our company created a web safari extension. before iOS 26 (beta) release we would archive our extension and install to our devices no problem. since iOS 26 (beta) (we also tried in beta 4 23A5297m) the extension would archive perfectly but when installing the extension would just not run. its found in settings under safari extension, but when enabled the extension and open safari it will show error message "Ext" is no longer available. to rule out all code issues, we built a new project from scratch with a new bundle id, tried to archive with no problem, but when installed in an iphone 16 with iOS 26 BETA (23A5297m) same error ocurs it installs but when opening safari it will give an error message saying extension is no longer available. attached in the google drive link is a zip file of the new project, a zip file with a succesfull build of the ipa file with enterprise distribute, a video of the entire proccess and the error that the iphone gives. also attached a log file from the iphone that includes the install and the crash of the app. within the logs there is a log saying Error occurred during transaction: The provided identifier "dev.sacal.ext" is invalid. before ios 26 the exact steps worked perfectly. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PYDOv8IRvRY_ouqiOc0sJdcfh0CHbL72/view?usp=sharing

I'm experiencing a Safari Web Extension issue where the non-persistant background script seems to crash after 30 seconds even when the content script is messaging it. Here is a minimal-reproducible example. When running in an emulator, the background script will stay responsive forever. However, when running on a physical device, the background script becomes non-responsive after 30 seconds of activity. It never becomes responsive again until I toggle the extensions enable/disable toggle, after which it stays active for 30 seconds and then crashes again.

Safari Web Extension for enterprice distribution: If I press run button on xcode it shows the safari web extension toggle and works perfect When installed through exported ipa, the web extension toggle dissapears, it doesnt matter how it was installed through mdm, link, or directly ipa from xcode I just exported an ipa as debugging and it worked when I pushed the ipa

I'm trying to use DNR to force safe search with Qwant search engine. Under certain circumstances (scenario described below) the search is performed with an API which contains the safe search level in a URL parameter. A typical query URL is https://api.qwant.com/v3/search/web?q=test&count=10&locale=fr_FR&offset=0&device=desktop&tgp=1&safesearch=0&displayed=true&llm=true. I want a DNR rule to force safesearch to be 2 (= strict) (from some javascript code) : { id: 1, priority: 1, action: { type: 'redirect', "redirect": { "transform": { "queryTransform": { "addOrReplaceParams": [{ "key": "safesearch", "value": "2" }] } } } }, condition: { "urlFilter": "api.qwant.com/v3/search", "resourceTypes": ["xmlhttprequest"] }, } When this rule is activated, I end up with a URL with the original safesearch parameter AND the forced one : https://api.qwant.com/v3/search/web?q=test&count=10&locale=fr_FR&offset=0&device=desktop&tgp=1&safesearch=0&displayed=true&llm=true&safesearch=2. To reproduce this request (with the previous DNR rule in place) : navigate to https://www.qwant.com search for some string (test in my case). This displays the list of results ; click the engine button at the top right to display the settings pane ; inspect network request performed by this page ; change the Adult filter in the list -> the results are automatically updated with the new settings. The web request shows URL with the 2 safesearch parameters. I already used addOrReplaceParams in 'standard' contexts (main_frame) and it works just fine. Any hint on what goes on ? Thank you.

