Android: reasoning selector missing in new chats until High is activated by sending a desktop message

Scope: This is a ChatGPT Android client issue, not a Codex issue. I’m reporting it here because I could not find a dedicated public ChatGPT Android issue tracker.

Title

Android: reasoning/model selector is missing in new chats until a desktop-selected High mode is used to send a message

Description

I’m a ChatGPT Plus user.

On Android, newly created chats do not show any reasoning/model selector at all. The chat starts without any visible way to switch between Instant / Medium / High.

However, the Android client is clearly capable of rendering the selector, because it appears after I change the same conversation to High on desktop and send a new message from desktop.

This looks like a UI/state initialization or synchronization bug rather than an account entitlement issue.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open ChatGPT on Android.
2. Create a new chat.
3. Observe the composer / top bar.
4. There is no reasoning/model selector available.

Then:

5. Open the same conversation on desktop.
6. Change the reasoning level to High.
7. Do not send a message yet.
8. Return to Android.
9. The selector is still missing.

Then:

10. On desktop, while still in High, send a new message in that conversation.
11. Return to Android.
12. The reasoning selector immediately appears in the Android composer.

Actual behavior

For a new Android conversation:

• No reasoning/model selector is shown.
• Changing the conversation to High on desktop alone does not make the selector appear on Android.
• After sending a message from desktop while High is selected, Android suddenly starts showing the selector.

Expected behavior

As a Plus user, the reasoning/model selector should be available directly when starting a new Android chat, without requiring another client to initialize the conversation state first.

Changing reasoning level on another synchronized client should also update the Android UI state without requiring a new message to be sent.

Why this looks like a bug

This does not appear to be an account-permission issue:

• The same account can select High on desktop.
• Android successfully renders the selector once the conversation has been updated by a desktop message.
• Therefore the Android client supports the UI and the account has access to the feature.

The problem seems specifically related to how a new conversation initializes or synchronizes its reasoning/model-selection state on Android.

Environment

• Plan: ChatGPT Plus
• Platform: Android
• Android version: 14
• ChatGPT app version: 1.2026.223 (20)
• Desktop: ChatGPT desktop/web, where the reasoning selector works normally
• Same account and same conversation used for reproduction

Screenshots

Screenshot 1:
New Android chat — no reasoning/model selector is visible.

Screenshot 2:
Same conversation after selecting High on desktop and sending a message — reasoning selector appears immediately on Android.

Screenshot 3:
ChatGPT Android version: 1.2026.223 (20)

The report explicitly identifies this as a ChatGPT Android client issue rather than a Codex issue, and names no Codex file, test, or entry point. Start by confirming whether the Android client is maintained in this repository or has a separate tracker. Done would mean the selector appears in new Android chats and updates from another client without requiring a sent desktop message.