fix(mobile): recover the QR pairing scanner when camera access is denied

[hey-jj]

What Changed

openScanner in ConnectionsNewRouteScreen now reads canAskAgain off the camera permission result. When the system can still prompt, the existing one-button alert stays. When it cannot, the alert gains Cancel and Open Settings, and Open Settings calls Linking.openSettings().

Both buttons that open the scanner, the header icon and the Allow camera button on the fallback card, call openScanner, so one branch covers both.

Why

Tap Don't Allow on the camera prompt once and the QR scanner is finished. Every later tap calls requestCameraPermission(), which resolves denied with no OS prompt, and the screen shows a one-button alert that leads nowhere. The user cannot reach the camera from inside the app again.

The Settings screen already solves this for notifications. SettingsRouteScreen checks canAskAgain on the denied result and offers Cancel and Open Settings. This copies that shape.

Fixes #6486

UI Changes

Before: one alert, "Camera access needed", body "Allow camera access to scan an environment pairing QR code.", OK.

Before and after screenshots attach below.

After, when the system will not prompt again: "Camera access needed", body "Camera access was denied for this app. Open Settings to enable it.", Cancel and Open Settings.

Verification

tsc --noEmit in apps/mobile exits clean. vp lint and vp fmt --check on the changed file both pass.

The screenshots above come from an iPhone 16e simulator on iOS 26.3 with camera access already denied. The whole recovery was walked on that build. The header button showed the new alert, Open Settings left the app and landed on Settings under Privacy and Security, Camera, the app's toggle there turned camera access back on, and the header button then opened the scanner instead of the alert.

No test comes with this. Every test under apps/mobile is a pure-logic .test.ts file and the repo carries no React Native testing library, so covering an alert branch would mean adding that infrastructure first.

Checklist

• This PR is small and focused
• I explained what changed and why
• I included before/after screenshots for any UI changes
• I included a video for animation/interaction changes

Note

Fix QR pairing scanner recovery when camera access is permanently denied

Updates the camera permission denied handling in ConnectionsNewRouteScreen.tsx to distinguish between two denied states. If the permission can still be requested again, an informational alert is shown. If the permission is permanently denied, the alert includes an "Open Settings" action that calls Linking.openSettings() so users can grant access from the OS settings.

^{Macroscope summarized 576bf70.}

---

Note

Low Risk
Small UX change to camera permission alerts with no auth, data, or core business logic impact.

Overview
Fixes a dead-end when the user denies camera access and the OS will not show the permission prompt again on the Add Environment / QR scanner flow.

openScanner now branches on permission.canAskAgain after a denied requestCameraPermission() result. If the system can still prompt, the existing informational alert stays. If not, the alert explains that access was denied and offers Cancel and Open Settings, with Open Settings calling Linking.openSettings()—the same pattern as notification permission handling on SettingsRouteScreen.

Both entry points (header scan control and the fallback Allow camera button) use openScanner, so the recovery path applies everywhere the scanner is opened.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit 576bf70. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

[coderabbitai]

Important

Review skipped

Auto reviews are disabled on this repository. Please check the settings in the CodeRabbit UI or the .coderabbit.yaml file in this repository. To trigger a single review, invoke the @coderabbitai review command.

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Repository UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: ef40c6a1-0fdb-4a12-bf1f-98a8cced0c8f

You can disable this status message by setting the reviews.review_status to false in the CodeRabbit configuration file.

Use the checkbox below for a quick retry:

• 🔍 Trigger review

---

Thanks for using CodeRabbit! It's free for OSS, and your support helps us grow. If you like it, consider giving us a shout-out.

❤️ Share

• X
• Mastodon
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands.}

[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved 576bf70

Simple UX fix that adds an 'Open Settings' button when camera permission is permanently denied, following the exact same pattern already used for notification permissions in SettingsRouteScreen.tsx. Self-contained change using standard React Native APIs.

^{You can customize Macroscope's approvability policy. Learn more.}