We are encountering an issue where the Safari extension we are developing stops working while in use on relatively new iOS versions (confirmed on 17.5.1, 17.6.1, and 18). Upon checking the Safari console, the content script is displayed in the extension script, so the background script or Service Worker must be stopping. The time until it stops is about 1 minute on 17.5.1 and about one day on 17.6.1 or 18. When it stops, we would like to find a way to restart the Service Worker from the extension side, but we have not found a method to do so yet. To restart the extension, the user needs to turn off the corresponding extension in the iPhone settings and then turn it back on. As mentioned in the following thread, it is written that the above bug was fixed in 17.6, but we recognize that it has not been fixed. https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/758346 On 17.5.1, adding the following process to the background script prevents it from stopping for about the same time as on 17.6 and above. // Will be passed into runtime.onConnect for processes that are listening for the connection event const INTERNAL_STAYALIVE_PORT = "port.connect"; // Try wake up every 9S const INTERVAL_WAKE_UP = 9000; // Alive port var alivePort = null; // Call the function at SW(service worker) start StayAlive(); async function StayAlive() { var wakeup = setInterval(() => { if (alivePort == null) { alivePort = browser.runtime.connect({ name: INTERNAL_STAYALIVE_PORT }); alivePort.onDisconnect.addListener((p) => { alivePort = null; }); } if (alivePort) { alivePort.postMessage({ content: "ping" }); } }, INTERVAL_WAKE_UP); } Additionally, we considered methods to revive the Service Worker when it stops, which are listed below. None of the methods listed below resolved the issue. ① Implemented a process to create a connection again if the return value of sendMessage is null. The determination of whether the Service Worker has stopped is made by sending a message from the content script to the background script and checking whether the message return value is null as follows. sendMessageToBackground.js let infoFromBackground = await browser.runtime.sendMessage(sendParam); if (!infoFromBackground) { // If infoFromBackground is null, Service Worker should have stopped. browser.runtime.connect({name: 'reconnect'}); // ← reconnection process // Sending message again infoFromBackground = await browser.runtime.sendMessage(sendParam); } return infoFromBackground.message; Background script browser.runtime.onConnect.addListener((port) => { if (port.name !== 'reconnect') return; port.onMessage.addListener(async (request, sender, sendResponse) => { sendResponse({ response: "response form background", message: "reconnect.", }); }); ② Verified whether the service worker could be restarted by regenerating Background.js and content.js. sendMessageToBackground.js export async function sendMessageToBackground(sendParam) { let infoFromBackground = await browser.runtime.sendMessage(sendParam); if (!infoFromBackground) { executeContentScript(); // ← executeScript infoFromBackground = await browser.runtime.sendMessage(sendParam); } return infoFromBackground.message; } async function executeContentScript() { browser.webNavigation.onDOMContentLoaded.addListener((details) => { browser.scripting.executeScript({ target: { tabId: details.tabId }, files: ["./content.js"] }); }); } However, browser.webNavigation.onDOMContentLoaded.addListener was not executed due to the following error. @webkit-masked-url://hidden/:2:58295 @webkit-masked-url://hidden/:2:58539 @webkit-masked-url://hidden/:2:58539 ③ Verify that ServiceWorker restarts by updating ContentScripts async function updateContentScripts() { try { const scripts = await browser.scripting.getRegisteredContentScripts(); const scriptIds = scripts.map(script => script.id); await browser.scripting.updateContentScripts(scriptIds);//update content } catch (e) { await errorLogger(e.stack); } } However, scripting.getRegisteredContentScripts was not executed due to the same error as in 2. @webkit-masked-url://hidden/:2:58359 @webkit-masked-url://hidden/:2:58456 @webkit-masked-url://hidden/:2:58456 @webkit-masked-url://hidden/:2:58549 @webkit-masked-url://hidden/:2:58549 These are the methods we have considered. If anyone knows a solution, please let us know.

