android app: label filtering broken in v2026.17 where it only shows exact matches, not infix-based

[Andi]

Hi there,

I am a developer myself, so I try to give a good base for a bug report (and maybe fix) since I am not able to create an issue in the JIRA system myself (missing priveleges I suppose) ...

It worked in 2023.11 and 2026.4.4, it does NOT in 2026.17, 2026.16:

2026.4.4 (OK):

• create labels "buy", "buy:online", "buy:nearby"
• create card 1 with "buy"
• create card 2 with "buy:online"
• filter: "#buy"
• displayed: card 1 and 2 => works! :)

2026.17 (NOT ok):

• labels, cards and filters like above
• displayed: only card 1
• => degression from previous behaviour and in my point of view a bug and undesired, restricted behaviour

let's suppose the following filter string:

"#buy"

So BEFORE (OK, e.g. 2026.4.4) the label-logic was supposedly parsed like so:
(supposedly there is a card_labels SQL column
- where the labels are sourrounded by ","
- and "~" is the regex operator
- and the filter string is separated into [" AND "-delimited]
  label ~ '<regex>' SQL-where snippets)

-- at this query level card_lables supposedly contain:
--       (added 'foo','bar' and 'buzz' as examples
--        since a card could have more than one label!)
--   card 1: card_labels = ',buy,foo,'
--   card 2: card_labels = ',buy:online,bar,buzz,'

...      card_labels ~ '.*,[^,]*buy[^,]*,.*'

-- => both cards would match

(if the search would have been "#buy #online" the query snippet would have been something like <card_labels ~ '...buy...'  AND  card_labels ~ '...online...'>)

NOW (e.g. 2026.17) the behaviour looks like

...     card_labels ~ '.*,buy,.*'

-- => only card 1 would match  

[Andi · Accepted solution]

So current status is, that you can downgrade/upgrade to 2026.4.4 (or maybe another version lower than 2026.16 and hopefully everything else works so far.

When a fix will be there in

- Trello

- or some underlying Android-base logic it depends on (assumed by another answer from Aditya)

we will have the infix functionality back, I guess.

[Aditya Srivastav]

Hi Andi,

Your reproduction is clear, and the behavior you're seeing does look like a regression in the Android app.

Trello's documented search/filter syntax supports #labelname for filtering by labels, and board filtering is intended to work with label criteria rather than treating the label as an exact string only.

With your example:

• buy

• buy:online

• buy:nearby

a filter such as #buy previously returning the cards labelled buy and buy:online is different from the current behavior where only the exact buy label is returned.

Since you have reproduced the same case across 2026.16 and 2026.17, while it worked in 2026.4.4, this strongly points to a change in the Android filtering behavior rather than an issue with the labels themselves.

I also don't think the SQL/regex implementation needs to be assumed to explain the issue. The important part for the bug report is the observable behavior: the same filter expression produces different results between app versions.

For comparison, Trello's current documentation still describes mobile board filtering as supporting labels and multiple filter terms, so the change you're seeing doesn't appear to be an intentional limitation documented for the feature.

Your minimal reproduction should therefore be sufficient to demonstrate the regression:
#buy → previously matched buy + buy:online, now matches only buy.

[Andi]

Hi Aditya,

will there be an issue for this? Then a link would be nice :)

Yeah - the regex example was just a shot to encourage a faster fix ;) - no matter how it's done or in which layer.

Happy fixing and have a nice day

[Aditya Srivastav]

Hi Andi,

I found a related public Trello issue: TRELLO-380 – “Filtering labels on the Android app is bugged.” It covers incorrect label matching in the Android board filter and was marked Fixed.

It isn't exactly the same regression you're seeing in 2026.16/2026.17, though. TRELLO-380 was about over-matching similar labels, whereas your case appears to be the reverse — the filter now requires an exact label match and no longer matches the previous infix behavior.

I couldn't find a separate public ticket for the specific 2026.16/2026.17 regression yet. Your reproduction is therefore still useful as a distinct case, even though TRELLO-380 shows that Android label filtering has had a previous bug in this area.

Here is the related ticket: TRELLO-380

[Andi]

Hi Aditya,

yeah I found this one before and as you recognized, it's quite different.

Since I can't create a Trello JIRA issue and you seem not to be able to do it (I assumed you were part of the Trello support team), I have to revoke your answer as "accepted" since it does not trigger a fix nor solve the problem - as I understand it.