Bug: “New messages” indicator flashes when opening chat from push notification

[jameermulani1]

Which packages are you using?

stream_chat_flutter

On what platforms did you experience the issue?

iOS, Android

What version are you using?

  stream_chat_flutter: ^9.22.0
  stream_chat_flutter_core: ^9.22.0
  stream_chat_persistence: ^9.22.0

Flutter client-ui SDK Component:
StreamMessageListView

What happened?

When opening a chat via a push notification, the “New messages” indicator inside StreamMessageListView briefly flashes off and then back on while the chat screen is loading.

This happens even when using the out-of-the-box StreamMessageListView, and the indicator’s behavior cannot be controlled externally.

This results in a visible UI flicker and a degraded user experience.

Actual Behavior

• The “New messages” label:
  • Appears
  • Disappears briefly
  • Then appears again
• This happens while the app comes to foreground and loads messages

Expected Behavior

• The “New messages” indicator should appear once (or not at all, depending on state)
• No flickering or flashing during initial chat load

Steps to reproduce

Steps to Reproduce
1. Receive a push notification for a new chat message
2. Tap the notification to open the app
3. App navigates to the chat screen

Observe the “New messages” label inside `StreamMessageListView`

Supporting info to reproduce

Additional Notes

• We are using StreamMessageListView without custom modifications
• The “New messages” label is internal to the widget and cannot be controlled or disabled externally
• This appears to be related to:
  • Initial message loading
  • Scroll position recalculation
  • Read-state or unseen message state updates during foreground transition

Impact

• Causes visible UI flicker
• Looks like a rendering or state synchronization bug
• Affects production user experience

Attached video shows the reproduction issue clearly(please watch the video in lower playback speed to observe the behaviour):

ScreenRecording.mov

Relevant log output

Flutter analyze output

Flutter doctor output

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[Castropy]

I've analyzed the root cause in StreamMessageListView. The flicker happens because when the app resumes from a push notification, channel.watch() and the persistence layer update the message list asynchronously.

During the initial frames, the ScrollController is at offset 0.0 while the ListView is still calculating its maxScrollExtent. Since the unread count is already updated from the notification payload, the UI logic triggers the 'New Messages' indicator before the scroll position is finalized at the bottom.

Proposed Fix: Introduce a SchedulerBinding.instance.addPostFrameCallback or a short debounce to the visibility logic of the indicator in stream_message_list_view.dart to ensure the scroll position is stable after the initial data load from persistence.

I'm ready to submit a PR for this. May I be assigned?

[xsahil03x]

Hey @Castropy, happy to receive a PR. Thanks