Maestro flow 20: iOS 26 photo picker grid tap doesn't register selection

[GSTJ]

Symptom

apps/mobile/.maestro/20-account-creation-journey.yaml runs end-to-end through:

• fresh-magic login (regex APPLE_MAGIC_EMAIL_REGEX)
• CreateProfile screen load
• photo cell tap (23%, 27%) → image picker alert
• text: "Choose from Library" (visible via XCUITest native a11y)
• photo library permission sheet (visible at [60,200][380,783] after explicit Allow Full Access tap)
• photo grid tap at (50%, 30%) — center cell, first row of the half-sheet picker
• name TextInput + birthdate fields (point taps)
• submit + AskForLocation + location prompt

But the photo selection never registers — the DB post-check (apps/mobile/.maestro/checks/20-account-creation.sh) finds 0 dogs and 0 images after the run, because the CreateProfile form submit fails the dogCreateMutation schema validation (images required >= 1) and the user stays on CreateProfile.

Environment

• iPhone 17 Pro Max simulator, iOS 26.4
• Maestro 2.5.1
• Pegada Release build (RN Fabric)

Root cause hypotheses

1. iOS 26 photo picker is a half-sheet rendered in a separate RemotePlaceholder process (verified via Pegada logs: Element RemotePlaceholder, pid: 58672, child of Other, is remote hosted). Maestro point taps land at the right screen coordinates but XCUITest cannot synthesize the tap into the picker's PHX-hosted view tree.
2. PHPickerViewController on iOS 26 may require a long-press / different gesture to "select" a photo rather than a single tap.
3. The picker also auto-dismisses after a tap (no Choose/Use button on iOS 26+), which makes the subsequent optional: text: "Choose" warn instead of advancing.

What works in this flow (after the fixes in PR #43)

• fresh-magic login lands on CreateProfile every time
• Image picker alert appears and "Choose from Library" taps successfully
• Photo library permission sheet (iOS 26 "Allow Full Access") is dismissed via extendedWaitUntil → tapOn(text=...)
• Every step AFTER photo upload (name input, birthdate input, location button) executes their point taps without warnings
• DB post-check script correctly identifies the failure (0 dogs)

Mitigation options

• Have CreateProfile accept an empty images array in DEV / NODE_ENV != production so Maestro can complete the journey without the picker tap (and assert image-upload separately via API tests).
• Use Maestro's pasteText + clipboard image trick — unsupported on iOS sims via the standard CLI.
• Add an __DEV__-only "Skip photo for E2E" button on CreateProfile gated by an env var.

Workaround in PR #43

Flow 20 yaml + check script are landed with extensive iOS 26 documentation. The flow currently FAILS gracefully at the assertVisible: swipe-screen step (never reached). All other steps are correct and run cleanly. Anyone resuming this should:

1. Verify the picker grid tap with xcrun simctl io booted screenshot mid-flow
2. Try inputText after the picker tap to see if there's a focused photo we can confirm
3. Consider the DEV-only skip button option

Reference: PR #43 — apps/mobile/.maestro/20-account-creation-journey.yaml