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Change Password: the error popup closes by itself and can’t be dismissed

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#26,279 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
78/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
ios, swift
Domain
mobile

Research direction

Start with AccountSettingsViewController.swift and trace the Change Password failure handler that currently calls SVProgressHUD.showError(withStatus:). Replace that transient error with an alert from the Change Password screen, preserving the server reason or generic fallback and leaving the success path unchanged. Build the WordPress iOS app and verify the rejection, dismissal, retained password, success message, and VoiceOver behavior listed in the test plan.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

[Pri] Low [Status] Ready for Dev [Type] Bug /Me

Split out of #10854, which stays open for inline password validation as you type.

What happens

When the server rejects a new password on Me → Account Settings → Change Password, the reason appears in a popup that closes by itself after about 6 seconds. Tapping it does nothing. If you look away, or read slowly, the reason is gone, and the screen gives no other sign that the password wasn't changed.

Popup after tapping Save Recording (11 s): tapped twice, closes on its own
Change Password screen with a dark popup: “This is a very common password. Choose something that will be harder for others to guess.” Animated recording of the error popup staying up through two taps and then fading on its own

How this was checked: Jetpack Debug built from trunk (5f78984fbd) on an iOS 27.0 simulator. To avoid changing a real account's password, a temporary, uncommitted patch made AccountSettingsService.updatePassword fail after 1 second instead of calling the server. The error text in the patch is what POST /me/settings/password/validate returns for a common password. Two taps on the popup didn't dismiss it; it disappeared on its own.

Root cause

In AccountSettingsViewController.swift, the changePassword failure handler calls SVProgressHUD.showError(withStatus:). That popup is built to time out and ignores taps, so it doesn't suit a message the user needs to read and act on.

Fix

On failure, dismiss the progress popup and show an alert from the Change Password screen. The user stays on the screen with the password still typed, reads the reason, and taps OK.

  • Keep a weak reference to the ChangePasswordViewController the closure creates, and present the alert from it.
  • Add a title string: "Couldn’t change your password". The message is the server's reason, or the existing generic error.
  • The success path (showSuccess) is unchanged.

The patch below builds (Jetpack Debug, Xcode 27). We did not get to see the new alert on a simulator: the machine was overloaded and the simulator stopped drawing the keyboard.

Test plan

  • With a password the server rejects (for example abcdef), tap Save. An alert titled "Couldn’t change your password" shows the server's reason and stays until OK is tapped.
  • After OK, you're still on Change Password and the typed password is still there.
  • A successful change still shows "Password changed successfully".
  • VoiceOver reads the alert's title and message.

To test without changing a real password, use a throwaway WordPress.com account, or the same temporary failure patch.

Related: #10854 (inline validation). Calypso checks passwords as you type with POST /me/settings/password/validate, which returns per-rule results and doesn't change the password.

Fix 
@@ -225,7 +225,8 @@ private class AccountSettingsController: SettingsController {
         service: AccountSettingsService
     ) -> (ImmuTableRow) -> SettingsTextViewController {
         { [weak self] _ in
-            ChangePasswordViewController(username: settings?.username ?? "") { value in
+            weak var changePasswordController: ChangePasswordViewController?
+            let controller = ChangePasswordViewController(username: settings?.username ?? "") { value in
                 DispatchQueue.main.async {
                     SVProgressHUD.show(withStatus: Constants.changingPassword)
                     service.updatePassword(
@@ -238,12 +239,21 @@ private class AccountSettingsController: SettingsController {
                                     }
                             } else {
                                 let errorMessage = error?.localizedDescription ?? Constants.changePasswordGenericError
-                                SVProgressHUD.showError(withStatus: errorMessage)
+                                SVProgressHUD.dismiss()
+                                let alert = UIAlertController(
+                                    title: Constants.changePasswordErrorTitle,
+                                    message: errorMessage,
+                                    preferredStyle: .alert
+                                )
+                                alert.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: SharedStrings.Button.ok, style: .default))
+                                changePasswordController?.present(alert, animated: true)
                             }
                         }
                     )
                 }
             }
+            changePasswordController = controller
+            return controller
         }
     }
 
@@ -513,6 +523,11 @@ private class AccountSettingsController: SettingsController {
             "Password changed successfully",
             comment: "Loader title displayed by the loading view while the password is changed successfully"
         )
+        static let changePasswordErrorTitle = NSLocalizedString(
+            "accountSettings.changePassword.error.title",
+            value: "Couldn’t change your password",
+            comment: "Title of the alert shown when changing the account password fails. The message below it is the reason from the server."
+        )
         static let changePasswordGenericError = NSLocalizedString(
             "There was an error changing the password",
             comment: "Text displayed when there is a failure loading the history."
Dominant language
Swift
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Merged PRs (30d)
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