Since probably the late iOS 17.4.x, 17.5.1 and still now in 17.6 beta our extension has been experiencing issues with the accompanying background script or service worker being permanently killed with no warning after about 30-45 seconds after initial installation (installation, not page load!). In all other browsers (including Safari on MacOS) unloading the service worker is part of the normal lifecycle to save memory and CPU if it is idle. In our extension the service worker is used only during the first 5-10 seconds of every page visit, so we are used to seeing it unload after that and consider this a good thing. However, normally, the service worker is able to wake back up when needed - which is no longer the case in iOS. Once dead, nothing a normal user would do can wake the service worker back up: No events like webNavigation or similar will trigger anymore Any attempt to call sendMessage to it from a content-script also does not wake up the service worker and instead returns undefined to the content script immediately Closing and opening Safari does not start it again The only two things that will give the service worker another 30-40 seconds of life is a reboot of the device or disabling and then re-enabling the extension. During those few second the extension is working perfectly. There are no errors or indications in the logs of what is going on and the extension works just fine in Chrome, Firefox, Edge as well as Safari on MacOS and Safari in the Mobile simulator. Only actual iOS devices fail. It seems like a temporary workaround is to change the manifest to not load the service worker as a service worker by changing "background": { "service_worker": "service.js" } to "background": { "scripts": ["service.js"], "persistent": false } With this change (courtesy of https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/721222) the service worker is still unloaded but correctly starts up again when needed. Having to make this change does not seem to be consistent with manifest v3 specs though (see this part in Chrome’s migration guide as an example: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/develop/migrate/to-service-workers#update-bg-field). According to the release notes of 17.6 beta this bug was supposedly fixed: “Fixed an issue where Safari Web Extension background pages would stop responding after about 30 seconds. (127681420)” However, this bug is not fixed - or at least not entirely fixed. It seems to work better for super simple tests doing nothing but pinging the service worker from the content script, but for the full blown extension there is no difference at all between 17.5.1 and 17.6. Has there been a change in policy about service workers and background scripts for Safari in iOS? Are anyone else seeing this issue? Also seemingly related: https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/756309 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/750330 https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/757926 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/735307

Hello - we have a Mac application that uses a browser extension and the web extension JS APIs to communicate with Safari. During user testing we found that the tab title and tab URL properties are empty when obtaining the set of open windows via windows.get() after a Safari restart. We are testing with Safari 18.4 (20621.1.15.11.10). We have made a TestFlight version of our app and extension available to help with testing: https://testflight.apple.com/join/Va8Zdv9d. Screenshot and screen recording are attached to the Feedback ID supplied below. STEPS TO REPRODUCE Install Tabby via the TestFlight link Enable the Tabby for Safari extension in the Safari extensions dialog Grant permissions for Tabby for Safari to all windows all the time Within Safari, open two windows each with at least two tabs Within the Tabby app, ensure you see the windows and tabs listed correctly (tab title displayed for each) Quit and restart Safari Expected behavior Safari re-opens existing windows and Tabby displays title for each tab Observed Safari re-opens existing windows but within Tabby all tabs except the current tab are displayed with a title of “Start Page”. Under the hood the tab title and tab URL properties are empty when returned via a windows.get() call after Safari restarts. NAME AND APPLE ID OF APP Tabby - Browser Tab Manager 1586203406 FEEDBACK ASSISTANT ID FB16389506

I'm working on a macOS app with a Safari web extension. I'm trying to share a SwiftData model between devices using CloudKit synchronization. I am able to get synchronization in the main app on the same device, CloudKit sync works correctly — changes appear in the CloudKit Dashboard under com.apple.coredata.cloudkit.zone. However, in the Safari App Extension, data is saved locally and persists across launches, but never syncs to CloudKit. I have followed the recommended practices for configuring the App Group and entitlements, but the issue persists. Questions: Is there an official limitation preventing Safari App Extensions from connecting to the CloudKit daemon (cloudd)? If not, what entitlements or configuration changes are required for a Safari App Extension to successfully sync with CloudKit? Is the xpc_error=159 from bootstrap_look_up() a known sandbox restriction for this extension type? Any guidance from Apple engineers or others who have successfully used CloudKit from a Safari App Extension would be appreciated. What I’ve confirmed: The extension’s .entitlements includes: com.apple.security.app-sandbox com.apple.developer.icloud-services CloudKit com.apple.developer.icloud-container-identifiers iCloud.dev.example.myapp Same iCloud container ID for both app and extension CloudKit container exists and is initialized in CloudKit Console Running in :Sandbox environment during development Database name in SwiftData matches container identifier (without the iCloud. prefix) The extension’s codesign output shows correct entitlements App Group is configured (although in this case, extension and app use separate stores intentionally) Observed behavior in Console.app logs: CloudKit sync engine initializes in the extension XPC activities are registered for import/export: _xpc_activity_register: com.apple.coredata.cloudkit.activity.export. xpc_activity_set_criteria: ... import. Then a bootstrap lookup fails: failed to do a bootstrap look-up: xpc_error=[159: Unknown error: 159] CloudKit daemon connection error: CKErrorDomain Code=6 "Error connecting to CloudKit daemon" NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 There is no “Will attempt to upload transactions” or “Upload succeeded” logs are ever seen. Symptoms When the extension is run, I see logs like the following in Console.app: [0x13e215820] failed to do a bootstrap look-up: xpc_error=[159: Unknown error: 159] CoreData+CloudKit: -[PFCloudKitSetupAssistant _checkAccountStatus:]_block_invoke(342): Fetched account info for store : (null) Error Domain=CKErrorDomain Code=6 "Error connecting to CloudKit daemon. This could happen for many reasons..."

