`<t:unix:R>` Relative timestamp format not applied for near timestamps

(#485) Bug Confirmed markdown

Summary

The :R relative timestamp format falls back to a static time string for timestamps within approximately ~48 hours in the past and ~8 hours in the future. Timestamps within this window display as Today at X:XX PM or Yesterday at X:XX PM instead of the expected relative string like in X minutes, 2 hours ago, or 23 hours ago. Timestamps outside this window correctly display as relative strings. Hovering over affected timestamps shows the correct relative string in the tooltip, suggesting the calculation works internally but is not being used as the display value within this threshold.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Send a message containing <t:UNIX_TIMESTAMP:R> where the timestamp is within the last 48 hours or within the next 8 hours
  2. Observe that the message displays Today at X:XX PM or Yesterday at X:XX PM instead of a relative string
  3. Hover over the timestamp, the tooltip correctly shows the relative string (e.g. in 5 minutes, 2 hours ago)
  4. For comparison, send a timestamp older than 48 hours, it correctly displays as 3 days ago, last week, etc.

Environment (optional)

stable build 190 (44b6925), 2026-03-27 14:07:52 UTC, Electron 39.2.7, Windows 11 10.0.26200 (x64), desktop stable 0.0.8

Logs or screenshots (optional)

image
  • 573920876-1dee8aa6-50ee-4f7a-8784-1ea82a5abba4.png

    573920876-1dee8aa6-50ee-4f7a-8784-1ea82a5abba4.png

    476×403 | 35 kB

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Report details

Observed behaviour

The timestamp will not display the relative time, but the absolute time "Today at ..." or "Yesterday at ..." instead of "... ago" or "in ...".

Reproduction steps

  1. Get the UNIX time of a recent time (~48h in the past or ~8h in the future)
2.Send the UNIX time as a relative timestamp, like (<t:1778240097:R>).

Build information

canary build 664 (d3ccc95), Electron 41.2.2, Linux 7.0.3-arch1-2 (x64), desktop canary 0.0.121, locale en-US

Platform

Linux

Evidence

Also reported in GitHub issue #485

Details

Expected behaviour The timestamp should always be relative, even if close to the current time.

3 comments

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Comment by Rex
RexSystem 1 vote
Status changed from Fixed to Confirmed
Staff confirmed this bug and said a fix is pending, so it should not be marked fixed.