll start by reproducing the behavior on both platforms, then trace how the mobile app dispatches the delete action and how the server propagates the deletion event to other clients.

If possible, could you please assign this issue to me? I’ll post updates as I investigate. Thanks!

[Rohit3523]

Hey, You can work on this issue and open a pull request :)

could you please assign this issue to me

Sorry but no one get assigned to specific issue ;-;

[deepak0x]

hey I checked this
and was not able to reproduce... I try to delete the 15 days older message on mobile as well as web
and both sync...
could you pls confirm that are you facing this still or not?

[lknite]

re-testing ...

[lknite]

In direct messages to myself, I have items that are in my mobile which are not on my pc.

I'm not sure how to reproduce. But on my mobile I can see that the messages are not in sync I have the option to Delete them but when I select that the messages don't disappear. I think because the messages are already deleted, but they still exist on the mobile.

I've seen this on the pc also where a previously deleted item still exists in the list. The PC seems to be more accurate. If I see some sort of sync issue on the PC I can just close out RocketChat and reopen it and that seems to cause "deleted" items to disappear.

I got to this point by using the api to send several messages to myself, several youtube videos. I'd watch the videos on the mobile or the pc, and delete the message after watching the video. After awhile I found the remaining videos on the pc and mobile to be different. On both the pc and mobile at times I couldn't delete a video (because it had already been deleted). On the pc I can restart the app and the deleted items disappear but restarting the mobile doesn't clean up the list, the "deleted" items are still in the list.

[Rohit3523]

Can you please go to settings and clear workspace local data and try to reproduce the issue again.

[lknite]

that fixed the mobile app & 'view -> force reload' fixed the windows app

yesterday i was on my mobile and deleted a message while the pc was asleep, in the morning i started up the pc and the item deleted yesterday was still in the list, i couldn't delete it cause it said the item didn't exist ... force reload fixed this, but it seems like the kind of thing that should sync when coming online ... and similarly the mobile should also

[Sumanth2377]

I've investigated this and found the root cause: the app skips syncing missed messages (including deletions) if the local lastOpen timestamp is missing.
I have implemented a fix to ensure it falls back to a full sync in this scenario, which resolves the "zombie" message issue. Opening a PR with the fix now.

Can anyone pls let me know if the issue is fixed?