iOS bug: Tapping a chat opens a black screen and removes it from Recent

ChatGPT Bugs
1

Environment

  • Surface: ChatGPT iOS app
  • Device: iPhone XS Max
  • Exact iOS / ChatGPT app version at the time: not recorded
  • Affected feature: Chat navigation / rendering / Recent list
  • Representative occurrence: 15 Sep 2026, approximately 08:43 CEST (UTC+2)

Bug

Tapping a conversation in the iOS chat list can result in a broken navigation state.

Observed behavior:

  • The tap is visibly registered.
  • Instead of opening the conversation normally, most of the screen becomes black / empty.
  • Approximately three quarters of the chat view may remain unusable.
  • The selected conversation then disappears from the visible chat list.
  • Restarting the ChatGPT app restores the conversation.

The conversation itself was therefore not deleted.

This has been observed on three separate occasions.

Expected behavior

Tapping a conversation should either:

  • open the conversation normally, or
  • show a recoverable loading/error state.

A rendering or navigation failure must never remove the conversation from the visible list.

Reproduction

  1. Open the ChatGPT iOS app.
  2. Open the chat / Recent list.
  3. Tap an existing conversation.
  4. The tap registers.
  5. Instead of rendering the conversation, a largely black / empty view can appear.
  6. Return to the chat list.
  7. The selected conversation may no longer be visible.
  8. Restart the app.
  9. The conversation reappears.

Impact

The UI makes an existing conversation appear to have disappeared.

This creates uncertainty about whether the chat:

  • was deleted
  • failed to synchronize
  • became inaccessible
  • or is only hidden by a local navigation/rendering error

Restarting the entire app should not be necessary to recover the conversation.

Diagnostics

Observed three separate times.

The available evidence suggests a local UI / navigation / list-state problem rather than actual conversation deletion, because restarting the app restores the missing chat.

Network type, VPN / Private Relay state and exact app version were not recorded during the incidents and should not be inferred retrospectively.

Potential failure chain:

chat selected
→ navigation state changes
→ conversation view fails to render
→ local Recent/list state becomes inconsistent
→ app restart rebuilds state correctly

Acceptance criteria

  1. Tapping a chat never results in a persistent black / empty view.
  2. A rendering failure never removes that chat from Recent.
  3. Navigation failures recover automatically without an app restart.
  4. The local conversation list reconciles automatically with server state.
  5. Existing chats never appear deleted because of a temporary UI-state failure.