Solved I have 2 accounts on different instances with the name JaymesRS. I created my original on Midwest.social because it was the one I liked best at the time, I created a second at literature.cafe later because I identified more with that community, but I wanted there to be some continuity between them. I kept the other around for backup though.
If I only sign in to one of those accounts I have no problem with comments showing up on federated communities, however, if I sign in to both and switch accounts then switch back I no longer see federated comments. I will see the number of comments listed, but when I open the thread it says no comments found. I can still see comments on my local community though.
I can fix this by uninstalling and reinstalling the app and re signing in to only one of the accounts. It seems like removing the accounts itself won’t resolve the bug. I have a third account with a completely different name on a 3rd instance too and that doesn’t seem to trigger the bug.
If I can offer any other answers or help, let me know.
Test Flight Version 0.2.11