`withAnchor`'s internal `POP_TO` bookkeeping dispatch creates a spurious duplicate navigation span

[kanzelm3]

What React Native libraries do you use?

Expo Router

Are you using sentry.io or on-premise?

sentry.io (SaS)

Are you using any other error monitoring solution alongside Sentry?

No

Other Error Monitoring Solution Name

No response

@sentry/react-native SDK Version

8.16.0

How does your development environment look like?

⬇  Place the `npx react-native@latest info` output here. ⬇

System:
  OS: macOS 26.5.2
  CPU: (16) arm64 Apple M3 Max
  Memory: 5.48 GB / 64.00 GB
  Shell:
    version: "5.9"
    path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 24.12.0
    path: /Users/joel.kanzelmeyer/.nvm/versions/node/v24.12.0/bin/node
  Yarn:
    version: 4.12.0
    path: /Users/joel.kanzelmeyer/.nvm/versions/node/v24.12.0/bin/yarn
  npm:
    version: 11.6.2
    path: /Users/joel.kanzelmeyer/.nvm/versions/node/v24.12.0/bin/npm
  Watchman:
    version: 2024.10.14.00
    path: /opt/homebrew/bin/watchman
Managers:
  CocoaPods:
    version: 1.15.2
    path: /usr/local/bin/pod
SDKs:
  iOS SDK:
    Platforms:
      - DriverKit 25.2
      - iOS 26.2
      - macOS 26.2
      - tvOS 26.2
      - visionOS 26.2
      - watchOS 26.2
  Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
  Android Studio: 2025.3 AI-253.31033.145.2533.15113396
  Xcode:
    version: 26.2/17C52
    path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
  Java:
    version: 17.0.11
    path: /usr/bin/javac
  Ruby:
    version: 2.6.10
    path: /usr/bin/ruby
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli":
    installed: 20.2.0
    wanted: latest
  react:
    installed: 19.2.0
    wanted: 19.2.0
  react-native:
    installed: 0.83.6
    wanted: 0.83.6
  react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: true
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: true

Sentry.init()

Sentry.init({
    // double the default app hang time to 4 seconds
    appHangTimeoutInterval: 4,
    debug: process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DEBUG === 'true',
    dsn: process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN,
    enableAppStartTracking: true,
    // disable in local development
    enabled: isSentryEnabled,
    enableNativeFramesTracking: true,
    enableStallTracking: true,
    enableUserInteractionTracing: true,
    ignoreErrors: ignoredErrors,
    integrations: [
      Sentry.expoRouterIntegration({
        enableTimeToInitialDisplay: true,
        useDispatchedActionData: true,
      }),
      Sentry.reactNativeTracingIntegration(...)
    ],
    // default is 250 char, but some of our errors (e.g. zod) are being truncated
    maxValueLength: 5000,
    profilesSampleRate: isProfilingEnabled ? 1 : undefined,
    sendDefaultPii: true,
    spotlight:
      __DEV__ && process.env.EXPO_PUBLIC_ENABLE_SENTRY_LOCALLY === 'true',
});

Steps to Reproduce

1. Initialize Sentry with expoRouterIntegration({ useDispatchedActionData: true }).
2. In an Expo Router app, trigger any navigation that passes withAnchor: true, e.g.: router.dismissTo('/screenB', { withAnchor: true })
3. Enable debug logging (Sentry.init({ debug: true })) and watch the console, or inspect the resulting traces in Sentry.
4. Note that withAnchor: true causes Expo Router to issue a second dispatch after the real navigation, purely to stamp initial: false onto the destination route (see expo-router's routing.js: currentParams.initial = !withAnchor, only ever set inside if (withAnchor)). This second dispatch is a POP_TO whose payload looks like: { type: 'POP_TO', payload: { name: '<destination route>', params: { initial: false } } }
5. Observe the transactions/spans produced for this single user-facing navigation.

Expected Result

A single navigation transaction is created and named for the real destination route (/screenB).

Actual Result

Two navigation transactions are created. The first is the real navigation, correctly named. The second is a spurious duplicate transaction for the POP_TO bookkeeping dispatch — startIdleNavigationSpan runs unconditionally on every '__unsafe_action__' dispatch, and POP_TO isn't in the list of action types filtered out when useDispatchedActionData is enabled (PRELOAD, SET_PARAMS, OPEN_DRAWER, CLOSE_DRAWER, TOGGLE_DRAWER — reactnavigation.ts, startIdleNavigationSpan). This second transaction carries no real work of its own, but if the destination screen is still loading data when this bookkeeping dispatch fires, any in-flight spans (HTTP requests, TTID/TTFD) can get attached to it instead of the first (real) transaction, and it lingers until childSpanTimeout (15s default) force-closes it, showing up in Sentry as an extra, confusing transaction — sometimes named generically ("Route Change") if the route name never resolves cleanly, sometimes duplicating the real destination's name, with several of its child spans forced into a cancelled status when the idle span is torn down.

[linear-code]

RN-708

[antonis]

Thank you for reporting 🙇 We will investigate and iterate back.