URGENT BUG: UI Refuses to Refresh/Redraw Action Buttons After Sync (Version 7.000024)

AppSheet AppSheet Q&A
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1

Hi everyone,

I am experiencing a critical UI rendering and synchronization issue that started recently and is currently breaking our retail store operations. I strongly suspect this is a platform-level regression bug introduced in the recent deployment (Client Version 7.000024 / Server updates).

Has anyone else encountered this over the past few days?

The Setup

We have an action button whose behavior is conditional on a file path column (using ISNOTBLANK). When a user clicks a button, a background bot triggers to generate a PDF and writes the file path back to the database.

The Problem

When our staff taps the manual Sync button, the wheel spins and successfully finishes syncing. The backend data is actually successfully fetched into the device. However, the foreground UI completely freezes and fails to redraw or re-evaluate conditional rules.

As a result, the action button to open/print the PDF remains completely INVISIBLE.

Even if we tap the manual Sync button multiple times in a row, the screen stays frozen and the button will not show up.

The Workaround (Which proves it's a UI thread bug)

The only way to force the app to refresh the UI and make the button appear is:

  1. On iOS Devices (iPad mini running iOS 17.1): We must force-kill (swipe away) the AppSheet app and cold-launch it again.
  2. On Desktop View: We must hit F5 / Hard Refresh the browser.

Once we force-kill the app or refresh the browser, the action button immediately pops up and works perfectly, which proves that the background data synchronization was successful, but the UI thread failed to update or listen to the sync completion signal.

This is happening simultaneously across multiple iPads and Desktop Chrome views today on our end, with absolutely zero formula or structure changes made by us.

Is the AppSheet team aware of this UI update deadlock regression? Our store workflows are heavily disrupted right now because staff have to close and reopen the app for every single order.

Any insights, workarounds, or official updates would be greatly appreciated!

2

Hi @Benjamin_MAC

Please contacts @Jose_Arteaga , @Shourya_Tomar

3

Thank you for leading me to the engineering team.

Hi @Jose_Arteaga and @Shourya_Tomar,

I want to be fully transparent to help your team isolate this. Initially, only ONE specific iPad mini (running iOS 17.1) was exhibiting this issue (UI frozen after sync, requiring a force-kill to show the action button).

To debug this, I made some minor adjustments to the Action and Table structure in the backend. However, right after I updated the structure, the issue spread globally—now ALL other healthy iPads and even the Desktop Chrome browser view are experiencing the exact same freeze (Sync finishes, but the conditional action button won’t redraw until a hard F5 refresh or app force-kill).

I have just performed a “Regenerate Structure” on the table and successfully switched the app to the “Deployed” state (App ID: KiltsHire-513770489) to clear any prototype throttling, but the UI sync thread remains deadlocked across all devices.

It seems my backend modification triggered a severe server-side cache deadlock or sync listener break. Could you please help look into our backend log files to see why the UI redraw signal is completely blocked after a successful sync?

Thank you so much for your time and expertise! :folded_hands:

4

You’ll need to contact Support for help with this.

5

Hi Steve,

How can I contact Support for help with this issue?

Thanks,

Benjamin Chen

7

Hi @Steve,

Just wanted to follow up on this thread gently. I submitted the feedback through the in-app platform last week as suggested, but I haven’t received a confirmation email or a case number yet. I’m a bit concerned that the submission might not have gone through properly, or if I might have missed a step.

Since I haven’t heard back from the standard channel yet, could you kindly guide me on how I can check the ticket status, or if there is another proper way to get in touch with the technical support team?

Thank you all so much for your time and help! :folded_hands:

8

I found the solution on my side, so I wanted to share it in case it helps someone else.

I was experiencing the exact same issue:

  • The app stayed stuck on “Syncing…” on the desktop web client.
  • Data was actually syncing successfully to the backend.
  • The UI would not fully refresh unless I manually pressed F5.
  • The problem occurred across multiple AppSheet apps, multiple Google accounts, and multiple desktop browsers (Chrome, Edge, and Brave).
  • Interestingly, the AppSheet mobile app was working perfectly.

Before finding the solution, I tried several things without success:

  • Tested multiple AppSheet applications (including production apps with no recent changes).
  • Tested multiple Google accounts.
  • Tested different desktop browsers (Chrome, Edge, and Brave).
  • Cleared browser cache and cookies.
  • Used Incognito mode.
  • Disabled browser extensions.
  • Regenerated table structures.
  • Verified app deployment status.
  • Reviewed the browser console for errors.

None of these resolved the issue.

:white_check_mark: The actual cause

The problem was caused by an incorrect system date/time on my Windows computer.

After correcting the Windows Date, Time, and Time Zone settings and enabling “Set time automatically” and “Set time zone automatically”, everything immediately returned to normal.

The “Syncing…” indicator disappeared correctly, the UI refreshed instantly after synchronization, and all of my AppSheet applications started working normally again.

Hopefully this helps anyone experiencing the same symptoms before spending hours debugging their apps.