iOS onboarding: stop auth step-3 retry loop churn (#19153)

Merged via /review-pr -> /prepare-pr -> /merge-pr.

Prepared head SHA: a38ec42bdd
Co-authored-by: mbelinky <132747814+mbelinky@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: mbelinky <132747814+mbelinky@users.noreply.github.com>
Reviewed-by: @mbelinky

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 ### Fixes
 
 - Voice call/Gateway: prevent overlapping closed-loop turn races with per-call turn locking, route transcript dedupe via source-aware fingerprints with strict cache eviction bounds, and harden `voicecall latency` stats for large logs without spread-operator stack overflow. (#19140) Thanks @mbelinky.
+- iOS/Onboarding: stop auth Step 3 retry-loop churn by pausing reconnect attempts on unauthorized/missing-token gateway errors and keeping auth/pairing issue state sticky during manual retry. (#19153) Thanks @mbelinky.
 - Fix types in all tests. Typecheck the whole repository.
 - Voice-call: auto-end calls when media streams disconnect to prevent stuck active calls. (#18435) Thanks @JayMishra-source.
 - Gateway/Channels: wire `gateway.channelHealthCheckMinutes` into strict config validation, treat implicit account status as managed for health checks, and harden channel auto-restart flow (preserve restart-attempt caps across crash loops, propagate enabled/configured runtime flags, and stop pending restart backoff after manual stop). Thanks @steipete.

apps/ios/Sources/Model/NodeAppModel.swift

@@ -1626,6 +1626,10 @@ private extension NodeAppModel {
                     try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: 1_000_000_000)
                     continue
                 }
+                if !self.gatewayAutoReconnectEnabled {
+                    try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: 1_000_000_000)
+                    continue
+                }
                 if await self.isOperatorConnected() {
                     try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: 1_000_000_000)
                     continue
@@ -1708,6 +1712,10 @@ private extension NodeAppModel {
                     try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: 1_000_000_000)
                     continue
                 }
+                if !self.gatewayAutoReconnectEnabled {
+                    try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: 1_000_000_000)
+                    continue
+                }
                 if await self.isGatewayConnected() {
                     try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: 1_000_000_000)
                     continue
@@ -1795,10 +1803,18 @@ private extension NodeAppModel {
                     }
                     GatewayDiagnostics.log("gateway connect error: \(error.localizedDescription)")
 
+                    // If auth is missing/rejected, pause reconnect churn until the user intervenes.
+                    // Reconnect loops only spam the same failing handshake and make onboarding noisy.
+                    let lower = error.localizedDescription.lowercased()
+                    if lower.contains("unauthorized") || lower.contains("gateway token missing") {
+                        await MainActor.run {
+                            self.gatewayAutoReconnectEnabled = false
+                        }
+                    }
+
                     // If pairing is required, stop reconnect churn. The user must approve the request
                     // on the gateway before another connect attempt will succeed, and retry loops can
                     // generate multiple pending requests.
-                    let lower = error.localizedDescription.lowercased()
                     if lower.contains("not_paired") || lower.contains("pairing required") {
                         let requestId: String? = {
                             // GatewayResponseError for connect decorates the message with `(requestId: ...)`.

apps/ios/Sources/Onboarding/OnboardingWizardView.swift

@@ -818,7 +818,7 @@ struct OnboardingWizardView: View {
 
     private func retryLastAttempt() async {
         self.connectingGatewayID = "retry"
-        self.issue = .none
+        // Keep current auth/pairing issue sticky while retrying to avoid Step 3 UI flip-flop.
         self.connectMessage = "Retrying…"
         self.statusLine = "Retrying last connection…"
         defer { self.connectingGatewayID = nil }