oops working patch file

patches/react-native+0.73.2.patch

@@ -1,3 +1,59 @@
+diff --git a/node_modules/react-native/Libraries/Text/TextInput/RCTBaseTextInputView.mm b/packages/react-native/Libraries/Text/TextInput/RCTBaseTextInputView.mm
+index b0d71dc..34cb289 100644
+--- a/node_modules/react-native/Libraries/Text/TextInput/RCTBaseTextInputView.mm
++++ b/node_modules/react-native/Libraries/Text/TextInput/RCTBaseTextInputView.mm
+@@ -377,10 +377,6 @@
+     self.backedTextInputView.attributedText = [NSAttributedString new];
+   }
+
+-  if (_selectTextOnFocus) {
+-    [self.backedTextInputView selectAll:nil];
+-  }
+-
+   [_eventDispatcher sendTextEventWithType:RCTTextEventTypeFocus
+                                  reactTag:self.reactTag
+                                      text:[self.backedTextInputView.attributedText.string copy]
+@@ -611,6 +607,10 @@
+ - (void)reactFocus
+ {
+   [self.backedTextInputView reactFocus];
++
++  if (_selectTextOnFocus) {
++    [self.backedTextInputView selectAll:nil];
++  }
+ }
+
+ - (void)reactBlur
+diff --git a/node_modules/react-native/React/Fabric/Mounting/ComponentViews/TextInput/RCTTextInputComponentView.mm b/packages/react-native/React/Fabric/Mounting/ComponentViews/TextInput/RCTTextInputComponentView.mm
+index b0d71dc..34cb289 100644
+--- a/node_modules/react-native/React/Fabric/Mounting/ComponentViews/TextInput/RCTTextInputComponentView.mm
++++ b/node_modules/react-native/React/Fabric/Mounting/ComponentViews/TextInput/RCTTextInputComponentView.mm
+@@ -281,11 +281,6 @@
+     [self textInputDidChange];
+   }
+
+-  if (props.traits.selectTextOnFocus) {
+-    [_backedTextInputView selectAll:nil];
+-    [self textInputDidChangeSelection];
+-  }
+-
+   if (_eventEmitter) {
+     static_cast<const TextInputEventEmitter &>(*_eventEmitter).onFocus([self _textInputMetrics]);
+   }
+@@ -425,6 +420,13 @@
+ - (void)focus
+ {
+   [_backedTextInputView becomeFirstResponder];
++
++  const auto &props = static_cast<const TextInputProps &>(*_props);
++
++  if (props.traits.selectTextOnFocus) {
++    [_backedTextInputView selectAll:nil];
++    [self textInputDidChangeSelection];
++  }
+ }
+
+ - (void)blur
 diff --git a/node_modules/react-native/React/Views/RefreshControl/RCTRefreshControl.h b/node_modules/react-native/React/Views/RefreshControl/RCTRefreshControl.h
 index e9b330f..1ecdf0a 100644
 --- a/node_modules/react-native/React/Views/RefreshControl/RCTRefreshControl.h
@@ -5,7 +61,7 @@ index e9b330f..1ecdf0a 100644
 @@ -16,4 +16,6 @@
  @property (nonatomic, copy) RCTDirectEventBlock onRefresh;
  @property (nonatomic, weak) UIScrollView *scrollView;
- 
+
 +- (void)forwarderBeginRefreshing;
 +
  @end
@@ -16,7 +72,7 @@ index b09e653..4c32b31 100644
 @@ -198,9 +198,53 @@ - (void)refreshControlValueChanged
    [self setCurrentRefreshingState:super.refreshing];
    _refreshingProgrammatically = NO;
- 
+
 +  if (@available(iOS 17.4, *)) {
 +    if (_currentRefreshingState) {
 +      UIImpactFeedbackGenerator *feedbackGenerator = [[UIImpactFeedbackGenerator alloc] initWithStyle:UIImpactFeedbackStyleLight];
@@ -29,7 +85,7 @@ index b09e653..4c32b31 100644
      _onRefresh(nil);
    }
  }
- 
+
 +/*
 + This method is used by Bluesky's ExpoScrollForwarder. This allows other React Native
 + libraries to perform a refresh of a scrollview and access the refresh control's onRefresh
@@ -38,15 +94,15 @@ index b09e653..4c32b31 100644
 +- (void)forwarderBeginRefreshing
 +{
 +  _refreshingProgrammatically = NO;
-+  
++
 +  [self sizeToFit];
-+  
++
 +  if (!self.scrollView) {
 +    return;
 +  }
-+  
++
 +  UIScrollView *scrollView = (UIScrollView *)self.scrollView;
-+  
++
 +  [UIView animateWithDuration:0.3
 +    delay:0
 +    options:UIViewAnimationOptionBeginFromCurrentState
@@ -58,7 +114,7 @@ index b09e653..4c32b31 100644
 +    completion:^(__unused BOOL finished) {
 +      [super beginRefreshing];
 +      [self setCurrentRefreshingState:super.refreshing];
-+    
++
 +      if (self->_onRefresh) {
 +        self->_onRefresh(nil);
 +      }

patches/react-native+0.73.2.patch.md

@@ -11,3 +11,23 @@ in the RN repo: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/43388
 Patching `RCTRefreshControl.m` and `RCTRefreshControl.h` to add a new `forwarderBeginRefreshing` method to the class.
 This method is used by `ExpoScrollForwarder` to initiate a refresh of the underlying `UIScrollView` from inside that
 module.
+
+
+## RCTBaseTextInputView Patch - Move `selectAll` call to `reactFocus` method
+
+Patching `RCTBaseTextInputView.m` to move the `selectAll` call to the `reactFocus` method. Currently, `selectAll` is
+called in `textInputDidBeginEditing`. This would be fine, however, once `reactFocus` is later called (this happens every
+time the text field is focused), the selection is reset/removed. The previous solution was to do this:
+
+```tsx
+<TextInput
+    onFocus={() => {
+      if (Platform.OS === 'ios') {
+        textInput.current?.setSelection(0, searchText.length)
+      }
+    }}
+/>
+```
+
+This likely works, because by the time the `onFocus` event is called, `reactFocus` has also already been called. However
+this is probably unreliable.

src/view/screens/Search/Search.tsx

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import {NavigationProp} from '#/lib/routes/types'
 import {augmentSearchQuery} from '#/lib/strings/helpers'
 import {s} from '#/lib/styles'
 import {logger} from '#/logger'
-import {isIOS, isNative, isWeb} from '#/platform/detection'
+import {isNative, isWeb} from '#/platform/detection'
 import {listenSoftReset} from '#/state/events'
 import {useActorAutocompleteQuery} from '#/state/queries/actor-autocomplete'
 import {useActorSearch} from '#/state/queries/actor-search'
@@ -684,12 +684,6 @@ export function SearchScreen(
                 })
               } else {
                 setShowAutocomplete(true)
-                if (isIOS) {
-                  // We rely on selectTextOnFocus, but it's broken on iOS:
-                  // https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/41988
-                  textInput.current?.setSelection(0, searchText.length)
-                  // We still rely on selectTextOnFocus for it to be instant on Android.
-                }
               }
             }}
             onChangeText={onChangeText}