I'm developing a web extension for Safari on iOS using MV3. The extension is working fine in Chrome, but in Safari I experience some seemingly random issues. I would like to debug it, but here is my problem. I have my iPhone connected via cable to Mac, and it works fine with XCode, so I assume this part is OK. I open Safari or Safari Tech Preview (doesn't matter) on my Mac, developers options are enabled, and in the Develop menu, under my iPhone section, there are things I can debug. There is an entry "[Ext name] - Extension Service Worker" but when I click it, it's empty. Web inspector pops up, but there are no network requests, no logs, nothing. I know the extension is working, because I can stream log to my HTTP server, but I don't see them here at all. I can use console to trigger commands like chrome.storage.local.get(null, console.log) and it shows my local store, so why I don't see any logs? Also, the background script is not visible in the Sources tab, just one weird request: navigator.serviceWorker.register('safari-web-extension://E3449EA7-EC25-4696-8E6C-[ID HERE]/background.js'); </script> Any ideas what went wrong? The entire team of 4 people has the same issue and we can't move forward because of that. Also, the Develop => Service workers or any other menu section doesn't show my service worker. Logs for websites running on my phone are visible and in general web inspector for them works fine.

Summary: Content scripts injected via manifest continue to receive and respond to chrome.tabs.sendMessage() calls even after the user has navigated away from the original page, causing messages intended for the current tab to be handled by zombie contexts from previous pages. Environment: Safari/iOS Version: 18.5 Extension Manifest: Version 3 Expected Behavior: When a user navigates from Page A to Page B: Page A's content script context should be destroyed. chrome.tabs.sendMessage(currentTabId, message) should only reach Page B's content script Only Page B should be able to respond to action button clicks (or other background to content messages). Actual Behavior: When navigating from Page A to Page B: Page A's content script context persists as a "zombie". chrome.tabs.sendMessage(currentTabId, message) reaches zombie context instead of the Page B's one. Hence, it looks like the extension is broken because the content script does not respond to the background messages. Details: Tab ids are properly recognized by both background and content script The problem does not always occur; it occurs on random occasions. It's quite easy to have it reproduced. It can be reproduced easier if user clicks ext icon during site loading (before it fully loaded), triggering ActionClick (ext icon click) event and then sending a msg upon it to the content script Regardless of whether the content script is injected into the tab using manifest.json, registerContentScripts, or executeScript, the problem is still there Once the problem occurs, e.g. user is on macys.com but zombie injected content script believes it's google.com (a previous page), even refreshing the tab doesnt change anything - zombie context is still there (thinking it's still google.com) . Changing a domain to something completely different one could help though. Then going back to macys.com could still lead to the described issue. A zombie content script does not have access to the page's console function and others. Example communication Sending following message from the background to the content script using chrome.tabs.sendMessage() { "tab": { "id": 155, "active": true, "url": "https://www.macys.com/", "title": "Macys.com" } } Results in the content-script zombie context response (the url is taken from the window.location.href) "message": { "type": "ActionClicked", "data": {} }, "response": { "data": { "windowUrl": "https://www.google.com/", "contentReached": true, "timestamp": "1,753,138,945,272", } } }

Hi, I’m working on a Safari extension for macOS, and I’d like the app to use specific system notification settings right after installation. I’m wondering if there’s a way in Swift to programmatically configure the default notification preferences (as seen in System Settings > Notifications > [my app]). Here are the desired settings: Only Desktop – without “Notification Center” or “Lock Screen” Alert Style: Temporary Badge App Icon: Enabled Play Sound for Notifications: Disabled Show Previews: When Unlocked Notification Grouping: Off (I don’t want them to accumulate in Notification Center) Here is the code I’m currently using to display a basic notification: private func handleNotificationRequest(_ message: [String: Any]) { guard let title = message["title"] as? String, let body = message["body"] as? String else { return } UNUserNotificationCenter.current().requestAuthorization(options: [.alert, .badge, .sound]) { granted, error in if granted { self.showNotification(title: title, body: body) } } } private func showNotification(title: String, body: String) { let content = UNMutableNotificationContent() content.title = title content.body = body content.sound = nil // No sound for subtle notification // Create notification that doesn't persist in notification center let trigger = UNTimeIntervalNotificationTrigger(timeInterval: 0.1, repeats: false) let request = UNNotificationRequest(identifier: "fast-url-copy-notification", content: content, trigger: trigger) UNUserNotificationCenter.current().add(request) { error in if let error = error { os_log(.error, "Failed to show notification: %@", error.localizedDescription) } } } OS: macOS 26.0 Thanks in advance, Mateusz

Hi, I’m trying to detect whether my Safari Web Extension is running in Safari or Safari Technology Preview. Is there a reliable way to do that? I can get the executable path of the parent process using proc_pidpath(). However, unlike Chrome or Firefox, Safari extensions run under /sbin/launchd as the parent process, not the responsible process (browser’s binary). In this scenario, I need the executable path of the actual browser process, but I haven’t found a way to get it. Also, Safari doesn’t implement the Web Extension API’s browser.runtime.getBrowserInfo(), unlike Firefox. I haven’t tested it yet, but I’m considering checking the user agent string, though I’m not sure how reliable that would be. Use Case Some users use my Safari extension as a web development tool and want to enable some features exclusively in Safari Technology Preview, while using other features only in standard Safari. If I could detect which browser is in use, I could provide the appropriate functionality for them.

I'd like to know the install state of my iOS safari extension in the associated swift app. Is there any way to get this? As we have seen it is available for macOS here, is there anyway to know iOS Safari extension is enabled or not? Thanks

Hi everyone, I’m encountering a serious reliability issue with message passing in my Safari extension on iOS 18.4.1 and iOS 18.5 In my extension, I use the standard messaging API where the background script sends a message to the content scrip. The content script is listening using: browser.runtime.onMessage.addListener(handler); This setup has been working reliably in previous versions of iOS, but since updating to iOS 18.4.1 and iOS 18.5, I’ve noticed that messages sent from the background script are not consistently received by the content script. From my logs, I can confirm that: The background script is sending the message. The content script’s listener is not always triggered. There are no errors or exceptions logged in either script. It seems as if browser.runtime.onMessage.addListener is either not getting registered in time or failing silently in some instances. This issue is intermittent and does not occur all the time. Has anyone else experienced similar issues in iOS 18.4.1 and 18.5? Are there any known changes or workarounds for ensuring reliable communication between background and content scripts in this version? Any help or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I’m encountering a critical reliability issue with message passing in my Safari Web Extension on iOS 18.4.1 and iOS 18.5. In my extension, I’m using the standard messaging API. The background script sends a message to the content script using browser.tabs.sendMessage(...), and the content script registers a listener via: browser.runtime.onMessage.addListener(handler); This setup has been working reliably in all prior versions of iOS. However, after updating to iOS 18.4.1 and 18.5, I’ve noticed the following behavior: ✅ The content script is successfully injected, and onMessage.addListener is registered (I see logging confirming this). ✅ The background script sends the message using the correct tabId (also confirmed via logs). ❌ The content script’s onMessage listener is not consistently triggered. ⚠️ This issue is intermittent, sometimes the message is received, sometimes it is silently dropped. ❌ No exceptions or errors are thrown in either script, the message appears to be sent, but not picked up from the content script message listener.

I'm working on a Safari web extension that uses the nativeMessaging facility to communication with native code. When I want to notify the javascript extension from the embedding application, I use SFSafariApplication::dispatchMessage. As per the documentation, this call ... ensures that Safari is launched and that your extension is running before delivering the message. Everything works fine when the background script is running. However, after the background script gets unloaded at some point in time (non persistent background page, default behavior for a manifest V3 extension), the background script is not reloaded by the message from the native app (background script still appears unloaded in the developer menu of Safari, double-checked using a counter stored in browser.storage.local incremented on message reception). In this case, the completion handler of the application gets no error (error == nil) as if the message was correctly delivered. I was able to reproduce this behavior with the sample app delivered for WWDC20 (after upgrading the manifest from v2 to v3 to make it non-persistent). Is it supposed to work ? What I'm doing wrong ?

I recently upgraded my device from IOS 18.4 to IOS 26. My web extension has disapeared from safari. I can see it in Settings > Apps > Safari > Extensions and when I turn it on and re-open safari. I just get a mesasge that says "{extension name} is no longer avaiable". I have tried Manifest V2 and Manifest V3 both yield the same results. The current production extension bundled with the IOS app has the same problem. I can no longer use or test my own extension !? Help please !

I’m a developer working on a Safari Web Extension that’s distributed via the App Store and also tested locally through Xcode. I’m running into an issue that’s affecting my ability to debug errors reported to my Sentry error logging instance from production. The Problem When an error is thrown in one of my extension scripts (e.g., background.js, popup.js, or content.js), the error is sent to Sentry but the captured JavaScript error stack trace replaces the file paths with the webkit-masked-url://hidden placeholder like this: ReferenceError: Cannot access uninitialized variable. at ? (webkit-masked-url://hidden/:14677:28) at ? (webkit-masked-url://hidden/:16307:3) This happens consistently across both App Store builds and local Xcode runs. It prevents me from seeing which script the error came from or resolving the actual source code lines using uploaded source maps in Sentry. My Setup Safari Version: 18.5 (Stable on macOS) Distribution: App Store and local Xcode development Extension Type: Safari Web Extension Error Reporting: Sentry (@sentry/browser SDK) Bundler: Webpack with inline-source-map What I’ve Confirmed I can see the actual source files in Safari’s Web Inspector under the Sources tab when the extension is running. My source maps are uploaded to Sentry correctly and are associated with the matching release. Errors from Safari are being captured by Sentry, but the file URLs are masked, so stack traces cannot be resolved against my original source. My Question Is this behavior (masking file URLs in stack traces with webkit-masked-url://hidden/) intentional for Safari Web Extensions? If so, is there any supported method or workaround to allow exception stack traces to reveal the original script path (e.g., popup.js, background.js) so tools like Sentry or even console logs can point to real locations? I fully understand the privacy/security rationale behind the masking, but as the extension developer, this is making it extremely difficult to debug runtime issues in production. I’d really appreciate any insight into: Whether this masking is expected and permanent behavior If there are any entitlements, debug settings, or Info.plist keys that can alter this behavior for development or for trusted/own extensions If Apple recommends a different way to log extension errors that includes script name or source references Thanks in advance for your help! I’m happy to share more technical details or try out suggestions.

In a Safari Web Extension using Manifest V3, how can a content script access an HTML file that is bundled with the extension (e.g., to inject it as an iframe)? Safari's CSP seem to prevent the use of browser.runtime.getURL() in the MAIN world — is there a recommended way to load such resources securely?

Is there any supported mechanism in Safari Web Extensions (MV3) for capturing or logging network request data (like fetch, XHR, or webRequest) triggered by the web page?